Looking where you are going is an important part of driving safely, as anyone with whom you are involved in a fender bender will angrily remind you. When you are driving, though, you need to look in more than one more place. In fact, you need to see some places that are not easy to see, given the position of your eyes when you are sitting in the driver's seat of a car. This is why cars have mirrors and why driver's ed teachers are always reminding you which mirror to look at and when. Even when you become adept at doing this, there are still certain places near your car that are hard to see. These are called blind spots, and they contribute to many car accidents each year. A Spokane auto accident lawyer can help you if you were injured in a car accident that involved one car driving in another's blind spot.

Coping With Motor Vehicle Blind Spots

To tell where the blind spots are in your car, sit in the driver's seat and look straight ahead. Then, without moving your head or body, look in your rearview mirror and both of your sideview mirrors. Any place that you cannot see is a blind spot. See if you can reduce your blind spots by adjusting your mirrors for maximum visibility. Even with perfectly adjusted mirrors, it is not possible to get a truly panoramic view of your car. Rear-facing cameras have eliminated some blind spots, and some cars display alerts in your sideview mirror if another car is in your blind spot.

The biggest blind spot-related hazards are when a car in an adjacent lane is passing by. When you are driving in traffic, other cars pass in and out of your car's blind spots all the time, and this usually does not cause any problems. Collisions can happen when one driver changes lanes and does not notice another car in their blind spot. Accidents like this do not usually cause severe injuries, but even relatively minor injuries can cause severe financial distress.

In a car accident where one car changes lanes and strikes another vehicle in its blind spot, most or all of the fault for the accident usually belongs to the car that changed lanes. The car that is staying in its lane has the right of way, and merging vehicles must yield to it; this means that it is the merging driver's responsibility to figure out when it is safe to move into the new lane. Furthermore, it takes a lot of effort to intentionally stay in another driver's blind spot for a long time; the driver in the destination lane is unlikely to be at fault unless there is evidence that they intentionally caused the accident.

Contact West Law Office About Car Accident Cases

A premises liability lawyer can help you if you were injured when another driver struck your car because he or she was not paying enough attention to the car's blind spot. Contact West Law Office in Spokane, Washington, to find out more about your legal options.