Tempe, Arizona has become the scene of the first Uber autonomous vehicle pedestrian death. During the night of Sunday, March 19, 2018, a self-driving Uber vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian. The pedestrian was walking outside of a crosswalk when she was struck and killed. The victim has been identified as 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg.
Although the Uber vehicle was in autonomous mode when it struck the pedestrian, there was a human in the car ready to control the vehicle if necessary. In response to the fatality, Uber has suspended the use of their self-driving vehicles in Tempe, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto.
Why did the self-driving vehicle strike the pedestrian? Did the human behind the wheel fail to take control of the vehicle before the pedestrian was struck? Did an innocent pedestrian lose her life because Uber is allowing autonomous technology into their rideshare service? These are a few questions that have risen after the unfortunate death of Elaine Herzberg.
What rights do surviving family members have? Can they take legal action against Uber or the operator of the vehicle? If your loved one was killed after being struck by an Uber self-driving vehicle, you must seek legal assistance and exercise your right to sue. You must contact Normandie Law Firm as soon as possible. Normandie Law Firm is a personal injury law firm dedicated to helping all injured victims and surviving family members of deceased victims. If your loved one was struck and killed by self-driving Uber vehicle, you must contact us as soon as possible. Our wrongful death lawyers for Uber accidents will fight for your right to sue.
How It Works
The technology on Uber’s self-driving vehicles is designed to maximize safety. Its antennae allow the vehicle to position itself via GPS. Specialized beams that release 1.4 million laser points ever second allow the vehicle to create a three-dimensional map of the car’s surroundings. A colored camera gives color to the three-dimensional map, allowing the car to identify changes in traffic signals. Specialized modules in the front, back, and sides of the vehicles allow the detection of possible obstacles or hazards in blind spots. Twenty cameras are mounted on top of the vehicle; these cameras identify pedestrians, braking vehicles, and other possible obstacles or hazards. To support this technology and its function, the self-driving vehicles are equipped with a cooling system to ensure that all technology runs without the risk of overheating. Although the vehicle is equipped with self-driving technology, a human operator is required to be sitting in the driver’s seat behind the wheel. The human operator is required to take control of the vehicle if it becomes necessary. If your loved one was struck by an Uber self-driving vehicle, you have the right to file a lawsuit. You must contact Normandie Law Firm as soon as possible.
One Million Dollar Insurance Policy
Uber is known for its one million dollar insurance policy. Uber’s one million dollar policy is designed to cover Uber drivers, Uber passengers, and any other third parties outside the Uber vehicle affected by the auto accident. The one million dollar insurance policy is categorized into three parts: (1) the driver is not active; (2) the driver is active but has not accepted a ride request; (3) the driver accepted the ride request and is either driving the passenger or on the way to pick up a passenger. The one million dollar insurance policy only applies if the driver is active—as stated by options two and three above. If the driver is active but has not accepted a ride request, the insurance policy applies partially. If the driver is active and has accepted a request, the insurance policy applies to its full extent. If your loved one was killed by a self-driving Uber vehicle, the one million dollar policy might apply. For more information about how Uber’s one million dollar policy applies to your wrongful death claim, you should contact our law firm as soon as possible. Our experienced pedestrian wrongful death attorneys will give you all the information necessary to allow you to understand Uber’s one million dollar insurance policy.
Compensation Available for Wrongful Death Claims
If you file a wrongful death claim after an autonomous Uber vehicle strikes and kills your loved one, you might have the right to receive compensation. What compensation might you recover if you file a wrongful death claim? The answer to that question depends on many things which only an experienced wrongful death lawyer could evaluate. Some of the categories of compensation available for those suing for wrongful death are found below:
- Medical expenses—if your loved one was given medical care after the accident, you might have been left with unexpected medical bills. You might be billed for any emergency surgeries and medication administered in attempts to save your loved one’s life. If so, you might recover compensation.
- Lost income—if the victim’s family depended on him or her as a primary source of income, surviving family members might be eligible to recover compensation for lost income. The amount of compensation available for recovery will depend on many factors, including the victim’s life expectancy and projected years of work left if he or she had not wrongfully died and the victim’s wage history.
- Pain and suffering—the sudden and tragic death of a family member can leave you with a series of mental and emotional afflictions. If you suffered depression or anxiety, for example, you might receive compensation for pain and suffering.
- Loss of consortium—with the sudden and traffic death of your loved one, surviving family members lose the benefits of a normal, loving, family relationship with the victim.
- Funeral and burial costs—plaintiffs might be compensated for the costs associated with the burial and funeral of the victim.
- Punitive damages—punitive damages are designed to punish the defendant and to try to prevent a similar incident from reoccurring.
As you can see, there are many categories of compensation that you might be eligible to receive. However, you should not assume that you could receive all forms of compensation mentioned above. You must contact our law firm and request to speak with our attorneys for more information about the compensation to which you are entitled. When you contact our law firm, you can be certain that our attorneys will always fight for your right to recover the maximum amount of compensation available for your wrongful death claim. Our wrongful death attorneys know that no amount of compensation can fill the void left by the death of your loved one; however, you deserve to be compensated, and our attorneys will not rest until you recover the compensation that you deserve.
Statute of Limitations
If you want to sue Uber for pedestrian getting killed, you must file the wrongful death claim within the statute of limitations. A statute of limitations is a timeline that establishes the length of time that you have to file a lawsuit—a deadline to sue. If plaintiffs do not file their lawsuits before the statute of limitations ends, they might lose their right to sue and receive compensation. The statute of limitations for wrongful death is generally two years. What does this mean? Surviving family members interested in suing Uber after the wrongful death of a pedestrian have two years from the death of the victim to file a lawsuit. For more information about the statute of limitations that might apply to your wrongful death claim, you must contact our law firm and request to speak with a wrongful death lawyer for Uber accidents.
Normandie Law Firm
If your loved one was struck and killed by a self-driving Uber vehicle, you must seek legal assistance to sue for wrongful death of a pedestrian. Our experienced wrongful death attorneys can help you exercise your rights to sue after Uber caused the wrongful death of a pedestrian. You must contact our law firm as soon as possible. Our law firm offers free consultations and free second opinions. Our free legal services maintain legal assistance available for all victims interested in filing lawsuits. During our free consultations and free second opinions, our wrongful death attorneys are available to answer all your questions and all your concerns. Our experienced lawyers will give you all the information you need to file a successful lawsuit against Uber. If you have already spoken with an attorney at another law firm, our wrongful death lawyers will focus on dispelling any doubts and confusion left by incompetent attorneys. Our attorneys will always focus on giving you all the tools you need to file a successful Uber accident wrongful death claim and recover the compensation you deserve. If you are interested in speaking with our attorneys, you must contact our law firm as soon as possible.
Our free legal services are available through a Zero-Fee guarantee. Our Zero-Fee guarantee ensures that our clients never have to worry about paying any upfront legal fees for any of our legal services. Since our firm is strictly based on contingency, our clients will not be required to pay until our wrongful death lawyers win their claims. If you do not win your lawsuit, you will not be required to pay. Contact Normandie Law Firm today.
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