Updated on: 10/15/2020
Two people were injured Wednesday night after a DUI chain-reaction collision sending one vehicle off of I-5 in South Seattle.
The accident took place just after 6 p.m. Wednesday evening when a van heading South on I-5 approaching Airport way reportedly suddenly hit the breaks, causing another driver to swerve to avoid a collision.
According to State Troopers, the swerving vehicle then struck a third vehicle, sending it rolling off of the freeway, landing on its roof.
Two of the three individuals in the vehicle that fell were injured and taken to Harborview medical center for treatment.
State troopers confirmed one driver was arrested for suspicion of DUI.
Chain Reaction And DUI Collisions
One potentially complicating factor of this collision for those impacted by it is the chain reaction element potentially muddying the waters of determining liability.
Liability, or determining fault is accomplished by applying the standard of reasonable care, or duty of due care to drivers involved in the collision.
A driver's standard of reasonable care is simply the expectation that they act in any given scenario on the road as any reasonable person could be expected to, and violations of this, including violations of the law, traffic code, or even just the expected actions of other reasonable drivers.
Drunk driving is certainly considered a violation of said standard but in this case, it has not been released which party the drunk driving charges are connected to.
If the alleged drunk driver was not the initial driver who caused the accident but was the driver who struck the vehicle, sending them off of the freeway, a case could be made for comparative negligence between the two of them, making each of the drivers in some way at fault for violating the standards.
This could potentially allow an accident victim a greater recovery not limited by the insurance limits of a single policy, but opening up the possibility to claim a recovery from both.
Cases involving comparative negligence are complex and may require an expert team of car accident attorneys to get accident victims the best result possible.
Davis Law Group offers accident victims and their loved ones free, no-obligation case evaluations to help set accident victims on the right path for recovery.
You can request your free case evaluation from the team at Davis Law Group 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 206-727-4000 or by using the chat or contact options on this page.
