Anthony Quackenbush is a Miami Road Rage Accident Lawyer who assists victims of crimes. Road rage is defined as driving behavior on a roadway motivated by anger. That is, when an angry driver lets his or her anger affect his or her driving, that is considered to be road rage.
Road rage can be extremely dangerous. For example, it can cause serious accidents and severe injuries on roadways.
In South Florida, unfortunately road rage occurs all the time. This may, at least in part, be caused by the heavy traffic on roadways in South Florida. Heavy traffic can lead to driver frustration, and driver frustration can lead to crashes.
Road rage can also be caused by drinking and driving (DUI) and drugged driving.
If you are a victim of road rage, it is important to stay calm. Do not engage the other driver. Typically, reacting with anger will cause the other driver to get even madder/angrier, and this can make the situation far worse.
If you’ve been a victim of road rage occurring anyplace in Florida, contact Mr. Quackenbush for assistance. Once you’ve hired Mr. Quackenbush, he will operate on a contingency basis. This indicates that there will be no risk to you as Mr. Quackenbush won’t get paid for his work until you’ve made a recovery in your case.
If you’ve been hurt in a road rage collision happening anyplace in the State of Florida (including Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach or Palm Beach County), call Mr. Quackenbush at 954-448-7288 to speak about your case.
When another driver causes an accident and injures you as a result of road rage, the insurance company of the other driver may refuse to provide coverage and compensation to you. This is because many automobile insurance policies include exclusions for intentional torts. An intentional tort is a defined as intentional behavior/action that causes injuries (either physical or mental). Insurance companies frequently refuse to provide coverage/compensation for intentional torts.
As such, if you’ve been the victim of road rage, you may not be able to recover compensation from the insurance company angry driver. If this is the case, you may be stuck pursuing compensation directly from the other driver. For example, you could pursue the assets of the other driver (bank accounts, vehicles, etc.) or garnish his or her future wages.
In the State of Florida, typically homes owned (and lived in) by people are protected by the “Homestead” Act. That is, if you own your home and live in it, creditors will typically not be able to take your home from you in order to satisfy a judgment. So, if the person who caused your road rage accident owned and lived in a home, you typically will not be able to take that home. However, second homes, apartments and condominiums are not protected – so you may be able to pursue those things.
In that situation, you also may be able to argue that the actions/behavior of the angry driver didn’t actually qualify as road rage. For example, you may be able to successfully argue that, although the other driver was mad/angry at the time of the crash, he or she didn’t actually intend to cause an accident. If the causation of the accident itself was accidental/unintentional, then you may still be able to recover compensation from the insurance company of the angry/mad driver (even though the driver’s behavior/actions qualified as road rage).
If you can’t successfully argue this, you may still be able to recover compensation from your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM) policy. An uninsured/underinsured motorist policy will cover you and provide compensation to you if you are injured in an accident caused by an uninsured driver (or a driver whose insurance has denied coverage).
If the angry/mad driver was drunk or intoxicated at the time of the accident, then you may be able to recover compensation from a bar, nightclub or restaurant that served alcohol to the driver. This would be referred to as a “dram shop” case. You could be able to do this if 1) the other driver was under the legal drinking age (21) or 2) the business establishment was aware that the other driver was “habitually addicted to alcohol” (i.e., an alcoholic).
If the angry/mad driver was working at the time of the collision (i.e., “on the clock”), then you may be able to recover compensation from the other driver’s employer (or an insurance policy held by the employer). The employer may argue that it shouldn’t have to provide coverage because the driver wasn’t acting in the scope of his or her employment (i.e., the driver was not supposed to commit road rage while working). After all, employers are typically only responsible for their employee’s actions committed within the scope of their employment. However, if the employer had a reason to know that the employee was prone to road rage or other actions of anger, then you may be able to argue that the employer is still responsible under a theory of negligent hiring, negligent retention, or negligent supervision (i.e., the employer should not have let the angry/mad/aggressive employee continue to work).
Finally, if the angry/mad driver was arrested, then you may be able to pursue “restitution” in the other driver’s criminal case. For example, if the other driver receives probation in his or her criminal case, then it may be ordered that, as part of the other driver’s probation, he or she must pay you money to compensate you for your injuries. If the other driver doesn’t do this, then his or her probation may be violated.
If you’ve been the victim of a road rage crash, then you may be able to pursue punitive damages. Punitive damages are designed to punish a wrongdoer, rather than compensate the injured party.
Compensatory damages, on the other hand, are designed to compensate you for your injuries and losses. Compensatory damages include pain and suffering, lost wages or time missed from work, and medical bills/expenses.
If you’ve been injured in a road rage wreck occurring anyplace in Miami-Dade County (including Aventura, Coral Gables, Cutler Bay, Doral, Florida City, Hialeah, Hialeah Gardens, Homestead, Key Biscayne, Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, Miami Lakes, North Miami, North Miami Beach, Opa-Locka, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, South Miami, and Sunny Isles Beach), call Mr. Quackenbush at 954-448-7288.