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As with any traffic accident, if you suffered injuries in a San Diego taxi cab accident, you may have the legal right to seek compensation for your expenses and the impacts your injury left on your life. Taxi accidents, however, come with unique legal challenges—they involve drivers and taxi companies, and on top of that, they require knowledge of the different set of complex laws and regulations that govern taxis and their insurance companies.
To untangle all of the legal issues involved in your case, you will need experienced San Diego personal injury lawyers.
Since our founding in 2005 by John Gomez—a Yale alumnus whom Super Lawyers named the number one attorney in San Diego two years in a row—Gomez Trial Attorneys have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of our clients.
No matter how a San Diego taxi cab crash happens, Gomez Trial Attorneys has the skill, experience, and resources to get crash victims the compensation they deserve for their injuries. We want to see how we can help you. Contact Gomez Trial Attorneys today and speak to an experienced San Diego car accident attorney learn more.
It was closing time at a popular nightclub in the Gaslamp Quarter. Club patrons gathered outside, waiting for rides and visiting with friends for a few more minutes before calling it a night. That was when a taxi cab driver plowed into a group of people standing outside the bar, injuring 35. Some were seriously hurt, including a woman whose leg was badly mangled when it was caught between the cab and the building.
In the moments after the accident, the crowd turned on the taxi driver, pulling him from the car and beating the man. The cab driver—an Egyptian immigrant who was reportedly exhausted and distraught over personal issues in the days leading up to the accident—suffered a broken nose, either as a result of the accident or the beating. Officers investigating the incident found evidence that the driver had fallen asleep just before crashing into the crowd.
The 2011 accident at the Stingaree nightclub was an extreme example of a San Diego-area taxi accident. Most accidents involving local cabs do not cause such widespread damage or garner so much media coverage. Still, accidents involving taxis do happen each year throughout San Diego, and they can cause catastrophic and even fatal injuries.
Taxi cab drivers, like other drivers, make mistakes and succumb to distractions that lead to accidents. If anything, taxi cab drivers face heightened risks of making these mistakes, because they often work long shifts and drive late at night, during times when their bodies’ natural sleep cycle makes them feel excessively fatigued.
Driving while fatigued produces similar effects as driving while alcohol impaired, degrading the driver’s reaction time, awareness of hazards, and ability to maintain control. Drowsy drivers are three times more likely to be involved in an accident than those who are well-rested, which is why fatigued driving results in more than 328,000 accidents and around 5,000 fatalities in the United States each year.
Fatigue is not the only contributor to San Diego taxi cab accidents, however. Other common causes of these crashes include:
Taxi drivers do not necessarily cause all of the accidents that involve their cabs, of course. Any one of the causes above can stem from other drivers’ behavior, too. For example, one accident happened because a drunk driver (not a cab driver) got onto the highway traveling in the wrong direction. The California Highway Patrol received multiple calls from travelers in multiple locations alerting them to the wrong-way driver. However, they couldn’t catch the driver before she slammed into a taxi cab, killing the taxi driver and his two passengers. The wrong-way driver also died in the crash.
Victims of San Diego taxi accidents often suffer catastrophic (even fatal) injuries. In our legal system, those victims typically have a legal right to receive compensation from the party with liability for causing the crash. Liability is a legal term for fault or responsibility, and it—along with damages—forms the foundation of personal injury cases.
Lawyers for victims of San Diego taxi accidents may try to prove:
San Diego taxi cab crashes could involve a broad range of individuals and corporate entities who may have legal liability to crash victims.
To name just a few of the usual suspects the team at Gomez Trial Attorneys may look at as potential parties with liability:
These are just some of the parties who could have legal liability to victims of San Diego taxi cab accidents. Every crash is different. The important thing to understand is that at Gomez Trial Attorneys, we understand the critical importance of examining the facts and circumstances of a taxi accident to make sure we identify all parties who could owe damages to our clients. Our team always aims to give our clients the best possible chance of recovering maximum compensation for their injuries and losses.
Regulations promulgated by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) set forth the requirements for driving a cab in America’s Finest City. Taxi drivers and the companies who employ them must apply for a permit from MTS before they begin transporting passengers.
The requirements to apply include:
In addition, prospective taxi drivers must drive:
Evidence that a cab driver or cab company did not follow these regulations may help to prove liability to a San Diego taxi cab accident victim. At Gomez Trial Attorneys, we investigate all aspects of a cab crash, in case a regulatory violation played a role in our client’s injuries.
In addition to the regulations listed above, taxi cab passengers should also demand that any taxi they ride in observes the San Diego taxi passenger bill of rights issued by MTS.
Those rights include:
Violation of any of these rights by a cab driver could indicate an unsafe driver. Tell an attorney at Gomez Trial Attorneys if you observed a cab driver failing to follow any of these rules in connection with the crash that injured you or a loved one.
If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of having gotten into a San Diego taxi cab accident, keep the following tips in mind to protect your health, safety, well-being, and legal rights:
John Gomez, Taxi Accident Lawyer
Stay at the scene if you are a cab passenger. Some cab passengers involved in a crash may feel tempted to get out of the cab and walk away, figuring the accident is the cab driver’s problem, not their own. We understand that sentiment, but leaving the scene is a big mistake. The police may want to speak with you. More importantly, you may need medical care. Also, if you walk away, then it may become far more difficult to prove the link between the accident and any injuries you turn out to have suffered.
The team at Gomez Trial Attorneys has the resources, experience, and know-how to get results for victims of San Diego-area traffic accidents involving taxi cabs. Contact our award-winning taxi cab accident injury attorneys today online or at (619) 237-3490 for a free, confidential, no-obligation case evaluation.
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