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Maintaining a Lookout At All Times!

Car accidents happen all the time, for a lot of reasons. At all times, drivers must use "reasonable care" for the safety of others, such as other cars and pedestrians. This means maintaining a lookout, not speeding, not following too closely, etc. The combination of speeding, following too closely and not maintaining a lookout is the primary cause of the most common type of car accident - the rear-end accident. The law regarding the "Basic Standard of Care" is pretty clear:

A person must use reasonable care in driving a vehicle. Drivers must keep a lookout for pedestrians, obstacles, and other vehicles. They must also control the speed and movement of their vehicles. The failure to use reasonable care in driving a vehicle is negligence.

This is the case even when a driver is traveling at or below the speed limit: Regardless of whether a driver was complying with the speed limit, “[he was] still bound to anticipate that he might meet persons at any point of the street and in order to avoid a charge of negligence he was bound to use ordinary care and to keep an ordinarily careful lookout for such persons and keep his machine under such control as would enable him to avoid a collision.” (Boccalero v. Wadleigh(1931) 113 Cal.App. 376, 379, [298 P. 526], internal citation omitted.)

In other words, driving at the speed limit is not enough. If you are to avoid rear-end accidents, pedestrian accidents, etc., you must also keep a lookout!