Salt Lake City Personal Injury Lawyer Says Recent Snowstorms Are a Good Time to Remind Drivers to Mo
With snowstorms hitting the Salt Lake Valley hard, Kristina B. Otterstrom, a Salt Lake City personal injury lawyer, agrees that it is time for a reminder about Utah’s law regarding what to do in a fender bender.
After running errands, I was driving home in the snow on the freeway, and the car in front of me slammed on the breaks and came to a jerking halt hitting the car in front of it. I stopped, as did the long line of cars behind me. I am not sure if the accident was a result of the snowy conditions, the snow plow ahead, or poor driving, but at least there did not appear to be any major damage or injuries. Eventually, the two cars in front of me pulled off to the side of the freeway and out of traffic. However, that may not have been enough.
The Utah Department of Transportation and the Utah Highway Patrol have asked drivers involved in fender benders to do even more. These organizations issued a press release asking drivers involved in non-injury, minor incidents, like fender benders, to move their vehicles off the interstate to the nearest exit before calling 911, to help prevent further accidents and traffic congestion.
A personal injury lawyer Salt Lake City drivers can depend on, refers motorists to the Utah Code which states that in non-injury accidents, the driver “may move the vehicle as soon as possible off the roadway or freeway main lines, shoulders, medians, or adjacent areas to the nearest safe location on an exit ramp shoulder, a frontage road, the nearest suitable cross street, or other suitable location that does not obstruct traffic.”
The Utah Code also states that moving a vehicle as required does not affect the determination of fault for an accident.
The purpose of the law is to keep drivers and emergency responders as safe as possible. Hopefully, moving the vehicles out of harms way will also eliminate secondary crashes and auto-pedestrian injuries.
If you have been injured in a automobile accident, whether from the result of snowy conditions or not, contact a personal injury lawyer Salt Lake City can trust to find out if you have a good case.