If you are anywhere in Delano or Kern County when you or a loved one are injured in a rideshare accident, as a passenger or someone hit by a Lyft driver, don’t wait to contact a legal expert. Learning about the rights you have as a victim and the complexities of an accident claim against a billion-dollar rideshare company may keep you from throwing away thousands of dollars in compensation.
Reach out to a local rideshare accident lawyer who has experience protecting victims and helping them heal without the worry of extreme medical bills and the fear of missing car and rent payments. We offer a free evaluation of your case without any obligation to us.
Lyft Driver Accident Dangers in Delano
The day can take you down to High Street for some food or shopping or across town to bring the kids to Cecil Park for some fun and games. You might even need to hitch a ride down to Bakersfield for a meeting. These are all prime situations to open up your Lyft app and request a ride.
The problem with that urge to hail a Lyft car is that it puts a lot of extra drivers on the road and those rideshare employees can get caught up in their duties behind the wheel and forget their duties to be safe drivers. Their cellphones can draw attention away with each notification from work and can lead to several seconds of “driving blind.” Passengers may also provide a distraction that can lead to a Lyft car heading straight for you.
Distracted driving is a known danger that claims thousands of lives each year. The Insurance Information Institute (III) found that in 2018 there were 2,648 fatal crashes blamed on distracted drivers, with 14% of those accidents known to have involved cellphone usage. Distracted driving accounted for 8% of all fatal crashes across the nation that year. And there are likely many more distracted driving accidents that get blamed on some other factor.
What to Do After an Accident with a Lyft Vehicle
You may not have been responsible for your accident, but just being in the right isn’t always enough to protect you from blame. Insurance companies may still try to assign liability to you despite what a police accident report says.
That’s why it’s important to collect the facts on an accident scene before the opportunity passes. This is especially important when you deal with a giant company to try to earn injury compensation to get your hospital bills covered.
If you are physically strong enough after an accident, try to collect this evidence after a crash:
- Call 911. Give a full report on injuries to paramedics. Tell the police what happened and make sure they know who the driver works for.
- Take photos of the scene. Get images of any signs or stickers identifying a Lyft vehicle and employee. Take pictures of the damage to the vehicles involved, any visible injuries, and street signs and lane markings. Note the time of day and weather conditions when the collision happened.
- Look around for security cameras. Note the possibility of surveillance from homes or businesses nearby that might have captured video evidence. Your attorney can work to secure footage later.
- Talk to witnesses on the scene. That may include a passenger in the rideshare car. Find out what they saw and see if they’ll write down a statement and sign it or record a statement on video talking about what they saw. Get their contact info.
- Exchange information with the Lyft driver, but don’t make any statements about the accident to the driver or anyone representing Lyft. These statements can be evidence for the other side later.
- See your physician. Get full documentation on immediate injuries and any injuries that appear in the days to come.
Earning Compensation from Lyft After an Accident
Lyft does carry substantial insurance protection for accidents caused by their drivers, but it’s meant to be supplemental to the driver’s own car insurance. That means you’ll have to file your injury claim with the driver’s policy first.
This is often a delay tactic because car insurance companies don’t always cover accidents that happen while their policyholders are working for a rideshare company.
If the driver’s coverage refuses to help or doesn’t offer enough in support for the victim, then Lyft may be called upon. The accident must meet certain criteria first though. The driver must’ve been on the clock (logged into the Lyft App) for Lyft’s insurance to kick in after an accident. If the driver had a passenger in the car or was on the way to pick up a passenger then an up to one million dollar insurance policy can be drawn from.
If the driver was logged on but didn’t have a ride request at the time of a collision, a 100,000 insurance policy can apply. In some cases, injured victims can find they’ll get no help from the driver or Lyft. They may be able to file a claim against their own insurance policy under the uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
Contact a Rideshare Accident Lawyer Serving Delano
As you can see, you might be having to call upon three or more insurance companies if you wind up injured in an accident involving a Lyft vehicle. The more insurance companies possibly involved, the more you’ll likely need a lawyer of your own to help protect you from insurance bad faith practices and the lawyers that Lyft will likely bring in to pick your case apart.
Don’t give up valuable compensation you may need to pay for extended medical care in the future and cover lost time at work. Talk to a rideshare accident attorney protecting victims in Delano and across Kern County. We offer you a free consultation on your case and will make sure you’re informed of your rights as a victim of Lyft.
