Roanoke Personal Injury Law Blog

Virginia drivers know the importance of staying alert while behind the wheel. To ensure they are able to focus on the task at hand, drivers are smart to avoid drugs or alcohol prior to getting into a vehicle. They should also be well-rested and free from any health issues that may impair their abilities. Drivers whose attention is diverted for even a few seconds can cause serious car accidents, sometimes because they end up in the wrong lane where they may encounter vehicles traveling in the opposite direction. While many factors may contribute to this type of car accident, when two vehicles collide head-on, the drivers and passengers do not often all survive the tremendous impact.

An example of such a car accident happened on a recent Tuesday afternoon. According to authorities, a driver in a pickup truck traveling west on a roadway in Hanover County crossed the solid center line. The pickup crashed head-on into a sedan traveling in the opposite lane.

Many Virginia residents enjoy walking as a form of exercise, transportation or perhaps both. Most people find walking is an inexpensive, healthy and safe way to get around, but unfortunately, the latter is not always true, especially in areas where pedestrians share space with a high volume of motorized vehicles. Occasionally, a car accident involving a pedestrian occurs, sometimes resulting in death. Such was the case in Hampton when a teenage girl was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

The incident happened on a recent Friday just after 7 p.m. Reportedly, the 15-year-old girl was walking across a busy intersection with her mother after attending church. According to police, a vehicle crashed into them, killing the teenager and sending the woman to a local hospital. The driver fled the scene immediately.

Most Virginia drivers can relate to the experience of traveling on a highway and suddenly coming upon traffic that has slowed significantly or even stopped. To avoid a collision, drivers approaching this type of situation must follow the traffic laws and paying close attention to the road ahead so they can safely brake in time. Failure to do so may cause a car accident, and unfortunately, this was the case recently on a Roanoke County highway.

The crash occurred in the early evening on a Wednesday. Northbound traffic on the highway was slowing and coming to a stop. A 38-year-old man driving a tractor-trailer collided with two cars and another tractor-trailer before coming to a stop on the median.

Many Virginia residents know that distracted driving is dangerous, but the specific provisions of the state's laws are not completely clear. While many states have enacted laws that ban drivers from even holding a cellphone or personal electronic device while behind the wheel, such legislation has not yet passed in Virginia. Confusion about what counts as distracted driving may make it more difficult to enforce existing laws.

The Virginia Law Library provides details of the current distracted driving laws. According to the Code of Virginia, drivers may not use a handheld personal communication device to create, send or read text messages. They may not read emails, and individuals must not hold their devices in their hands while driving in a highway work zone. However, the current law does not restrict drivers from talking on their cell phones while holding them, a behavior that many experts say qualifies as distracted driving. Additionally, the existing laws do not address other distracting behaviors, such as watching videos, reading websites or searching the internet.