Marlboro Township Car Accident Lawyers
Like road users throughout the United States, drivers in Marlboro Township are at risk of becoming involved in a car accident. The areas highways and heavily traveled thoroughfares are too often the sites of serious crashes, but there are plenty of deadly accidents that occur on smaller roads, even in residential areas. Although local officials are constantly working to make the areas roads safer, drivers themselves have a clear role to play in reducing the number of car accidents in Marlboro Township.
What Are Common Causes of Car Accidents in Marlboro Township?
Anyone who gets behind the wheel of a car should know that certain driving behaviors are more likely to cause car accidents. Taking risks and cutting corners can have dire consequences when you are operating a motor vehicle. Unfortunately, these dangerously risky behaviors are all too common on the roads throughout Marlboro Township and elsewhere. Some of these driving behaviors are listed below:
- Speeding
- Running red lights
- Tailgating
- Dangerous lane changes
- Road rage
- Distracted driving
- Drowsy driving
- Drunk driving
What Types of Car Accidents Happen in Marlboro Township?
Like other similar suburban areas, the road map of Marlboro Township is made up of a small residential streets broken up by larger multi-lane roads with a few major highways running through. This variety of traffic settings opens drivers up to many kinds of driving dangers to anticipate.
Drivers in Marlboro Township, like those in other similar driving environments, must remain vigilant and cautious of all types of accidents, including the following:
- Rear-impact
- Sideswipe
- T-bone crash
- Head-on collisions
- Multi-car pile-up
What Kinds of Injuries Are Common in Marlboro Township Car Accidents?
Lacerations. Deep cuts and other flesh wounds are not always life threatening, but they can cause serious damage and leave significant scarring.
Bone injuries. Broken bones and fractures are common car accident injuries. Sometimes a bone is shattered or broken in such a way that it cannot heal properly. Some bone injuries may permanently cause a limb to be misshapen or shorter than normal.
Whiplash. Possibly the most common head or neck injury to occur in car accidents is whiplash. This soft tissue injury can cause invisible damage that can cause disruptive and unbearable pain.
Lost limbs. Whether through a gruesome dismemberment or a necessary medical amputation, the loss of a limb is often a truly traumatizing event.
Internal organ damage. Trauma to vital organs can cause life-long impairment or organ failure and death.
Brain injuries. Car accidents that result in a brain injury are some of the most devastating. Patients with brain injuries may need extensive medical treatments and possibly ongoing round-the-clock care.
Death. Losing a loved one in a car accident can be life shattering. If that person was a parent or family provider, many other lives can be ruined from the effects of the loss on the family’s structure and financial security.
What Types of Compensation Are Available after a Car Accident in New Jersey?
New Jersey car insurance should cover the repair or replacement of any physical property damaged in a car accident, which usually refers to the vehicles involved but can also mean a set of expensive golf clubs in the trunk that have been damaged in the collision.
Car insurance in New Jersey should also cover the costs of a personal injury, including medical bills associated with the collision as well as the replacement of income that was lost while the person was recovering from the accident.
Unfortunately, not all drivers have the same level of coverage.
How Do the Car Insurance Laws in New Jersey Affect Compensation?
According to New Jersey law, drivers must have car insurance. Licensed drivers in the state should carry personal injury protection (PIP) as part of their policy. This coverage should pay for the costs of any injury to the driver or anyone listed on the policy, such as their spouse or child.
New Jersey law requires that drivers purchase at least a basic policy, but that barebones option is not available to all drivers, and it is a good option only for new drivers or those with few assets at stake if they are deemed liable in an accident. Basic coverage may only cover up to $5,000 in property damage per accident and may not include any coverage at all for bodily damage liability. Importantly, choosing a basic policy puts limits on a driver’s ability to sue if they become injured in an accident caused by another driver.
For this reason, drivers with more than basic coverage should purchase personal injury insurance to protect themselves and their loved ones; basic coverage includes only $15,000 in coverage per person per accident, whereas a standard policy offers the option for a higher limit. If you suffer injuries caused by another driver, your PIP coverage will allow you to go through your own insurance to pay for medical and other costs of your accident.
Basic car insurance policy holders will be limited in their ability to sue, if they are hurt in an accident caused by someone else.
Standard policy holders may be similarly limited, depending on if they opted to include, and pay for, so-called right to sue coverage that would allow them to sue for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, which are not addressed in PIP coverage. These options include:
Unlimited right to sue. This option will allow you to sue someone responsible for any car accident injury you suffer.
Limited right to sue. This option will allow you to sue the at-fault party in your accident for only certain injuries, which include the following:
- Loss of body part
- Significant disfigurement or significant scarring
- A displaced fracture
- Loss of a fetus
- Permanent injury that is not expected to heal or function normally in the future
- Death
How Do Shared Liability Laws Limit the Amount of Damages?
New Jersey adheres to the rules of modified comparative negligence when it comes to fault and compensation in car accident cases. This means that if you are found to be at fault in an accident in which you were injured, you may not be able to collect 100 percent of the cost of your losses.
For example, if you made a turn without your turn signal and a speeding drunk driver rammed into your car, you still may bear some responsibility for failing to signal. Perhaps the court would determine that you were 20 percent at fault in your own accident. If you suffered damages that totaled $50,000, you would only be able to collect on 80 percent of that total, or $40,000.
Modified comparative negligence rules, which exist in most states, determine that you can collect damages from another at-fault party in a car accident only if you are less than 50 percent at fault for the accident yourself. By contrast, true comparative negligence laws allow people to claim damages even if they were more than 50 percent at fault.
Washington, D.C. and states such as Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia are ruled by a different system, contributory negligence, which holds that drivers who bear any responsibility for their own accident are barred from collecting any compensation at all.
Marlboro Car Accident Lawyers at Mikita & Roccanova Represent Clients Seriously Injured in Collisions
If you were seriously hurt in a car accident in Marlboro Township, reach out to the Marlboro car accident lawyers at Mikita & Roccanova. Our experienced legal team can support your case by identifying the at-fault party, securing evidence of your claim, and building a case for recovering appropriate damages for your losses. Call us at 732-705-3363 or contact us online today to schedule a free consultation. Located in Hazlet and Highland Park, New Jersey, we serve clients throughout Ocean County, Sussex County, Neptune, Middlesex County, and Pennsylvania.