If you have suffered a serious injury in a drowsy driving accident due to another person’s negligence, you need the assistance of a skilled attorney to protect your right to seek fair compensation. For residents of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, or Rockland Counties or one of the five boroughs of New York City, Kohan Law Group in Manhasset is the place to turn. Our practice has an impressive track record of successful outcomes and our attorneys are powerful litigators who will provide you with the personalized service you deserve.
Contact us today for a free consultation so we can evaluate your case to see whether you have a viable claim. If you become our client, we will not charge you any attorneys’ fees until we recover damages.
Common Causes of Drowsy Driving
All drivers have to be aware of the dangers of drowsy driving in order to avoid them, but the following individuals have to be especially careful:
- Those driving during hours they would normally be asleep
- Those who have been partying late and are driving home
- Workers coming home from a late-shift
- Drivers with sleep disorders like insomnia or sleep apnea
- Drivers who have taken sleep-inducing medications the night before (even 12 hours prior)
- Commercial drivers driving long hours who are trying to keep to a tight schedule
In any case, there is no excuse for drowsy driving unless you have been unknowingly drugged by someone else or are experiencing a first-time medical event. A driver who feels drowsy is required by law to get off the road, rest or sleep, or take other steps to avoid endangering themselves and other innocent people on the road.
The Dangers of Drowsy Driving
Drivers who are reckless enough to drive when sleepy must be held accountable for the misery they cause. Whether they are sleep-deprived, intoxicated, or feeling the side effects of prescribed medication or recreational drugs, they are taking other lives in their hands as well as their own since being sleepy results in:
- Slowed reaction time
- Diminished coordination
- Poor judgment
- Confusion/inability to process information
- Reckless driving, e.g. drifting across lanes, driving on the wrong side of the road
- Slowing, accelerating, or stopping unpredictably
Drowsy driving is as dangerous as driving while impaired. After all, drivers who nod off are driving with their eyes closed.
How Our Sharp Drowsy Driving Lawyers Prove Liability
It can be challenging to prove that the collision in which you were injured was caused by the other driver’s drowsiness which is why you require one of our accomplished legal advocates at your side. The sooner you connect with us the better since this will give us the ability to collect fresh evidence, police reports, and medical data, and to locate and interview witnesses while their memories are clear.
Though relatively few defendants will admit to being sleepy at the wheel, our drowsy driving attorneys know precisely how to gather evidence that shows the person who caused your injury was a drowsy driver. We will gather data that may show the defendant:
- Was not fully alert or coherent just before or just after the crash
- Is unable to recall what led up to the accident
- Was described in the police report as sleepy, yawning, blinking often, heavy-lidded, or not making complete sense
- Spoke to witnesses at the scene about being “tired,” “exhausted,” “sleepy,” or “wiped out”
- Was given a blood test to check for impairment that was negative although witnesses spoke of the defendant as being not fully “with it”
- Has a medical history of sleep apnea or another sleep disorder
- Was a truck, taxi, or rideshare driver who had been driving for a great many hours
Experts in accident reconstruction, with whom our attorneys might consult, may also be able to cite zigzagging tire marks on the road, failure to brake, lane changes, and other evidence of drowsy driving by examining surveillance footage or examining a truck driver’s black box.
When Liability Is Shared in a Drowsy Driving Accident
New York law recognizes the possibility that more than one party may bear responsibility for a traffic accident, even in an accident in which one person was driving while sleepy. It may be that a third party made an illegal turn or ran a red light, or that the drowsy driver was not properly vetted by the employer of the company that provided the vehicle. It is also possible that you, the injured party, were partially at fault for the collision.
In the case of the former, our drowsy driving attorneys may file lawsuits to hold both parties accountable. In the latter case, our lawyers may work hard to convince the court that your culpability was minimal in order to maximize the damages the court awards you under the principle of pure comparative negligence adhered to in New York.
Kohan Law Group Will Fight for the Damages You Deserve
Drowsy driving accidents frequently cause catastrophic injuries. Cases of this kind sometimes involve defendants veering off the road and hitting homes in which innocent victims are asleep.
No matter what the circumstances of your accident or type of injury you have sustained, we are on your side. Whether you have suffered a fracture, a spinal cord injury, a traumatic brain injury, internal bleeding, or organ damage, we will fight vigorously to get you compensation you are entitled to for:
- Medical and rehabilitation costs
- Lost income, present and future
- Property damage or loss
- Psychological counseling
- Extended nursing care
- Alterations to your home to make it accessible
- Replacement services (e.g. childcare)
- Pain and suffering
- Permanent disability
- Permanent scarring or other disfigurement
If you have lost a family member to wrongful death in a drowsy driving accident, our lawyer will pull out all the stops to attempt to give you some semblance of justice in the form of damages to cover final medical costs, funeral/cremation costs, and loss of financial/emotional support.
Contact Our Experienced Drowsy Driving Accident Attorneys Now
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that drowsy driving accidents account for about 50,000 injuries and 800 deaths in the U.S. annually. If you or a loved one has been a victim of these alarming statistics, contact Kohan Law Group as soon as possible. We will provide you with the aggressive representation you need to heal and move forward.
Kohan Law Group’s drowsy driving accident attorneys serve clients in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, and Rockland Counties and throughout the five boroughs of New York City.