Car Crashes are NOT Accidents

Most people refer to a traffic collision as a "car accident." In fact, most plaintiffs' lawyers refer to collisions as car accidents. But if you trace each collision (or car accident) back far enough, you will find a decision that the defendant made that set things in motion.

For example, a lot of rear-end collisions happen because the driver looks down for a few seconds to fiddle with the radio, or to answer his or her cell phone. Or perhaps the driver is texting while driving. Sometimes drivers are tired from working all night, or driving all night, and choose to drive anyway.

All of these things lead to distracted driving - which is one of the leading causes of serious car crashes. These crashes lead to catastrophic injuries and even death. And every one of them could have been prevented. This is not to say that people who allow themselves to be distracted while they are driving are bad people. Far from it - it is only human to make mistakes. But those people then need to step up and pay for all of the harms they cause through their distracted driving.

Pete Clancy is an Oakland personal injury lawyer.