Your motor insurance coverage may or may not cover hydroplane incidents, depending on your policy. If your car hydroplanes and causes an accident, collision coverage will cover the damage to your vehicle. Furthermore, if you strike someone else in a hydroplane car accident and are determined to be at fault following an investigation by your insurer, your liability coverage may cover the other party’s injuries and vehicle damage.
Is hydroplaning an at fault accident?
The driver who caused an accident while hydroplaning is usually to blame. While some car collisions are caused by a lack of visibility due to torrential rain or blinding snow, hydroplaning is the cause of many bad weather accidents.
What Is Hydroplaning?
The term “hydroplaning” is used to describe a vehicle slipping or sliding across a wet surface. While this can happen on any wet road, the first 10 minutes of a light rain are the most dangerous, as the water mixes with the oil residue on the road. When the vehicle’s tires come into contact with more water than they can displace, hydroplaning occurs. The residual water under the tire might remove it from the road surface, resulting in traction loss. When this happens, the driver’s steering and brakes may become uncontrollable.
Who Is Liable?
While the driver of a hydroplaning vehicle is usually held liable for a collision, other people may be held liable in specific cases. The following are examples of such parties:
- Manufacturers of tires. In the event of an accident, the manufacturer of a vehicle’s tires may be held liable. For example, hydroplaning can be caused by tire treads that are too shallow owing to a manufacturing mistake.
- Governments at the local or state level. A buildup of water on the road owing to poor maintenance or construction can cause hydroplaning accidents. Excess water can collect due to design defects and poor gutter maintenance, increasing the risk of hydroplaning. If road safety laws and regulations are not followed in Texas, government bodies responsible for road construction and maintenance may be held liable.
Receiving Compensation
Multiple people may be held accountable if you were injured in a hydroplaning accident. You’ll need an expert attorney who knows how to conduct a competent investigation to assess culpability for your injuries if you want to get the compensation you deserve. Visit our Facebook page to learn more about what the law offices of Steve M. Lee, P.C., can do for you.
Does comprehensive insurance cover hydroplaning?
Hydroplaning, believe me, is a highly dangerous and frightening condition. When this happens, your automobile is literally off the road, with a layer of water between your tires and the ground. You can easily lose control of your car during this period, which is usually when it is raining outdoors. Maintaining your tires, driving slower, and avoiding large puddles are some methods for preventing your automobile from hydroplaning. Remove your foot from the gas and wait to steer through the skid if you hydroplane. You’ll be glad you have Massachusetts auto insurance to cover you if you can’t prevent hydroplaning.
Collision coverage on your Massachusetts auto insurance protects you in the event of a collision with another vehicle. This coverage may be useful if you collide with another vehicle or if you collide with another person, if you hydroplane, or in a variety of other situations. Your car insurance also includes comprehensive coverage. If your car is damaged, comprehensive coverage protects you from any damage that is not caused by a collision. Because these areas of coverage are crucial in a variety of situations, including hydroplaning, talk to an agent about whether to keep or add more to your policy.
Does insurance cover water damage car?
Depending on the reason, comprehensive coverage on a car insurance policy can assist cover certain types of water damage to your vehicle. If your vehicle is damaged by hail or water, for example, comprehensive coverage may help pay for repairs or replacement.
What type of accident is hydroplaning?
Hydroplaning is a dangerous driving condition in which the tires of a vehicle lose traction and contact with the road surface. This is usually caused by a considerable amount of water getting between your tires and the road. Hydroplaning can also happen when it’s snowing.
When a car hydroplanes, the driver may experience a jolt and lose control of the vehicle. Depending on how much water is on the road and how worn the tires are on a car, this could last a short time or a long time. Because of the lack of control over a vehicle’s steering and speed, hydroplaning is a frightening and dangerous scenario to be in.
Can you sue for hydroplaning?
Summer thunderstorms may be perilous, and not simply because of the potential for lightning strikes. On Lake County roads, heavy rain can cause limited visibility, slick pavement, standing water, and/or driver weariness. Not unexpectedly, storms often cause the incidence of car accidents to climb. According to the US Department of Transportation, wet pavement is to blame for one out of every seven car accidents and injuries.
Who Is At-Fault in a Weather-Related Accident?
To recover compensation for injuries received in an automobile accident, you must first discover who was at responsibility and demonstrate that their negligence caused the accident.
For example, if you rear-end the car in front of you on the road on a clear-weather day while looking at your phone or getting fatigued and not paying enough attention to the surrounding traffic, you will almost certainly be held responsible.
If your car had a manufacture or design issue, however, the carmaker may be to blame.
Assume you’re driving down the road and come across some standing water. You lose control of your car as it hydroplanes, and you collide with another vehicle. Can you claim that the standing water was a “act of God” and so you should not be held liable for the damage suffered by others as a result of the accident?
Is a Bad-Weather Accident An “Act of God for Which You Are Not Liable?
In general, it is the obligation of the driver to be aware of the driving conditions and to change their driving behavior accordingly. Drivers should expect limited visibility, slick pavement, and the danger of flooded areas of roadway when traveling through or shortly after a strong rainstorm. Drivers should respond by slowing down and attempting to maintain a greater distance between their vehicle and other vehicles. Drivers are in charge of maintaining vehicle control and taking all reasonable precautions to avoid crashes.
Assume you were driving considerably over the speed limit and tailgating the automobile in front of you when you hit the standing water. Assume the accident happened near your home, and you were aware that it had been raining heavily for some time, and that some portions of the road were prone to standing water. Accident investigators may conclude that you were entirely to blame for the resulting collision, determining that you should have anticipated the problems on the road and were neglectful in your duty to modify your driving to the conditions.
You may be able to establish that you were not negligent at all if you took all reasonable precautions. You could even be able to argue that the other driver was at blame, for example, because they abruptly changed lanes without indicating, had burned-out taillights, or were otherwise irresponsible.
As you can see, there are a number of elements that might make assessing culpability in a weather-related accident difficult. When serious injuries occur, accident investigators will dedicate a significant amount of time and resources to determining who is to blame. Investigators will interview everyone, check the vehicles and the road, and analyse the data from the car’s “black box” event recorder. They will also assess how heavy the traffic was.
You can file a claim for damages against the at-fault driver and their insurance company if you are harmed in such an accident. The majority of these lawsuits are handled outside of court, but when the circumstances of the occurrence are in question, a tiny number of cases go to trial. The key to winning your case, however, will be demonstrating that the accident was caused by someone other than yourself.
Speak to an Aggressive Waukegan Car Accident Attorney
Heavy rain or flooded roads can cause major physical and mental injuries in car accidents. Speak with a competent Lake County automobile accident lawyer who focuses their skill and efforts on such matters before settling an accident claim. Call 847-662-3303 for a free consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer at Salvi & Maher, L.L.C.
What should you do if your car starts to hydroplane?
Hydroplaning may happen to anyone, no matter how careful they are behind the wheel. Let’s have a look at what you should do if this happens.
- Maintain a relaxed demeanor and take it slowly. Avoid the instinct to slam on the brakes. Instead, take a step back from the gas pedal.
- If you need to brake, use a little pumping motion on the pedal. You can brake normally if you have anti-lock brakes.
- Take a minute or two to calm yourself once you’ve regained control of your vehicle. Before continuing your vehicle, pull over to a secure spot and take a few deep breaths.
Can you get whiplash from hydroplaning?
Hydroplaning incidents can result in serious injuries. Whiplash is a common injury suffered by victims of hydroplaning accidents. Concussions.
At what speed will a car hydroplane?
Driving in inclement weather can be hazardous. Rain, sleet, snow, severe winds, and extreme temperatures can all have an impact on road conditions, visibility, and driving skills and performance. Weather is responsible for more than 20% of all crashes each year. However, it is not snow or icy conditions that cause the majority of collisions. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, approximately half of all weather-related incidents occur when it is raining.
The first 10-15 minutes after rain starts can be the most dangerous, as water mixes with oils on the road, resulting in a slick surface. The more water on the road, the more likely your tires are to lose contact with it. Keep in mind, though, that hydroplaning does not only happen during floods. It is possible to hydroplane in as little as one-tenth of an inch of water, depending on your speed.
What is Hydroplaning?
Tires with good tread will “wipe” the water from the road surface at lower speeds, similar to how a windshield wiper cleans the windshield. The water cannot be cleared quickly enough as the speed increases, and the tires begin to ride up on the layer of water, similar to water skis.
Partial hydroplaning can occur at speeds as low as 35 miles per hour and escalate with speed until the tires lose all contact with the pavement around 55 miles per hour. You will lose traction and be unable to brake, accelerate, or turn if this occurs.
While wide tires are generally safer than narrow tires because they have more rubber to stay in contact with the road, hydroplaning can happen anywhere there is water.
How to Avoid Hydroplaning
- Because the car in front of you has already displaced water on the road, you should follow in its footsteps.
- Slow down if you hear the tires shushing, especially when changing directions.
- Step off the gas pedal gradually until your vehicle slows down and you can feel the road again.
- If your car has anti-lock brakes, brake normally; if necessary, the vehicle’s computer will simulate a pumping movement.
Does Geico cover water damage to car?
Is flood insurance included in auto insurance? Flood damage is covered by auto insurance if you have comprehensive coverage. This should be the case regardless of which auto insurance company you choose: GEICO, Allstate, Progressive, and other companies will give flood coverage.
How much does it cost to fix water damage in a car?
It all depends on what kind of water swamped the car. Your automobile may have been swamped with salty water if you live near the seaside. If that’s the case, there’s no use in trying to salvage it. That automobile is completely ruined. Vehicles are irreparably damaged by saltwater.
Your car can be repaired by a skilled mechanic if the water is fresh. It would be beneficial if you did not have your car repaired by a professional who has never dealt with flooded vehicles. A mechanic with little experience repairing flooded cars has no business repairing yours because they will exacerbate the problem, causing you to lose a lot of money as well as the car itself.
Electrical problems in a flooded car might be extremely expensive. These must be fixed in order to ensure that your car is in perfect working order. Your fuse box, control units, and modules would all need to be replaced if water got into them. The issue with such products is how pricey they get following major catastrophes. You must replace them because failing to do so will result in difficulties down the road. They might work for a while before eventually failing.
The battery cable and wiring harness will also need to be replaced because they are vital components.
The problem with a flooded car isn’t the water itself, but what comes with it. Mud and silt are tough to clean out of your vehicle, and they always cause major problems. It will be difficult to control the damage that comes with missing regions where mud or silt has settled, such as mold and mildew, if you miss spots where mud or silt has collected.
How much does it cost to fix a flooded engine?
After a car has been flooded, repairing the interiors and upholstery is simple and inexpensive. However, when it comes to the engine, the situation becomes a little more tricky. Other interior repairs that do not require the use of a machine could cost as little as $20 because you can perform the majority of the work yourself, such as drying the interiors. When your car is hydro-locked, though, the problem becomes quite pricey.
A flooded engine might cost anything from $3000 to $8000 to repair. The procedure of fixing that engine is quite complicated, and you may be without your car for an extended period of time.
The cost of repairing a flooded engine cannot be guaranteed because not every mechanic will charge the same amount. Before you think about repairing your car’s engine, get it assessed to see if it’s worth repairing, replacing the engine, or just buying a new automobile.
Floods can cause damage to any electrical apparatus, including automobiles. If your vehicle has been flooded, you must act quickly to ensure that it does not sit in the water for an extended period of time. The longer your car is submerged in water, the more damage it will sustain, which is bad.
The best you can do is remove as much water out of the automobile as you can and get it to your repair as soon as possible. Your mechanic will most likely assist you in determining the extent of the vehicle’s damage and the following steps to take.