If you drive in Denver or Colorado Springs, Colorado, you already know that winter weather can quickly turn the roads into an ice rink. In fact, 17 percent of all auto accidents are winter driving accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

While you can’t control how other motorists drive, there are plenty of things you can do to keep yourself as safe as possible on the roads. When the snow starts falling, follow these tips to ensure you get through the winter without experiencing an auto accident.

Be Prepared

Winter weather can sneak up on you. In Denver, it can be sunny and pleasant one day and icy and bitterly cold the next.

This is why it’s important to winterize your vehicle well before cold weather arrives. It’s a good idea to get your vehicle checked over by a mechanic, who can inspect the tires and engine, as well as top off your vehicle’s fluids. You should also replace your car’s wiper blades.

If you do a lot of rural or off-road driving, you may want to switch to snow tires. Good tires can help you avoid a serious car accident.

It’s also a good idea to test your vehicle’s battery and replace it if needed.

Check the Weather Forecast Before You Drive

Before you leave for your destination, take a look at the weather forecast. This way, you can alter your route if needed. You should also give yourself extra time if the weather looks bad.

Remove Snow from Your Vehicle

Just about everyone has had the experience of driving down the highway and spotting a car covered in snow. Perhaps you’ve even driven behind someone whose car is shedding snow, flinging ice missiles all over the road — and your windshield.  

When motorists neglect to clear their vehicles of ice and snow, they create a hazard for everyone on the road. When a driver can’t see due to a build-up of snow or ice on their vehicle, they risk being involved in a serious crash like a rear-end collision, side impact crash, or T-bone accident.

If you have the misfortune of being involved in a side impact accident or T-bone accident, it’s important to contact AGG Law Firm your Denver & Colorado Springs, Colorado car accident lawyers who can help you sort out the details of the car accident.

Slow Your Speed

Excessive speed makes it more difficult to stop. In icy or snowy weather, slick roads can send a car hurtling into another vehicle, creating a serious rear impact accident. By slowing down, you can decrease the risk of being involved in a car accident.

Increase Following Distance

Avoid following cars in front of you too closely. When ice builds up on the roads, it typically takes a car longer to come to a complete stop. If you’re following the car in front of you too closely, you could cause a rear-end collision.

If you’ve been involved in a rear-end impact accident, get in touch with AGG Law Firm your Colorado & Colorado Springs, Colorado car accident lawyers. We regularly handle rear-end impact accidents.  

The six-second rule: A good rule of thumb is to pinpoint an object on the side of the road, such as a road sign. As the vehicle in front of you passes it, start counting. There should be a minimum of six seconds between the time the vehicle ahead of you passes the sign and your vehicle passes the sign.

Don’t Make Abrupt Motions

Avoid jerking your wheel around or passing other vehicles with short, abrupt motions as you drive. Any sudden movement with your car’s tires can send you into a skid, resulting in a car accident.

Instead, take your time when you drive, and use slow, gradual movements if you need to pass someone.

Learn How to Recover from Sliding and Skidding

It’s human instinct to jerk a steering wheel in the opposite direction when your car starts sliding or skidding.

However, the best way to get out of a skid or slide is to turn your wheel into the direction of the slide or skid. If you begin sliding or skidding, you should also avoid slamming on the brakes. Instead, tap them gently as you turn into the direction of the slide or skid.

Don’t Get Distracted

It can be tempting to check your text or email when you’re stuck in slow-moving snowy traffic. However, even a moment’s distraction can lead to a side impact crash, SUV rollover, or T-bone accident. Serious distractions behind the wheel can even lead to a catastrophic head-on collision.

It’s quite common for people in snowy climates to drive trucks and SUVs. Unfortunately, these large vehicles can cause serious physical injuries in an auto accident.

If you’ve been injured in a car accident involving an SUV, contact Alhasoon, Glidden & Glidden your auto accident attorneys in Denver or Colorado Springs, Colorado. We have extensive experience handling SUV rollover accidents, head-on collisions, and other serious SUV collisions.

Always Signal When You Turn

Just because you’re moving slowly in icy or snowy weather doesn’t mean you can skip using your turn signal. In low visibility, using your turn signal helps other drivers know where you intend to move.

Avoid Using Cruise Control

Cruise control can be a convenience, but it can also increase your risk of an accident in winter weather.

In winter weather, you want as much control over your vehicle as possible. Skip the cruise control so you can stay safer behind the wheel.

Contact AGG Law Firm your Denver & Colorado Springs, Colorado Car Accident Lawyers 

No matter how carefully you drive, auto accidents can still happen. If you’ve been involved in any kind of winter weather car accident, our experienced Denver & Colorado Springs, car accident lawyers can help.

Don’t wait call the experienced car accident attorneys at Alhasoon, Glidden & Glidden to see how we can help you with your case.      

Hopefully you’ll never be involved in a rideshare car accident. But, with services like Lyft and Uber widening their footprint exponentially, the chances that a car accident might involve someone driving for one of the rideshare companies is increasing. So, it’s wise to understand the vagaries of this kind of accident should you, or a loved one, ever need to navigate them.

Are Uber & Lyft Causing More Car Accidents?

According to a new study from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, yes. But not because they’re more dangerous than any other cars on the road. When ridesharing options arrive on the scene in an area, an increase of 2-3 percent in motor vehicle fatalities and fatal accidents can be expected. The study, entitled “The Cost of Convenience: Ridesharing and Traffic Fatalities,” reports that this increase is not only for vehicle occupants, but also for pedestrians.

Why would Uber and Lyft increase the number of car accidents in a given area? For two reasons, according to the study. First, the arrival of Lyft and Uber businesses means that some vehicles–those that are participating in the rideshare services–are on the road more. People who might previously have walked, taken public transportation, or simply waited longer for a taxi, now have the option of summoning a new car onto the road. Thus, there is additional congestion in the area, and more congestion brings more accidents. The second piece is that the introduction of ridesharing in a particular area also seems to bring with it new car registrations, meaning more vehicles that will be adding to that congestion. It’s possible that those who previously did not require a vehicle–or a second vehicle for their family–buy and register a car in order to participate in the new business opportunity that is now available in their community. What the study does not claim is that rideshare operators are inherently more likely to cause accidents or injuries than other drivers.

Car Accidents are on the Rise

So, when Lyft and Uber come to town, you can expect more car accidents and injuries to occur. That’s terrible news at face value, especially when combined with the fact that road fatalities in the U.S. have been rising for years. In 2015, in fact, road fatalities jumped by 7.2 percent–the largest increase in 50 years.

If you are hit by an Uber or Lyft driver, legal publishers NOLO remind you that some of the same rules that apply to other accidents apply to this one. Two big things need to be determined: who was at fault for the accident, and how badly the person hurt was injured. If the person who was at fault was operating a rideshare at the time, then that’s the person who any claim should be filed against. Before determinations of fault take place, however, there are a number of things that should be done right away.

What to Do After an Uber or Lyft Car Accident:

1. Seek medical treatment – If you’re injured in any car accident urgent care should be your first thought. Depending on the severity of the accident, a trip to the emergency room may be warranted. But whether you head to the E.R., the closest urgent care center, or to your primary care physician, get checked out by a medical expert as soon as you are able. The injuries of everyone involved should be both evaluated and documented by a medical professional as soon after the incident as possible.
2. Gather everyone’s contact information –This first step is the same as it would be after any accident. Get the names, contact information, and insurance details of every party who was involved. If anyone other than those involved in the accident saw it occur, gather their contact information, as well. They could be valuable witnesses.
3. Photograph the scene. That includes the vehicles–their placement and their condition–as well as anything else that may be important in describing or validating the scene later on.
4. Call the police before you leave the scene of the accident – In a car accident where a rideshare driver is not involved, you might decide not to call the police if only minor property damage occurred, NOLO notes. In the case of a rideshare car accident, however, they recommend calling the police regardless of the extent of the damage. This will automatically generate a police report, and that will mean that all the official details of the incident will have been independently verified.
5. Know that you’re probably covered – There may be some legal trickiness surrounding whose insurance gets tapped first–the rideshare company’s or the driver’s personal insurance. But the good news is that rideshare drivers are likely carrying insurance. Both Lyft and Uber require their operators to carry their own up-to-date insurance which meets or exceeds state requirements. Additionally, both Lyft and Uber have now begun carrying liability car insurance coverage for their drivers. When it comes time to determine whose coverage applies, it will come down to whether the operator was actually working at the time. If the driver was not logged into the rideshare app at the time of the accident, the company’s insurance would not apply.
6. Talk to an auto accident lawyer – Some of the legal details surrounding car accidents that involve Uber or Lyft are straightforward. But not all of them are. And, since both services are still relatively new, some of the legal aspects of car accidents surrounding a rideshare driver have yet to be fully worked out. NOLO suggests, since courts are still handing down rulings regarding rideshare car accidents, that you call a car accident attorney for counsel.
7. Understand your rights as a passenger – If you’re the passenger inside a rideshare, rather than the driver of another car, know that any injuries you suffer may well be covered by the rideshare company’s insurance. A car accident lawyer can help you to understand your rights and manage communication between you and the parties involved.

Work with Alhasoon, Glidden & Glidden. If you’ve been involved in a car accident in Denver, or Colorado Springs, Colorado, a car accident lawyer at AGG Law Firm is available to discuss your injuries with you and determine the best path forward.

The average driver of a passenger vehicle encounters big rig trucks, 18-wheelers, buses and other massive commercial vehicles every day during their commute, as the drivers of these huge vehicles must share the road with us. We are all responsible for a standard of care to one another to ensure safety. Truck drivers are required to go through training and certification to standardize practices when it comes to the rules of the road. However, problems occur when these rules are ignored, overlooked, or forgotten and that’s when a truck accident occurs.

In Colorado, our experience is that driver negligence is the single most common reason for truck accidents on the road. When you’re a victim of a crash with a semi-truck, bus, or other large commercial vehicle, the next steps are vital. While you’re receiving full medical attention for your injuries from the truck accident, you should also be simultaneously pursuing legal action against a trucking company and its insurers.

The goal for our truck accident clients in Pueblo and other Colorado communities is to obtain the very best settlement for damages attained during the accident. Here are the essential next steps for what you need to do after a truck accident:

Stay at The Crash Site

Remain at the scene until both the police and emergency medical crews have arrived. Try to leave the vehicle in the position where it came to rest after the crash, this will preserve any evidence of what caused the wreck, along with the damages and any injuries from the truck accident. This is not always possible, so place a priority on safety.

Call 911 For Help

These large truck collisions typically result in severe injury due to the sheer size of the truck involved in the accident. Safety is your top priority after a truck accident in Pueblo. If you can, call emergency services immediately by dialing 911. The police can help gather eyewitness accounts while creating a crash report.

Take Photos, Capture Video, Record Audio

The immediate crash scene provides the strongest opportunity to capture the evidence you will need later to prove you were harmed due to negligence.  If your injuries permit, take photos of the damage to any vehicle involved, the intersections or significant landmarks, take note of skid marks and any other details that tell the story of the accident.

Having a fresh record of the facts and what happened can be critical- details tend to change or can be forgotten with the passage of time. Remember, truck accident lawsuits can take months or longer to reach a conclusion. Keep these safe for your own records and make backups.

Exchange Information with Other Drivers

You will absolutely need this information later, so if possible, gather the following information from other drivers involved:

Name

Phone Number

Driver’s License Number

License Plate Number

Insurance Carrier/Name of Agent

Insurance Policy Number

Don’t Make Statements About the Crash

Insurance companies make it a goal to settle early and for as little as money as possible. Do not make statements about the crash without speaking to a truck accident lawyer first. A witness could have seen the other driver texting, a stop light may have been malfunctioning. Even if you have a sense of responsibility for the accident, take some time, get a lawyer, and ask the appropriate questions.

Have Your Case Evaluated By A Truck Accident Lawyer

It’s important to have an experienced advocate on your side. Someone who understands how to fight big insurance companies that pour massive amounts of money into protecting truck drivers. You do not have to go at it alone, contact Alhasoon, Glidden & Glidden today!