Florida Injury Attorney

Driver Blames Injury Accident on Snakes Loose in His SUV

A driver who crashed his SUV and injured himself blamed the crash on two snakes that he said got loose from his pocket, according to an article on Yahoo.com. According to the article, the driver had the snakes in his pocket, they escaped and he and his passenger were trying to retrieve them when he crashed his vehicle.

This is a ridiculous story that does not sound credible, especially because the snakes were never found. However, it raises the question of what negligence means in the context of a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. In order for a person to recover damages for injuries or a death in an accident, that party has to show that the other party was partially or completely negligent in causing the crash. In most traffic crashes, negligence is easy to show because a driver ran a red light, was speeding, failed to stop and rear ended another vehicle and so on. However, other conduct indirectly related to the actual driving can contribute to a driver’s negligence. If a person has an animal in his/her car that distracts him from driving safely, that would be negligent driving. Using a cell phone or text messaging device while driving is negligent when it leads to an accident. Reaching for something on the floorboard or in the back seat can be negligence that causes a crash. Basically, any conduct by a driver that takes his/her attention away from the road can be negligence and used by an injured plaintiff against that driver in a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit. When a driver uses an excuse that he/she was preoccupied by something else while driving, that is rarely a valid defense and often is an indication of additional negligence.