If you are involved in a collision with another vehicle, there is a good chance that the driver of that vehicle will try to blame the crash on you. They might say something like, “You came out of nowhere,” or, “You must have been going too fast. It was safe to pull out when I checked.
That’s often genuinely what they believe, too. As far as they are concerned, they were paying attention, so the only way they can explain the crash is that you must have done something odd to suddenly be up close to them. In reality, the true reason they did not see you is often that they were distracted — even if they didn’t realize it.
Distraction is more common than people realize
There are distractions everywhere you look, and even if you try not to get sucked in by them, it can be difficult to stay completely focused on the road as you know you should. What makes it worse is that while some of those distractions are casual, such as an interesting bird perched on the roadside, some are put there by design.
Things such as billboards or a notice explaining a road closure ahead are designed to be noticed by drivers. If they do their job correctly, they’ll not only cause an initial visual distraction but also a cognitive one, as you ponder on what you just read or saw. They might even result in a physical distraction too, if, for instance, you take the billboard up on its offer of a drive-through breakfast deal, which you then consume as you continue your journey.
Add to this all the in-car distractions, from passengers to entertainment systems, and it’s clear that many drivers are not nearly as focused on the road as they believe. Getting legal guidance to explore whether distraction on the other party’s part could help explain what happened could be wise after a collision.