Winter Car Accidents | Preszler Law Toronto Injury Lawyer

In this informative video, John Philip, a personal injury lawyer from Preszler Injury Lawyers, discusses the increased risk of motor vehicle accidents during the winter months due to icy roads and poor vehicle maintenance. While winter tires are not legally required, having them can enhance safety and may even lead to reduced insurance premiums. Philip emphasizes the importance of vehicle maintenance, such as ensuring headlights and wipers are functioning properly, and advises keeping maintenance records for potential litigation. He also clarifies misconceptions about injury compensation, explaining that while there is a cap on pain and suffering claims, future income loss can be pursued without a maximum limit. For more information, viewers are encouraged to reach out to Preszler Injury Lawyers.

All right, well, coming out of the forecast, we can see that yes, winter is coming. The roads are going to get icy, and snow and sleet will lead to an increase in motor vehicle accidents at this time of year. So, what happens if you get into one, and what happens if it's a result of poor car maintenance on your part or the party that hits you? John Philip is here, a personal injury lawyer from Preszler Injury Lawyers.

Let's start to break it down. Winter tires—do you have to have them on your car? Well, there's no legal requirement that you have winter tires on your car. However, this is our busiest time of year as personal injury lawyers. Accidents in December and January are very prevalent. People forget how to drive in the wintertime, and we see a lot of cases involving rear-end collisions where the person is not going very fast. If they had winter tires, there is a very good chance they would have been able to maintain traction and stop in time. So, while it's not a legal requirement for you to have winter tires, it could show up in litigation.

Additionally, if you get winter tires, you can potentially get a reduction in your insurance premiums as well. You should talk to your insurance company about that.

That's a very good point; you could very well have those rates reduced through the winter. So, does that also apply to the overall maintenance of the car? Absolutely. Before you get in your car, especially after the first snow of the year, make sure your headlights are cleaned off, ensure that your winter wipers are working, and confirm that you have done all of your due diligence before getting on the road to ensure that your vehicle is operating properly. I know this sounds like overkill, but you really should be checking these things before you get on the road.

To be quite honest, as a person who keeps okay files but not great ones, you need to keep all of these things. Every time you have maintenance done on your car, keep the records because, heaven forbid, you end up in a situation where you are being litigated; you might have to show that.

That's absolutely the case. If someone is involved in a motor vehicle accident, one of the first things we're going to look at is whether the person has taken care of their vehicle. Obviously, the circumstances of the accident are going to be important, but if the failure to maintain that vehicle factors into the accident, then that could potentially result in liability against the other driver.

So, if someone comes to you and they have a claim, these are all the things that you start to investigate, right? Absolutely. And, you know, when you look at having a lawsuit, we talked about this a little bit the last time I was here. You can look for injuries that the person has sustained, and you can actually get compensation for those injuries. We talked about that amount being capped at about $350,000.

This is so interesting because, last time you were here, we touched on this, and you said you received so many emails afterward. Right, I did, because people were a little bit confused. They wondered, "Why would I go for a lawsuit if the most I'm ever going to get is $350,000?" Well, that's actually not the case. The $350,000 is actually related to inflation; that's what the courts have said for your actual injury. So, the pain and suffering that someone has, no matter how serious the injury, that's the most you can get—approximately a $350,000 cap, correct?

Yes, but what's most important in these lawsuits is, let's say you have a 35-year-old gentleman who's making $50,000 a year and he's injured so seriously that he's never going to work again. In a civil lawsuit, you would actually look to the at-fault driver to make that person whole. You would pursue their future income loss up to age 65, which would be $50,000 a year for potentially 30 years.

And would that be in addition to the $350,000? Correct. I mean, obviously, depending on how serious the injuries are, but if you're looking at it that way, there’s no maximum on what you could be earning yearly.

There isn't, and it also depends on the person you are suing. It also depends on how much their insurance is for. You usually have liability insurance on your motor vehicle, typically up to a million dollars, and sometimes these lawsuits can go past that. That's when you get into a situation of personal liability.

Gotcha. All right, John Philip from Preszler Injury Lawyers, thank you.

Thank you. And if you have any personal injury questions for John and his team at Preszler Injury Lawyers, visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/MorningShow2. Now, here's Kim with a look at traffic.