California has many personal injury laws. One of them is the three feet for safety law. You need to know about this law because it pertains to your duty of care towards cyclists, and cyclists are always present on California’s many expansive roads. You should read this article for valuable information pertaining to this law. You can discuss the information with a personal injury lawyer.
The three feet for safety law
Your personal injury lawyer in La Quinta will inform you that you need to keep at least three feet between you and a cyclist if you happen to overtake that person while driving. This space will protect both of you from any potentially dangerous and devastating accidents. You are legally obligated to exercise a degree of care towards the cyclist by factoring in the size and extent of the vehicle, the road conditions, the road conditions, and other factors when you are driving.
The three feet for safety law require you to slow down considerably when driving if you cannot maintain a safety cushion of at least three feet of space between you and the cyclist when you are driving. You can be fined up to $35 for not observing this law. You can be fined up to $220, if you hurt a cyclist in the process of not observing this law.
Negligence per se
Your personal injury lawyer will tell you that a cyclist can indeed file a civil lawsuit against you in court if you do not heed this law and hurt or even kill that person. If the person dies because of your actions, his or her family has the legal right to sue you in a civil court for your negligent actions. You will be guilty of negligence per se in this instance. The plaintiff (the injured or killed cyclist) must prove that you are guilty of the following to accuse you of negligence per se:
● You knowingly violated that statute
● Your violation caused substantial property damage, bodily injury, or even death to the cyclist
● The bodily injury was of the type that the law was meant to prevent/protect against
● The cyclist was part of a class of people that the statute was intended to protect
You will be left to your own defenses to prove your innocence in this instance.
Personal injury
If you break any provision of the three feet for safety law, the statute of negligence per se can and will apply to you. Remember that you will need a good personal injury lawyer to win your case in court if you are ever accused of negligence per se.