Car Accident Lawyers Perth

Crashes involving bicycles, cars, trucks, buses, can have a devastating effect on your physical and emotional health and can result in temporary or permanent incapacity for work.

Know your compensation rights

Have you made a claim for injuries suffered as a driver, passenger, or pedestrian? If so, you need someone experienced on your side to fight for your rights and to ensure that you get a fair settlement.

Do not settle without legal advice. The first settlement offer is usually less than your claim is worth!

Compensation for an injury sustained in a motor vehicle accident usually covers:

• Pain and suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life
• Past and future loss of income
• Loss of superannuation
• Interest on past damages
• Medical and rehabilitation expenses
• Domestic assistance and services needed as a result of being unable to perform household functions

Who can make a motor vehicle accident claim?

If you’ve been injured in a motor vehicle accident and it wasn’t completely your fault, you’re entitled to compensation for your injuries. This is true whether you were the driver, passenger, pedestrian, or cyclist in the accident.

Pedestrians

As a pedestrian you have the right to feel safe on our footpaths and crosswalks, so even if you get hit by a car while walking along the road or crossing the street, you may be entitled to compensation.

Hit and Run

If you are hit by another vehicle and that vehicle leaves the accident scene, you may receive compensation as long as you took all reasonable steps to identify that vehicle; for example, you noted the registration number of that vehicle and provided that information to the police or the Insurance Commission.

Fatal accidents

A fatal motor vehicle accident is the thing of nightmares, but it’s something we see all too often on our busy roads.

Cyclists

Busy roads can be dangerous for cyclists. Even with the property precautions in place, and the best cycling conditions, you’re still at the mercy of the cars around you.

If you’re a cyclist and you’ve been injured by a negligent driver of a motor vehicle, then you have the exact same right to make a claim that a driver would. So if you’ve been injured in a motor vehicle accident, it’s crucial that you contact Perth’s expert car accident lawyers and discuss your options.

Third party insurance

Compulsory third party insurance covers every vehicle license or registered in Western Australia. It covers people injured in road accidents where a driver is at fault (or negligent) or partially at fault. Being injured does not create an automatic right to be compensated. The injured person must also establish negligence and loss.

Negligence

Whether the driver was negligence will depend on all the circumstances of the accident. Negligence involves doing or failing to do something that a reasonable person would or would not do in a certain situation, and damage injury or loss occurs to someone as a result. For example, failing to keep a proper lookout for vehicle in front, or driving at a speed that was unsafe in the circumstances.

In a situation where drivers of both vehicles are injured and both were partially at fault (negligent), both drivers may have a claim against the Insurance Commission of WA.

Contributory negligence

In some cases, the court will find that the driver was negligent and also partially responsible for what happened to them. For example, if the driver was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash and as a result sustains injuries that a more serious than they would have been had he been wearing a seatbelt. In that situation, the court will find that person to have been contributorily negligent and as a consequence the court will reduce that person’s award of damages in accordance with

Driver convicted of criminal offence

A conviction does not necessarily mean a civil court will make a finding of driver’s negligence: Lopresto v Golding (1957) 31 ALJR 85. A driver’s conviction of a criminal offence is a factor taken into account All the surrounding factor at the time of the crash must be considered.

The injured person can make a claim against the only third party insurer for personal injury in WA – the Insurance Commission of Western Australia.

You have had a crash. What to do now?

You need to complete an online crash report at www.onlinecrashreport.com.au. At RZ Injury Lawyers, we can guide you through this process as the information you provide in the crash report may have a negative impact on your claim, especially if liability is likely to be in dispute. For example, if you were partly at fault.

The Insurance Commission will then determine and advise you of their opinion on liability. If liability is accepted, the commission will likely fund your reasonable medical expenses and make you an offer to settle your claim once your injuries have reached maximal medical improvement.

Whilst most claims are settled out-of-court, if liability is not accepted or if the commission’s offer does not reflect the value of your claim, court proceedings are usually needed. At RZ Injury Lawyers we will represent you so that you can recover maximum compensation you may be entitled to as a result of being injured in the accident. Very few matters proceed to trial. The vast majority of cases are finalised at a pre-trial conference, which is a mandatory settlement conference convened by the District Court.