According to AAA, Americans are outliving their ability to drive safely by about seven to ten years. Many senior citizens stop driving or only drive during daylight hours on familiar local roads in good weather to reduce the risk of an accident. Unfortunately, senior citizens—like teens and adults—sometimes cause car crashes.
You may be sympathetic to the older driver who caused your crash. You understand that giving up driving is giving up a degree of independence and that an accident case could be stressful for the senior citizen who hurt you. However, if you have been hurt, you deserve fair compensation for your injuries and that will only happen if you know what to do after a crash with an elderly driver.
Understand How an Older Driver Can Cause a Crash
Older drivers typically have more experience than younger drivers and they may be less likely to take risks than younger drivers. However, senior citizens have other risk factors that may make them likely to cause a crash. For example, a senior citizen may:
- Have a medical condition such as arthritis that makes some movements painful or difficult
- Have a decreased range of motion or weak muscles that make holding the steering wheel or pushing on the brake or gas pedal difficult
- Have dementia or experience confusion that makes it difficult to make safe decisions
- Use medications that make them drowsy
- Experience vision or hearing difficulties that make it challenging to drive safely
- Have delayed reaction times which make it difficult to make decisions in an unexpected or emergency situation on the road
Of course, a senior can also cause a crash in different way. For example, any driver, regardless of age, can cause a crash if the driver is distracted or drunk.
You Still Need to Prove Negligence to Recover Damages in a Kentucky Car Crash Case With an Older Driver
Regardless of the age of the other driver, you will need to prove that the driver’s negligence caused the accident and your resulting injuries. Specifically, you will need to prove:
- The older driver owed you a duty of care. This is easy to establish because all drivers owe all other motorists a duty of care while they are on the road.
- The older driver breached the duty of care. This may be contested by the driver, his attorney, or his insurance company. A driver breaches his duty of care when he fails to act as a reasonable driver would in similar circumstances.
- The older driver’s breach in the duty of care caused your injuries. This may also be contested by the driver, his lawyer, or his insurer. You will need to prove that your injuries occurred because of the driver’s actions or inactions and that they would not have happened but for the older driver’s breach of the duty of care.
- You are legally entitled to damages. As long as you can recover damages pursuant to Kentucky law, you will meet this standard in your car crash case.
Depending on the circumstances of your accident, some of the evidence that could be helpful in proving that the senior driver was negligent includes:
- The senior citizen driver’s medical records
- Photos from the accident scene
- Testimony from eyewitnesses
- Your own medical records (to prove the extent of your injuries)
It is important to know what evidence to gather and how to use it to protect your rights.
Contact a Lawyer After a Car Accident With an Older Driver
We don’t want you to deal directly with the older driver who caused the accident. This could be stressful and scary for the older driver and frustrating and uncomfortable for you. Instead, we encourage you to contact our experienced car accident lawyers in Louisville, today. If we represent you in a car crash case, we will handle all communications with the driver, his representative, or his insurer on your behalf. We will work hard to negotiate a fair settlement for your car crash injuries and if that proves impossible, we will zealously advocate for your full recovery in court.
To learn more, please reach out to us any time to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation. We welcome your contact 24/7/365 via this website or by phone.
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