New Mexico Delivery Driver Accidents

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The steady advancement of technology has brought a lot of convenience to our lives. While we have been ordering pizza to our homes for a few decades, it is now possible to have almost anything delivered through many different outlets online. To accomplish this, companies now employ armies of delivery drivers driving fleets of delivery trucks. One unfortunate consequence of a large number of hurried delivery drivers being on the road is that the possibility of accidents can become higher. If you were hit by a delivery driver and sustained an injury in New Mexico, your best move may be to contact a New Mexico injury attorney.

If you or a family has been hit by a delivery driver, contact Zinda Law Group today at (800) 863-5312 for a free consultation.

CAUSES OF DELIVERY DRIVER ACCIDENTS

Delivery driver accidents may occur at a high rate in urban city centers in larger cities like Albuquerque or college towns like Las Cruces. However, they can happen anywhere where a delivery driver might drive to, which covers most of the state of New Mexico. While delivery driver accidents can have a lot of the same causes as regular car accidents, some causes are more prevalent in these cases.

Speeding

Delivery drivers who drive for certain companies, such as DoorDash or UberEats, get more money the more deliveries they can make. This creates an incentive to drive as fast as possible to complete a route and get to the next delivery. When drivers drive this way, they may tend to drive much faster than the posted speed limit and cut corners on other traffic laws, meaning that they put themselves and others at a higher risk of accidents.

Distracted Driving

Many drivers, even those who are not delivery drivers, drive while distracted by a phone or other device. This can be even more of a problem for delivery drivers who need to use their phone or GPS to navigate to locations they have never been to, or to accept new jobs while they are on the road. Distracted driving can certainly be something that causes accidents for delivery drivers.

Fatigue

For most drivers, the bulk of their day is not spent in the car. Driving is just meant to get us from Point A to Point B a few times per day. However, for delivery drivers, their office is their vehicle. Spending so much time in the car means that drivers can become fatigued after a long day of work. This fatigue can end up leading to not checking their mirrors before merging or failing to notice you in the intersection, which can lead to accidents and severe consequences.

WHAT TO DO AFTER A DELIVERY DRIVER ACCIDENT

Immediately after your accident, you may be at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. While no two cases are the same, there are a few general steps that will help most accident victims begin to navigate the process.

1. Seek Medical Attention

Getting medical attention as soon as you possibly can is critical. Immediately after your accident, protecting yourself from further harm by moving to a safe location if possible and having your injuries treated by a professional is a crucial step on the road to recovery. Your medical records can serve as important evidence later in your case as you begin to seek compensation.

2. Call the Police

In some accidents, the other driver may try to convince you to handle things “under the table” and not get the police involved to make things easier. This can be especially true if they work for a delivery service and there might be penalties for getting into an accident while on the job. However, it is always in your best interest to have the police come to the scene of the accident so that you can file an official report, which can become important evidence later on in your case.

3. Document the Accident

In fighting car accident cases, it is always better to be overprepared than underprepared. This is especially true if your fight for compensation includes going up against a big company as opposed to just another driver. Documenting the accident can include taking pictures of any injuries you sustained, taking pictures of property damage, and taking note of anything else that you feel could be important later on.

4. Contact a New Mexico Attorney

After your injury, hiring a lawyer could be the single best move that you make in trying to get adequate compensation for you and your family. However, you should not hire the first attorney that you find online. Your lawyer should have experience with victims who were hit by a delivery driver.

HOW TO FILE A CLAIM

Though no two cases are ever the same, it is usually important for accident victims to complete the following steps to file a claim:

1. Notify Your Insurance

As soon as possible, reach out to your insurance company and let them know about the accident. This is important because the contract that you signed with the insurance company likely has requirements about when and how accidents need to be reported. Though you should notify your insurance, give conservative answers, and do not disclose more information than is necessary.

2. Speak with Your Attorney

Your New Mexico attorney will likely be your best source of information as to how to best proceed going forward with seeking compensation for your injuries. They may be able to work with you to develop a plan and inform you on what to do, and perhaps more importantly, what not to do.

3. Negotiate a Settlement

After you have hired an attorney, they may be able to begin the process of gathering the information they need and speaking with the other parties involved about a settlement deal. This step is critical given that most cases will end at the settlement stage given the large costs that go into a full-fledged trial.

4. Go to Court

In particularly contentious cases, the parties might not be able to reach an agreement at the settlement negotiation stage. If this happens, then going to trial might be your only option for seeking fair compensation. Going to trial will require the assistance of an attorney who has the necessary experience to be able to plan for and manage a trial from opening to closing arguments.

COMPENSATION

After contacting an attorney to deal with an injury after getting hit by a delivery driver, many accident victims will begin to wonder what their case could be worth in potential compensation. This is an important question because it can greatly impact accident victims and their families. Every accident, and subsequently every personal injury case, is different, but there are a few factors that can help estimate the value of your case.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are the tangible losses that an accident victim sustains as a result of their accident. They are fairly objective and can be proven through things like receipts or bills. Common sources of economic damages include medical bills, damage to your vehicle or personal property, and lost wages from being unable to work a job.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages are less tangible and objective than economic damages, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t very real to the victims who are suffering. Non-economic damages generally refer to the pain and suffering experienced by accident victims. Though it is difficult to be able to estimate what the number attached to non-economic damages might be in a typical case, the worse an injury is, the more the victim may be eligible to receive in non-economic damages.

LEGAL TIME LIMITS

One important element of every personal injury case that victims may not be aware of is the statute of limitations. The statute of limitations is the length of time that an accident victim has, starting from the date of their accident, within which to file a claim. In New Mexico, the statute of limitations that applies to car accident claims is three years. This means that accident victims have three years from the date of their accident to file a claim, and any claim that is filed outside of this time frame will likely be dismissed.

There are certain exceptions to the general statute of limitations, however. For example, if the accident victim is a minor, then the statute might be tolled until they reach the age of 18. Also, there might be certain situations where an accident victim doesn’t discover their injuries until sometime after their accident. In this situation, the statute might be paused. Though these exceptions exist for certain categories of cases, it is advisable to speak with an attorney as quickly as possible to avoid running into problems that can be easily avoided.

CONTACT ZINDA LAW GROUP TODAY

Going through an accident with a delivery driver can be a very stressful experience, but you don’t need to go through it alone. Zinda Law Group attorneys have the necessary experience to assist you, and you won’t pay us anything until we win your case for you. That’s our No Win, No Fee Guarantee.

If you or a family member has been hit by a delivery driver, contact the New Mexico lawyers at Zinda Law Group today at (800) 863-5312 for a free consultation.

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