Personal Injury – Hitting a Wake in the Water

There are thousands of things that can go wrong in your activities, but a lot of them do not include boating accidents. Auto accidents are the leading most common type of accidents,  but over the years, personal injury by boating accident has started climbing in yearly statistics. The damages that you can incur from a boating accident can be just as traumatizing as that of a car accident. In fact, there have been fatalities from several types of boating accidents.

Boating accidents can occur from hitting a wave just right or hitting the wake of another person’s boat. When the impact happens, everyone on board both vessels will feel some type of jolt, whether it be one that knocks them down or one that throws them overboard. Personal injuries are normally sustained when the person is jolted. However, there are times where the claim of negligence and hope of compensation for injuries is limited.

Who is Liable for the Boating Accident?

The operator of the boat that you may be on could potentially be at fault for the accident. There are a few different factors that play into putting fault on the correct driver. Depending on what type of boat you are on, if it is powered by a motor or a sail, there could be grounds for a negligence case on the operator of each boat in the accident.

When considering who is liable for a boating accident, several insurance adjusters will require information such as the size of the boat, the boats speed at the time of the accident, the size of the wake that was created, how visible was the waters and wakes during the accident, was there any warning to those aboard, and what the traffic was like in the area around the accident.

There is a possibility that no one was truly at fault for a boating accident, but the insurance companies and medical bills will not see it this way. They may claim that the area of the accident was a no-wake zone, in which the person who created the wake would be the one responsible. They could also make notations if the boat was going too fast to determine the wake or the distance correctly.

Several situations could lead to a claim, while others may just lead to disappointment. It can be tough knowing what you are doing when filing a claim and obtaining information, instead of stressing over the paperwork and endless questions, contact a professional boating accident lawyer today and get the answers you deserve.