Christmas may have been fantastic for you and your family, but the holiday season is a “season” for a reason. There are still a few days left of 2014 until the New Year. With that, retailers are still rolling out after-Christmas sales to attract consumers, which means mall parking lots and streets across the Phoenix metro are still likely to be crowded.
In a prior post, we detailed how the combination of frustrated holiday shoppers, high traffic volumes and distracted drivers could be a recipe for disaster when it comes to Christmas shopping. This combination unfortunately does not go away after Christmas. After all, a number of tourists will be coming in for college football bowl games. Also, New Year’s Eve is a time where drunk drivingaccidents are likely.
With that said, drivers still have a legal (and practical) duty to use reasonable care while driving. This means that drivers must refrain avoid using their cell phones while behind the wheel (including taking selfies with their new devices), driving aggressively or having that last egg nog before getting into the car.
If a driver fails to use such care, and such a failure is the cause of an accident, the offending driver could be held liable for the crash. A person injured could seek monetary compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses, lost wages and other costs.
So just as the holiday season has not ended, the need for additional caution on the road has not ended either.
The preceding is not legal advice.