Louisiana Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Car accident claims often hinge on whether or not the defendant owed a duty to the injured party. If a duty was owed, it was breached, and the breach caused an injury, liability for negligence exists. However, if there was no duty, the claim is cut off.

The important question is then, when does a duty exist? Generally speaking, people and entities have a duty to act reasonably in every particular circumstance. Reasonableness can be difficult to define and it often depends on the relationship between the parties. For example, a taxi cab driver may have a duty to exercise more care in driving their fares than someone dropping a friend off at work. Sometimes state or federal laws and regulations help to define when a duty exists. If a party has violated a legally defined duty, bringing a successful negligence claim against them may be easier.

One such instance of a legally defined duty applies to those that operate commercial vehicles. According to Regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, “extreme caution” must be taken when commercial vehicle drivers find themselves in treacherous road conditions. To quote the rule:

§392.14 Extreme caution in the operation of a commercial motor vehicle shall be exercised when hazardous conditions, such as those caused by snow, ice, sleet, fog, mist, rain, dust, or smoke, adversely affect visibility or traction. Speed shall be reduced when such conditions exist. If conditions become sufficiently dangerous, the operation of the commercial motor vehicle shall be discontinued and shall not be resumed until the commercial motor vehicle can be safely operated

This rule is pretty specific. It requires that commercial drivers be very careful if their visibility or traction is affected negatively by weather or other adverse road conditions. Theymust slow down, and if the conditions are bad enough they must pull off the road and not drive until it is safe.

Because of this rule it would be easier to prove liability if a commercial driver does not use extreme condition as required. As an example, if the driver of a big rig were to decide not to pull over during a rain and hail storm and then started to hydroplane, causing an accident where another driver was killed, the survivors of the deceased driver would very likely be able to collect damages in a lawsuit against the big rig driver and/or his employer. The duty element of a negligence claim would already be established. As such, at the very least, the defendant driver would need to explain why he did not pull over and why his decision to not pull over qualified as "extreme caution" as required by the law.

If you have been injured or a loved one was killed in a car accident it is the job of your attorney to have enough experience and knowledge of the law to know when such regulations exist and will be helpful.