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Auto Accidents

Car Accidents or Automobile Accidents

Car accidents are the most common type of claim for personal injury since most of us drive cars every day. Car accidents are unfortunately a common occurrence, and often preventable. Montana also has a higher rate of motor vehicle fatalities than the national rate (19 versus 11 per 100,000). There are approximately 2,000-3,000 car crashes in Montana a year, with typically over 1,000 injuries, and hundreds of serious injuries and fatalities. Montana keeps tabs on car accidents and Montana crash data can be found here. Here are some key numbers:

YearFatalitiesSerious InjuriesOther Injuries
201888224633
201784221669
201695267811
2015118295717
2014100246764
2013105315675
2012114360824

Montana Crash Data From mdt.mt.gov here.

If you have been injured in a car accident, you may be entitled to recover from the other driver or his/her employer, insurance proceeds either from your own insurance company or another driver’s insurance company, or other sources. If you are seriously injured, it is critical you contact us as soon as possible because we will investigate the possible causes of the crash and find all the sources for recovery.

Car Accident

There are many different automobile insurance policies and it may not be immediately clear that you are entitled to an insurance payment. Many car accidents are dictated by the applicable insurance. Common types of coverage include medical payments coverage, liability coverage, uninsured motorist coverage, and underinsured motorist coverage.

Automobile insurance contracts are complex but we have many years of experience dissecting insurance policies in car accidents. We have a track record of finding insurance coverage even in situations where the insurance company denies coverage altogether. We can help you recover all available insurance money from your accident to maximize recovery, and help pay your medical bills, wage loss, pain and suffering, and more. We can maximize your settlement or verdict. Serious injuries from car accidents require an expert Montana attorney.

We represent people injured in car accidents all across Montana. Our location in Polson does not limit our practice to Polson, the Flathead Reservation, Lake County, or Western Montana. We travel to meet clients, witness, take depositions and make court appearances all across Montana.

We maintain an active blog and you can find much more information regarding car accidents with these links:

Drunk Driving Accidents

The reason we care so much about car accidents is that we hope to make a difference in our cases. For every car accident case we pursue, bad drivers and their insurance companies are forced to be held accountable, which promotes safer driving in the future. This idea is particularly important in car accidents involving drunk driving, texting and driving (or other cell phone use while driving), and/or drug use and driving. We take these cases very seriously, because we don’t want it to happen to the next person.

Drinking and Driving

Drunk driving, or drug use, is year in year out one of the leaders in causing traffic accidents. From 2011-2015, 54% of motor vehicle related fatalities involved an impaired driver, either by drugs and/or alcohol, according to Montana crash data. Impaired driving is not only one of the leading preventable causes of the number of car accidents, but impaired driving often causes the most serious and deadly accidents. Drunk or drug driving accidents are typically severe, because the person is driving in a particularly egregious and likely fast manner.

Alcohol and drugs remove inhibitions, as well as affects motor skills and reflexes, a deadly combination. The result is a reckless driver who cannot act to prevent a crash. For instance, on a 10 year average, impaired driving contributed to 290 accidents involving injury per year, and out of those 290 a whopping 109 involved a fatality. That means that if you are involved in an accident causing injury with a drunk driver, there is a better than ⅓ chance someone will die.

We have unfortunately represented many victims of drunk and drug driving. We prosecute these cases aggressively so as to discourage this type of future behavior from the driver and their insurance company.

Texting and Driving, and otherwise Reckless Drivers

Texting and driving, or otherwise using a cell phone while driving, has soared up the list of causes for traffic accidents. Cell phones contribute to hundreds and perhaps thousands of deaths on our roads each year, according to National Highway and Safety data.

The National Safety Council estimates that 1.6 million accidents a year are in some way due to cell phone use, a truly staggering number. Click here for our Blog post on texting and driving accident statistics.

People love to text and drive, and are addicted to their phones. Furthermore, there is little done about it. Police officers are doing their best, but most of the time you cannot see a driver using a cell phone because it’s held below the window. People texting and driving are likely holding the phone in their lap or in the middle console, out of sight from onlookers.

Texting and Driving

Police simply do not have the time and resources to subpoena or investigate cell phone use in every accident, so unless the driver admits it, it goes undiscovered. We have discovered cell phone use in numerous cases where it was not discovered by law enforcement, or admitted to by the driver. We aggressively pursue cases including discovery aimed at finding out whether cell phone use was involved.

Every car accident case is different and if you are injured in an accident you should consider having an experienced advocate on your side. Call us at Duckworth Law to discuss your case, and click here to read more about steps to take when you have a personal injury claim from a car accident.

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The information on this website is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Nothing on this website is intended to create an attorney-client relationship. You should consult with an attorney regarding your individual case.