Recently, there has been a lot of talk about sanctions for using off-season tires on cars and trucks. Indeed, there are many cases of using summer tires in the winter and winter tires in the summer. Often this is the cause of accidents in Fort Myers. However, is the safety violation in question taken into account by police officers in their “debriefing”? Is the common belief that the driver using inappropriate tires in Fort Myers is a priori the culprit?
Who is at fault in an accident from the point of view of the police?
In the vast majority of cases, traffic police officers do not take into account the seasonal characteristics of the rubber used by drivers when dealing with the accident that occurred. However, it should be taken into account here that a driver who uses summer tires in the winter is most often the culprit in other respects as well. The most frequent situation, which can be used as an example, is a car collision due to insufficient braking efficiency of the car, “wearing” summer tires. At that even not too intensive braking may cause loss of traction of such a car with the road, skidding and, as a consequence, prolongation of the braking distance. All this in the end often leads to the fact that the process of braking ends after contact with the rear of the vehicle in front. Of course, you will need a Fort Myers car accident lawyer after such a collision.
Another situation considered in light of the topic raised could be a vehicle slipping while standing on an icy hill, despite the primary and parking brake systems activated. In this case, the wheels, even completely blocked, may slip. As a rule, it is no longer possible to stop such a vehicle. Sliding ends after hitting the front bumper of the vehicle standing behind. Also cars with summer tires in winter time in Fort Myers often skids at high speeds, they can not keep in their lane, fly into a roadside ditch or on the wrong side of the road, which often leads to serious accidents.
In all of the above cases, the driver who did not change tires for the proper season in Fort Myers would be the one to blame for the accident. However, the driver is not officially charged with the lack of seasonal tires. He is responsible only for the fact of the accident. We should notice, that in the cases when the owner of the car with summer rubber is not the causer of the accident, but the victim, the police do not lay the blame on his shoulders. The degree of guilt and level of responsibility is determined by other characteristics. So, if car A failed to pass car B when exiting from a secondary road, but car B was equipped with unseasonal tires, the person at fault for the accident will still be the driver of car A. And the fact that car B could have stopped and avoided the accident with winter tires will not be taken into account in the accident analysis. However, the attitude of insurance companies may differ somewhat from the official position of the police and courts in Fort Myers.
Who is at fault from the insurance company’s point of view?
Cases of refusal or significant reduction of the amount of insurance payments for the established fact of the use of unseasonable rubber are widespread. It should be remembered, however, that insurance companies refer compensation payments to the category of direct losses and try to avoid or reduce them by all possible methods. From the point of view of the law, such actions of the insurers have no grounds, as the fault of the driver in this accident is not established by the police in Fort Myers.
In cases where the accident was caused by a driver using improper tires, the injured party should also be paid. However, in doing so, the insurance company may assert a regressive claim against the at-fault driver for damages incurred as a result of the compensation payment. This claim can also be disputed, because the law does not provide for mandatory replacement of tires by seasons. All of the above applies to compulsory motor third party liability insurance for the driver or owner of the vehicle.
If you have an insurance policy, the driver will be paid even if he is the one who caused the accident in Fort Myers. An exception is when the insurance contract stipulates the driver’s obligation to change the tires in a timely manner in accordance with the time of year. The payment must be made in full.
Unfortunately, insurance companies in Fort Myers do not always clearly enforce their responsibilities. As a rule, drivers fail to get results by trying to assert their rights directly at the insurer’s office. Conflict situations have to be resolved through litigation. The percentage of cases won by drivers is much higher than in Fort Myers.
Conclusions or who is guilty as a matter of common sense
All of the above shows that using tires that do not match the time of year is not grounds for declaring a driver at fault in an accident in Fort Myers (in the absence of other indications of fault), nor for limiting or completely denying the insurance payout.
That being said, one must keep in mind that, from a common sense perspective, using winter tires in the summer and summer tires in the winter can lead to severe consequences, up to total destruction of the vehicle and loss of life. The culprit of such accidents in Fort Myers is often the drivers who try to save money on purchasing the necessary tires.
It is worth dispelling some misconceptions concerning the fact that it is safe to use winter tires in summer. This is not true. Spikes on the dry asphalt worsen the car’s grip, make the car skid more easily, and lengthen the braking distance. In addition, winter tires are quite soft, which is not the best way to affect the performance and handling of the vehicle.
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