Posts Tagged ‘honesdale’

The Pennsylvania Legislature is currently reviewing proposed legislation that would ban all cell phone use while driving in Pennsylvania, including talking and texting use of any PDA.  One of the main issues that remains to be determined is whether the ban would be considered a primary offense or a secondary offense.  A primary offense is one in which a police officer could stop a motorist for performing.  A secondary offense is only actionable by a police officer if the driver could be stopped for some other motor vehicle violation such as speeding or an inactive tail light.

As cell phone use has become more prevalent, their use by drivers has been the cause of  more and more accidents due to driver distraction.  If you are in an accident, you should try to determine if the other driver who caused the accident was using a cell phone that distracted his attention at the time of the accident.

If you are injured in an auto accident or a truck accident in Pennsylvania due to someone else’s negligence or carelessness, you should call the attorneys at Dougherty Leventhal & Price, L.L.P. for a free consultation regarding your rights.  The lawyers at DLP have been representing injured auto accident and truck accident victims for over 25 years in Northeastern Pennsylvania, including victims in Lackawanna County, Luzerne County, Monroe County, Pike County, Wayne County, Wyoming County, Bradford County, Sullivan County, Lycoming County, Susquehanna County, Schuylkill County, Montour County, Columbia County and Tioga County.  DLP has offices in Moosic, PA, Kingston, PA, Hazleton, PA and Honesdale, PA.

Sarah was traveling south on Main Street in Honesdale in the left hand lane. Suddenly, a vehicle being driven by an out-of-state driver came out of 9th Street and made an illegal turn to the right, as if to head north on Main Street. It seemed like a fraction of a second before the two vehicles collided head on. Sarah sustained a serious injury to her back and neck as a result of the collision and eventually brought suit against the out-of-state driver.

The attorney for the out-of-state driver argued that Sarah was comparatively negligent in causing the accident because had she simply pulled over into the right hand lane, she may well have avoided the accident or, at least, avoided the head-on collision.

Issue: Will Sarah be held to be at fault to any degree in this accident?

Answer: In all likelihood, not. There exists in Pennsylvania a doctrine referred to as the “Sudden Emergency Doctrine.” This doctrine stands for the principle that when an individual or, in this case a driver, is confronted with a sudden emergency caused by the negligence of another, that somebody like Sarah is not held to the same standard of care as a driver would be who would have a more significant time to respond to the emergency. Sarah was confronted with a situation wherein she was presented with an immediate threat of danger. Her failure to do exactly what she should have done under the circumstances, which would have been to try to move over, will be excused. In all likelihood, she will receive 100% of whatever damages are awarded to her.

Disclaimer: The above article is for instructive purposes only and each case is fact sensitive. Consultation with an attorney should be obtained instead of reliance upon the legal issues discussed in this column.