If the other driver was speeding, are they responsible for my car accident?

Let's say you are in a car accident with a driver who was speeding. Is that person responsible for the personal injuries from that car accident? While it is tempting to think that the other driver is legally responsible for your injuries, just because he or she was speeding, it is only one of the factors to be considered. The jury instruction on point (CACI 707 - Speed Limit) provides:

The speed limit where the accident occurred was __ miles per hour. The speed limit is a factor to consider when you decide whether or not [name of plaintiff/name of defendant] was negligent. A driver is not necessarily negligent just because he or she was driving faster than the speed limit. However, a driver may be negligent even if he or she was driving at or below the speed limit.

In other words, whether someone is speeding may be part of the analysis of determining who is legally responsible. But just because the other driver was speeding and hit you does not mean they are the legal cause of a car accident, just as it does not necessarily matter if the other driver was not speeding.

What really determines who is at fault in most car accidents is: 1) whether one driver failed to yield the right of way to the other; and/or 2) whether one driver was driving too fast for the conditions (California Vehicle Code 22350).

Pete Clancy is an Oakland personal injury lawyer.