In Pennsylvania, poor weather conditions rarely absolve drivers of liability for accidents. If you operate a vehicle on the state’s public roads, you must adapt to the area’s weather conditions, and failing to do so can lead to a crash. If you fail to account for rain, fog, or icy roads through measures such as reducing speed or increasing your following distance, the state’s comparative negligence laws may deem you negligent.

Continue reading this page to find out how weather conditions affect liability in car accidents and how an attorney from Lowenthal & Abrams, PC, can help you.

What Is the Difference Between Negligence and an Act of God?

The way weather conditions influence liability in a vehicle collision often depends on whether reasonable care could have prevented the crash. Negligence occurs when a driver fails to act with reasonable care and causes an accident, for example, by speeding in snowy conditions. An Act of God, or force of nature, is an extraordinary, unforeseeable natural event, such as a falling tree.

What separates these two situations is that reasonable care cannot prevent an Act of God. This is why insurance companies and courts rarely accept bad weather as a valid excuse when establishing fault for a crash. The law generally requires drivers to maintain reasonable control of their vehicles at all times, regardless of weather conditions.

Driver Duty of Care in Bad Weather

Every licensed driver in the state has a duty of care to others around them. This describes your legal obligation to reasonably operate a vehicle and avoid foreseeable harm to others, including passengers, pedestrians, and other motorists.

Drivers may breach this duty by failing to clear snow from their vehicles, failing to use headlights in fog, or driving too fast for the conditions, which can shift liability to the driver and form the basis of negligence in accident claims. Drivers must adjust to, or even avoid, hazardous driving conditions. A driver’s response to bad weather can shape liability after a car crash.

Does Weather Affect Comparative Negligence Laws?

Pennsylvania has a comparative negligence system. Under this law, you can recover damages in bad-weather accidents, but only if you are 50 percent or less at fault. However, your percentage of fault directly affects your settlement. For example, if your losses total $10,000, but you were 30 percent to blame for the crash, you would forfeit $3,000 of your settlement.

If you were following too closely or driving on bald tires, a court may find you 51 percent or more responsible for the car accident. Poor road and weather conditions may influence how courts allocate fault after a car crash, but unsafe driving can still prevent recovery.

Contact Us About How Bad Weather Can Affect Liability Following a Car Wreck

Knowing how weather conditions affect liability in car accidents can be confusing. This is one reason why Lowenthal & Abrams, PC, offers free consultations. During this consultation, you can learn how rain, sleet, or snow affects fault in a collision and talk with a personal injury attorney.

Our firm has law offices in multiple locations to better serve you and the community. Call today for more information.