As a passenger, you may trust your driver’s skills enough to not think twice about getting into the vehicle. Nowadays, people commonly get into strangers’ vehicles through rideshare services and often still do not think much about whether those people are safe drivers. You may have ridden in many vehicles without incident, but still, you are at risk of suffering injuries if a car accident takes place.
In particular, SUVs and other vehicles with higher centers of gravity, such as pickup trucks and vans, have a greater chance of rolling over in an accident. If you are a passenger in an SUV, you could easily suffer serious injuries in this type of event. If so, the driver could bear liability for damages you suffer.
Vehicles involved
When rollover accidents take place, there is the possibility of another vehicle’s involvement. However, the majority of rollover crashes that lead to deaths involve only one vehicle. In fact, in 85 percent of these fatal events, only the rolling vehicle was involved. As a result, drivers’ actions behind the wheel often contribute to these accidents.
Common accident-causing factors
A number of factors could play a part in a rollover accident taking place. Some of the aspects aside from driver actions that are often evident in these incidents include the conditions of the roadway and environmental factors, such as weather. When it comes to driver-related causes of rollover crashes, those factors include:
- Driving at excessive speeds
- Driving under the influence
- Driving while distracted
A commonality also exists between the locations of these incidents. Fatal rollover crashes have a tendency to occur on roadways in rural areas that lack dividers and barriers. These events also commonly happen on straight roads or while vehicles are traveling through curves. Because of the typical nature of these roads, evidence again points to driver errors and inattentiveness as major contributing factors.
Seeking compensation for injuries
If you suffered injuries in a rollover accident while a passenger or lost a loved one, you may have cause to seek compensation. The manner in which the incident occurred could provide vital information that could help you work toward obtaining monetary restitution for allowable damages. Exploring your personal injury or wrongful death claim options could help you determine what type action may best suit your circumstances.