Car accidents in Oregon are most often caused by preventable driver behavior. Common factors include distracted driving, speeding, alcohol or other drug impairment, failure to yield, following too closely, unsafe lane movements, fatigue, and reckless or aggressive driving.
These behaviors can reduce a driver’s ability to recognize danger, react in time, and maintain proper control of their vehicle. More than one cause may contribute to the same crash, and sometimes others may share some responsibility.
As the Oregon DMV points out, calling auto crashes “accidents” is misleading. The vast majority of crashes do not happen by chance, but are instead avoidable if drivers had followed safety rules.
Identifying how a crash occurred helps determine who may be liable, what evidence should be preserved, and whether fault should be allocated to others. The following sections explain how each cause leads to crashes and what evidence may be used to prove responsibility.
1. Distracted Driving
Distracted driving causes crashes when a driver takes their eyes, hands, or attention away from operating the vehicle safely. Distraction is not limited to texting. It can involve anything that negatively affects a driver’s ability to see danger, react in time, and keep full control of their vehicle.
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) reported 28,699 Oregon crashes involving distracted drivers from 2019 through 2023. Those crashes resulted in 221 deaths and 28,332 injuries. This makes distracted driving one of the important potential causes to examine after a serious car crash in Oregon.
What Counts as Distracted Driving in Oregon?
Distracted driving can include texting, holding a phone, checking messages, using apps, entering directions into a navigation system, eating, drinking, reaching for objects, adjusting controls, talking to passengers, or responding to children in the vehicle.
Distraction can be visual, manual, or cognitive. Visual distraction takes the driver’s eyes off the road. Manual distraction takes the driver’s hands off the wheel. Cognitive distraction takes the driver’s attention away from driving. Texting is especially dangerous because it can involve all three at the same time. Hands-free phone use may also increase distraction risk because the driver may become mentally focused on the conversation instead of traffic, signals, pedestrians, or road hazards.
How Does Distracted Driving Cause Car Accidents?
Distracted driving typically causes crashes by increasing the driver’s perception and reaction time. A distracted driver may not notice stopped traffic, a changing signal, a pedestrian in a crosswalk, or a vehicle braking ahead until it is too late to avoid a collision.
This can lead to rear-end crashes, lane-departure collisions, intersection crashes, and sideswipe accidents. Distracted drivers may drift out of their lane, run a red light, fail to yield, or strike a pedestrian or bicyclist because they did not see the danger in time. Even a very brief period of inattention can be enough to cause a serious crash, especially at higher speeds or in busy traffic. A car going 60 miles covers 88 feet in a second; even a second of distraction can take away 88 feet of room to avoid a crash.
How Can Distracted Driving Be Proven?
Distracted driving can be proven through evidence showing what the driver was doing before or during the crash. Phone data may show calls, texts, data use, app activity, or social media activity just before or during a collision. Witnesses may also report that the driver was looking down, holding a phone, eating, reaching for something, or otherwise being distracted.
In addition, vehicles typically record data in their “black boxes” (electronic data recorders) that include speed, braking, acceleration, and steering inputs, among many other things. While not necessarily direct evidence of distraction, that data may support or contradict a claim of driver distraction. Some newer vehicles have cameras facing inside the car interior, and some have driver attention monitoring systems, both of which can be a source of additional evidence.
Other potentially useful evidence can include dash camera videos and sometimes nearby surveillance footage. In Oregon, traffic camera footage is typically not available for civil litigation purposes.
2. Speeding (Driving Too Fast for Conditions)
Speeding contributes to crashes by reducing reaction time, increasing stopping distance, and increasing forces that make injuries more severe when a collision occurs. In Oregon, speeding does not only mean driving above the posted speed limit. A driver can also be traveling too fast due to rain, fog, ice, traffic, curves, visibility, construction zones, or other road conditions, even if their speed is below the posted limit.
ODOT’s 2026 crash trend analysis identified speed-related factors in 3,360 fatal and serious injury crashes in Oregon from 2019 through 2023. These crashes represented 24.7% of all fatal and serious injury crashes studied during that period.
Why Does Speed Increase the Risk of Serious Injury?
Speed increases crash risk because it gives drivers less time to identify danger and respond safely. A speeding driver may not have enough time to notice slowed or stopped traffic ahead, a sharp curve, a pedestrian entering a crosswalk, or a vehicle turning ahead.
Higher speed also increases stopping distance. The faster a vehicle is moving, the more distance it needs to slow down or stop. In poor weather, on wet pavement, near curves, or in heavy traffic, this can result in a crash even if the driver brakes before impact.
Speed can also cause a driver to lose control of the vehicle. A driver may slide on wet or icy roads, drift out of a lane, take a curve too fast, or be unable to correct the vehicle after a sudden movement.
With higher speeds, when a crash occurs, the impact force is greater, which increases the risk of broken bones, head injuries, spinal injuries, internal injuries, and fatal outcomes. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists face even greater danger because they have little physical protection in a high-speed impact.
How Is Speed Proven After a Crash?
Speed can be proven through physical evidence, digital data, witness statements, and expert analysis. As noted above, event data recorders show vehicle speed, among other information, for the seconds before a crash.
Roadway evidence such as skid marks, debris patterns, point of impact indications, and vehicle final resting positions, and other physical evidence such as vehicle damage, can also show how fast a vehicle was moving. Video footage from dash cameras, nearby businesses, or residential cameras may show a vehicle’s speed and movement before impact.
Witnesses may observe a vehicle as traveling too fast for traffic, weather, or road conditions. In more serious cases, accident reconstruction experts can use a number of factors to help determine the likely speed of vehicles before a crash and, if excessive, explain how speed contributed to a collision.
3. Alcohol or Other Drug Impairment
Alcohol, cannabis, prescription medications, and other drugs can impair judgment, coordination, vision, reaction time, and vehicle control. In Oregon, driving under the influence of intoxicants is commonly called DUII. Crashes caused by this conduct are also commonly described as drunk driving accidents or impaired driving accidents. According to ODOT, about a third of speeding-related fatal and injury crashes also involve driver impairment.
Impairment is dangerous because it affects the basic skills a driver needs to operate a vehicle safely. An impaired driver may misjudge speed, drift out of a lane, miss a traffic signal, react too slowly, or make a reckless decision that a sober driver would avoid.
What Substances Can Impair an Oregon Driver?
Alcohol is the substance most commonly associated with impaired driving, but it is not the only chemical that can make a driver unsafe. Oregon’s DUII statutes refer to intoxicating liquors, controlled substances, inhalants, cannabis, and psilocybin; both prescription medications and over the counter medications can sometimes be involved in DUII.
Some medications can cause drowsiness, dizziness, blurred vision, slowed reaction time, or reduced coordination. This can be especially dangerous when a driver takes more than one substance at the same time. Alcohol combined with other chemicals such as cannabis, pain medication, sleep medication, anxiety medication, or other drugs can increase impairment and make the driver far more dangerous on the road.
A driver does not have to feel “drunk” to be impaired. If a substance affects the driver’s ability to see clearly, think clearly, react quickly, stay in a lane, obey traffic controls, or maintain control of the vehicle, it can contribute to a serious crash.
How Does Impairment Cause Car Crashes?
Impairment causes car accidents by reducing the driver’s ability to recognize danger and respond safely. An impaired driver may follow too closely, speed, run a red light, fail to yield, drive the wrong way, cross the center line, or lose control of the vehicle.
Alcohol and drugs can also affect judgment and decision-making. An impaired driver may take risks that a sober driver would avoid, such as driving too fast for conditions, passing unsafely, turning without enough space, or continuing to drive when they are too intoxicated to operate a vehicle safely.
These crashes are often severe because impaired drivers may not brake, steer away, or take any meaningful action before impact. Driver impairment can lead to head-on collisions, intersection crashes, pedestrian and bicycle collisions, roadway departures, and high-force impacts.
Who May Be Liable for an Impaired-Driving Accident?
The impaired driver is usually the primary liable party in a drunk driving or drug-impaired driving accident. Evidence that the driver operated a vehicle while impaired may help establish negligence and connect the driver’s conduct to the collision.
Other parties may also be liable in some circumstances. For example, a vehicle owner may be responsible for negligently entrusting the vehicle to someone the owner knew or should have known was unfit to drive because of their impairment. An employer may be liable when the impaired employee or agent driver caused the crash while acting within the course and scope of employment.
An alcohol-serving business or social host may also be liable in limited cases where they served alcohol to either an underage person or to a visibly intoxicated person who later caused the crash. Oregon liquor liability claims have special proof and notice requirements, including a short notice period, so these cases should be investigated promptly.
4. Failure to Yield or Obey Traffic Controls
Failure to yield causes accidents when a driver enters another road user’s path without allowing enough time or distance for that person to proceed safely. These crashes often happen at intersections, driveways, crosswalks, and turns because two or more road users are trying to move through the same space at the same time.
Failure to yield and failure to obey traffic controls are closely connected. A driver may cause a crash by running a red light, ignoring a stop sign, turning left without enough space to do so safely, or entering traffic when another vehicle, pedestrian, or bicyclist has the right of way.
ODOT’s 2026 crash trend analysis found that intersection crashes were involved in 5,201 fatal and serious injury crashes in Oregon from 2019 through 2023. That represented 38.2% of all fatal and serious injury crashes studied for that period. Intersection-related driving conflicts are one of the two largest categories of Oregon serious and fatal vehicle crashes.
Which Intersection Mistakes Commonly Cause Crashes?
Common intersection mistakes include turning left in front of oncoming traffic, running red lights, ignoring stop signs, failing to yield while turning, entering traffic from a driveway, failing to yield to pedestrians, and misjudging another vehicle’s speed.
Left-turn crashes are especially common because the turning driver must judge the distance and speed of oncoming traffic before crossing the opposing lane. A driver may also cause a crash by rolling through a stop sign, accelerating through a yellow or red light, turning right without checking for pedestrians, or entering a road from a parking lot or driveway before traffic is clear. These crashes are sometimes caused when a driver fails to come to a complete stop before entering a sidewalk or roadway, such as when leaving a parking lot, driveway, or alley.
These crashes can involve drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. They are often serious because side-impact collisions with other cars, running down pedestrians who are crossing ahead of a car, and crashing into the sides of bicyclists often involve the injured person having less protection than a lower speed rear-end or parking lot collision.
Who Has the Right of Way at an Oregon Intersection?
Right of way at an Oregon intersection depends on the vehicles’ movements, traffic signals, signs, crosswalks, and timing. These generally determine who was permitted to proceed, and who had a duty to stop or yield.
A driver generally is obligated to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians at every crosswalk. This includes both marked crosswalks and the unmarked crosswalks that exist at intersections.
At a four-way stop, drivers must give right of way to any driver on the right who is simultaneously approaching a given point, regardless of which driver first reaches and enters the intersection.
Obviously, a driver who is required to stop because of a red light or a stop sign is required to yield to other traffic whose movements are not controlled by a traffic signal or device. Those red light laws apply to bicycles, but Oregon bicyclists may treat stop signs as yield signs. For yield signs, drivers must yield the right of way to any vehicles in the intersection or approaching so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard; if necessary for safety, that can require stopping.
A driver approaching a “T” intersection that does not have traffic control signs or devices must yield the right of way to the cross traffic.
Drivers turning left on a flashing yellow must yield the right of way to oncoming traffic. Any driver turning left generally must yield to oncoming traffic that is already in the intersection or close enough to create an immediate hazard.
Right of way is not absolute. Most relevant, Oregon statutes provide that a person entering an intersection at an unlawful speed forfeits any right of way the person would otherwise have. More generally, all of us have a general duty to act reasonably to avoid unreasonable risks of harm to others.
Oregon civil juries in car crash right of way cases are typically told that a right of way based on statute “may not be exercised without due regard to the surrounding conditions and the safety and rights of others. Its exercise must always be reasonable and not arbitrary.” After a crash, analysis of right of way may be important, but it is often not the only legally relevant factor.
How Can Fault Be Proven in an Intersection Accident?
Fault in an intersection accident is generally proven by showing which traffic rule applied, how each person moved through the intersection, and how the crash occurred. Important sources of information may include the police report, witness statements, traffic signal timing, traffic sign placement, vehicle damage, skid marks, debris location, and final resting positions of the vehicles.
Video evidence can be especially important. Dash cameras, business surveillance footage, and nearby residential cameras may show whether a driver ran a red light, failed to stop, turned without enough space, or entered the roadway when it was unsafe.
In more serious cases, accident reconstruction can be used to analyze speed, distance, visibility, reaction time, impact angles, and the crash sequence details. This can be important when both sides blame each other. Legally, the need is often to show that the other driver failed to yield or obey a traffic control sign or device, and to connect that to the collision and resulting injuries.
5. Following Too Closely
Following too closely causes rear-end crashes because the following driver does not leave enough time and distance to react and stop when traffic slows unexpectedly. This can happen in stop-and-go traffic, at intersections, near construction zones, on wet pavement, or anywhere vehicles may slow or stop suddenly.
Tailgating is especially dangerous because it reduces the trailing driver’s time to see danger, brake, and avoid impact. The risk becomes greater at higher speeds, in heavy traffic, during rain or snow, or when the trailing driver is also distracted. One rear-end collision can also trigger a multi-vehicle chain reaction when several drivers are following too closely and cannot stop in time.
In ODOT’s 2020 crash data, rear-end collisions were the most common collision type among crashes other than fatal crashes, accounting for 30%. Following too closely was also identified as one of Oregon’s most common driver errors.
What Counts as Following Too Closely?
Following too closely means driving behind another vehicle without leaving enough space to stop safely if traffic changes. It is not only about how close the vehicles look. The safe distance depends on speed, traffic, weather, road surface, visibility, vehicle size, and how much time the driver needs to react.
A driver may be following too closely if they cannot stop when the lead vehicle brakes for traffic, a pedestrian, a red light, a road hazard, or another sudden event. Wet pavement, curves, downhill grades, worn tires, heavy vehicles, and higher speeds can all require more stopping distance. A driver who is following too closely in those conditions may be negligent even if they were not speeding.
Oregon civil juries in rear-end car crash cases are typically told that “a driver follows another vehicle too closely when he or she follows more closely than is reasonable considering the speed of the vehicles, the traffic, and the condition of the highway.”
Is the Rear Driver Always at Fault?
Not technically, but many commercial transportation companies will pretty much automatically assess fault to a driver who rear-ends the vehicle in front of them. In the commercial driving context, these are almost always considered preventable collisions caused by driver error. The rear driver (in the “bullet” vehicle) is typically responsible because drivers are obligated to keep enough distance to stop safely (behind the “target” vehicle). The major exception is, of course, where the first vehicle stops, the second vehicle stops safely, and then a third vehicle behind forces the second vehicle into the first vehicle; the second driver typically has no fault.
Sometimes the rear-ending driver or their insurance company will seek to defend on the basis that there was a sudden and unexpected event that caused an unforeseen need to stop quickly. That argument may have appeal if, for example, the car in front had defective brake lights, braked suddenly for no apparent reason, or if there were other circumstances that may lead a jury to excuse the bullet car driver.
6. Unsafe Lane Changes or Failure to Maintain a Lane
Unsafe lane movements can cause crashes when a driver changes position without adequately checking surrounding traffic, signaling properly, or maintaining control of their vehicle. This may involve changing lanes without checking blind spots, merging improperly, drifting into another lane, crossing the centerline, passing unsafely, overcorrecting, or running off the road.
Lane movement crashes are especially dangerous because they often happen beside another vehicle or in the path of oncoming traffic. A driver who fails to maintain a lane may sideswipe another vehicle, force a motorcyclist off the road, cross into opposing traffic, or leave the roadway and strike a fixed object. ODOT found roadway departures in 38.9% of Oregon fatal and serious injury crashes during its 2019 through 2023 study period.
Why Are Lane-Departure Crashes Often Serious?
Lane-departure crashes are often serious because the vehicle may leave its intended path at speed. When a driver crosses the centerline, the result can be a head-on collision with an oncoming vehicle. When a driver drifts into another lane, the result may be a sideswipe crash, unsafe merge collision, or impact with a motorcycle in the adjacent lane.
Roadway departure crashes can also sometimes lead to rollovers and fixed-object impacts. A vehicle that runs off the road may strike a tree, utility pole, guardrail, ditch, barrier, or embankment. These crashes are common concerns on rural highways because higher speeds, curves, narrow shoulders, poor lighting, and limited recovery space can make it harder for a driver to regain control.
Overcorrecting can make the crash worse. A driver who drifts onto the shoulder may jerk the wheel back too sharply, cross multiple lanes, spin, roll over, or enter opposing traffic.
How Can Fault Be Proven in a Lane Change Crash?
Fault in a lane change crash is shown by evidence of how the vehicles were positioned before impact, which driver moved from their lane, and whether that movement was unsafe under the circumstances. Important evidence may include vehicle damage, scrape marks, debris location, lane markings, shoulder marks, road conditions, and the final resting positions of the vehicles.
Video evidence can be especially useful because unsafe lane changes often happen quickly. Dash cameras, nearby business surveillance footage, and residential cameras may show whether a driver failed to signal, merged without enough space, drifted out of a lane, crossed the centerline, or forced another road user to take evasive action.
Witness statements, police observations, and accident reconstruction may also help establish fault. Reconstruction experts can analyze impact angles, speed, steering inputs, roadway geometry, tire marks, vehicle movement, and sometimes vehicle event data recorders to help understand how the lane departure occurred. Legally, the key issues may include whether the driver failed to keep a proper lookout, failed to maintain their lane, changed lanes before it was safe, or otherwise failed to use reasonable care.
7. Drowsy or Fatigued Driving
Drowsy driving causes crashes by slowing reaction time, reducing awareness, and increasing the risk that a driver will drift from the lane or fall asleep. Fatigue may result from insufficient sleep, long-distance driving, shift work, untreated sleep disorders, some medications, or driving late at night or early in the morning. Many driving experts compare the risk of “driving while drowsy” to the risks of “driving while intoxicated.”
Commercial drivers may face additional risks when long routes, demanding work schedules, or inadequate rest interfere with alertness. However, fatigue is not limited to truck drivers. Any driver who continues driving while physically or mentally exhausted can cause a serious accident.
How Does Fatigue Affect Driving Ability?
Fatigue affects the mental and physical abilities required for safe driving. ODOT’s commercial driving guidance explains that fatigue can impair judgment, create errors involving speed and distance, delay hazard recognition and reaction, and interfere with critical decisions.
A fatigued driver may fail to notice slowing traffic in time, overlook a traffic signal, misjudge the distance to another vehicle, or react too late to a pedestrian or road hazard. Drowsiness can also cause poor lane control, inconsistent speed, missed exits, frequent braking, and drifting onto the shoulder or across the centerline.
Fatigue and certain health conditions can cause microsleep, which is a brief and involuntary period of sleep. During that time, the vehicle may travel a distance without the driver consciously controlling it. This can result in rear-end crashes, head-on collisions, roadway departures, rollovers, and impacts with fixed objects.
How Can Driver Fatigue Be Proven?
Driver fatigue is often shown through circumstantial evidence because there is no roadside test that measures tiredness in the same way that alcohol testing measures blood alcohol concentration. The investigation may focus on how long the driver had been awake, how far they had traveled, their recent work schedule, and whether they had taken appropriate rest breaks.
For commercial drivers, work schedules, payroll records, driving logs, and electronic logging device data may establish a driver’s hours of work and rest. This evidence can be particularly important when a commercial driver or employer may have violated applicable driving-hour requirements.
Phone location data, fuel receipts, restaurant receipts, hotel records, toll records, and other travel documents may help reconstruct the driver’s route and determine how long they had been traveling. Surveillance footage and witness statements may show the driver appearing tired, yawning, drifting between lanes, or behaving unusually before the collision. Many commercial vehicles have in-cab cameras that monitor the driver. Some passenger vehicles have such cameras, and some have electronic driver attentiveness monitoring capabilities.
Statements made after the crash may also be relevant. A driver might admit that they fell asleep, had been driving throughout the night, had slept very little, or had taken medication that caused drowsiness. When combined with other evidence, this information can help show that fatigue contributed to the accident.
8. Reckless or Aggressive Driving
Reckless or aggressive driving causes crashes when a driver engages in dangerous conduct that creates a serious risk to other people or property. It often involves several unsafe actions at the same time, such as excessive speeding, tailgating, weaving through traffic, unsafe passing, ignoring traffic signals, or confronting another driver.
Oregon statutory law defines reckless driving as driving within a manner that endangers the safety of persons or property. (There is also a specific statute essentially covering certain forms of showing off in a vehicle for spectators). The core concept is that reckless conduct involves a high degree of probability that substantial harm will result.
Aggressive driving is a broader term that is commonly used for illegal, unsafe, or threatening behavior behind the wheel, including conduct sometimes described as road rage.
What Is Considered Reckless or Aggressive Driving?
Oregon civil juries in car crash cases are typically told that “reckless conduct is an aggravated form of negligence. Reckless conduct is an intentional act or failure to act when one knows or has reason to know of facts which would lead a reasonable person to realize that their conduct not only creates unreasonable risk of harm to others but also involves a high degree of probability that substantial harm will result.”
Reckless or aggressive driving may include racing, driving at an extremely unsafe speed, rapidly changing lanes, following another vehicle closely, passing where visibility is limited, running red lights, crossing the centerline, or forcing another road user out of a lane.
Other examples include brake checking, blocking another vehicle from merging, chasing another driver, using a vehicle to intimidate someone, or continuing dangerous maneuvers after becoming angry. A single ordinary mistake may not amount to reckless driving. The surrounding circumstances, level of danger, road conditions, and combination of behaviors all matter.
Aggressive conduct can quickly cause rear-end crashes, sideswipe collisions, head-on impacts, roadway departures, and multi-vehicle accidents. Pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists face particular danger because an aggressive driver may pass too closely, fail to yield, or make a sudden maneuver without leaving them time to respond.
How Can Reckless or Aggressive Driving Be Proven?
Reckless or aggressive driving can be proven through evidence showing the driver’s actions before and during the collision. Dash camera footage, surveillance video, witness and driver statements, and recorded calls to 911 may document speeding, weaving, tailgating, threatening behavior, or repeated unsafe maneuvers.
Recorded electronic vehicle data after a crash can provide information about speed, acceleration, braking, steering, and other actions shortly before impact. Skid marks, vehicle damage, debris patterns, and final vehicle positions may also help accident reconstruction experts determine how the driver was operating the vehicle.
Traffic citations and police reports, while not typically admissible in Oregon civil trials, can help lead to additional evidence. Passengers or other motorists may report that the driver appeared angry, was racing another vehicle, or intentionally followed or confronted someone.
Reckless driving is often treated as a Class A misdemeanor in Oregon. A criminal reckless driving conviction can support a personal injury case, but a criminal conviction is not required to establish civil responsibility.
Can More Than One Cause Contribute to the Same Crash?
Yes, more than one cause can contribute to the same car accident. A driver may be speeding while distracted, follow another vehicle too closely on wet pavement, or make an unsafe lane change while impaired or fatigued. These behaviors can combine and make a collision more likely or increase its severity.
More than one driver may also contribute to the crash. For example, one driver may run a red light while another enters the intersection at an unsafe speed. A chain reaction accident may involve a driver who unnecessarily brakes suddenly, another who is following too closely, and a third who is distracted and fails to stop. Other parties, such as an employer, vehicle owner, or alcohol-serving business, may also be relevant when the facts and applicable law support liability.
Determining fault typically involves gathering all of the relevant available evidence and considering the complete sequence of events rather than identifying only the final action before impact.
How Is the Cause of an Oregon Car Accident Determined?
The cause of an Oregon car crash is generally determined by examining how each driver acted before the collision, the context of those actions, and whether conduct violated a traffic safety law or was unreasonable under the circumstances. Investigators may compare driver, passenger, and witness statements with the location of the damage, skid marks, debris, road conditions, traffic controls, and the vehicles’ final positions.
Other information may include police reports, photographs and video footage, phone records, event data recorders, and accident reconstruction. Insurance companies typically investigate at least some of these matters before deciding whether to accept or dispute responsibility for a claim.
The evidence may show that one driver caused the crash or that several actions contributed to it. Identifying the context and the complete sequence of events helps determine which parties may be liable and whether fault should be divided among multiple people.
How Does the Cause of the Accident Affect Liability in Oregon?
If everyone followed Oregon’s safety rules, there would be very few crashes. The vast majority of crashes are preventable and are caused by one or more people violating safety rules. The cause or causes of a crash help determine who failed to use reasonable care under the circumstances. Evidence of distraction, speeding, impairment, failure to yield, unsafe lane movement, or other unreasonable conduct may show how a party’s negligence caused or contributed to the collision.
Identifying every contributing cause also helps determine whether more than one person shares responsibility. Depending on the circumstances, liability may extend beyond a driver to an employer, vehicle owner, alcohol provider, or another party whose conduct contributed to the accident.
In Oregon civil cases for personal injury after a car crash, most of the time jurors are instructed that the applicable test is what is called “but for causation.” Jurors are told that a “defendant’s conduct is a cause of the plaintiff’s injury if the injury would not have occurred when and as it did but for that conduct.” Even with this legal standard, “many factors may operate either independently or together to cause injury; in such a case each may be a cause of the injury.”
In cases where two or more causes concur to cause an event and each cause, operating alone, would have been sufficient to cause the result, a “substantial” factor test is to be used. That test is focused on whether the at-fault driver’s acts or omissions were a substantial factor in causing the harm. Either test is focused on whether there is a causation connection between the act or omission and the harm (injury).
What Happens When Both Drivers Share Fault in Oregon?
When both drivers share fault, Oregon law allows each at-fault person to be assigned their respective share of responsibility. An injured person may still be compensated when their fault is not greater than the combined fault of the parties from whom recovery is sought.
The injured person’s damages are reduced by their percentage of fault, if any. For example, an injured driver who is 20% at fault would generally be entitled to a decision that they should be able to seek to recover 80% of their proven harms and losses (“damages”). All of the kinds of evidence mentioned above (such as video footage, witness statements, vehicle data, and accident reconstruction) may help determine how fault should be divided.
What Should You Do After a Car Accident in Oregon?
After a car crash in Oregon, stop at the scene, check for injuries, and call 911, especially if anyone needs emergency medical help. If you do not require emergency medical treatment, stay at the scene and exchange driver information (contact, vehicle, and insurance information). Generally, cooperate with any responding law enforcement personnel.
When it is safe, take photographs of the crash vehicles, get witness names and contact information (or at least witness vehicle license plates) and photograph the crash scene (including road conditions, collision debris, tire marks, and traffic signs).
Seek prompt medical attention as soon as possible. Some injuries may not be obvious to you immediately, and early medical records can help document the connection between the crash and your symptoms. Report the crash to your insurance company, but avoid guessing about fault or minimizing your injuries. You are under no obligation to talk with the insurance company for the other driver, to give a recorded statement, to give them access to your medical records, or to sign anything from that insurance company.
Oregon requires a DMV collision report within 72 hours if the crash caused an injury or death, more than $2,500 in damage to the vehicle you were driving or to other property (including to any vehicle towed from the scene). Your auto insurance company should provide some limited short-term help with medical expenses and some other needs under your “Personal Injury Protection” (“PIP”) coverage.
Keep everything that might be relevant if there is a later legal case (including photos, repair estimates and bills, medical bills and explanations of benefits, and insurance communications). Consider speaking with an Oregon car accident lawyer when appropriate.
When Should You Contact an Oregon Car Accident Lawyer?
You should consider contacting an Oregon car accident lawyer when the crash caused serious injuries, fault is disputed, multiple vehicles or parties were involved, or the insurance company questions your claim. Legal help may also be useful when the other driver was uninsured or underinsured, was on the job at the time, was driving while impaired, or was driving a vehicle owned by someone else.
An attorney can investigate the causes of the crash, help to preserve evidence, interview witnesses, review insurance coverage, and respond to attempts to place unfair blame on the injured person. It is usually best to seek legal advice before talking with the adverse insurance company.
Oregon car crash injury claims are also subject to legal deadlines, and some cases may have short notice requirements. Different cases have different deadlines for giving certain notices and for commencing a case in court if negotiations are not satisfactory.
How long do I have to file a car accident lawsuit in Oregon?
In most Oregon car crash injury cases, an adult generally has two years from the date of the crash to file a lawsuit. Missing this deadline can prevent you from recovering fair compensation, even when the other driver was clearly at fault.
Some cases also have separate notice deadlines. For example, injury claims by an adult against an Oregon public body (such as the state or a local government) generally have a 180 day notice requirement under the Oregon Tort Claims Act. This notice requirement is separate from and in addition to the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit. Because other exceptions and notice provisions may apply, it is important to confirm every deadline that applies to any specific case as early as possible.