Liability for the Careless Driving of Others

Are owners of cars liable when they loan their cars to someone who then drives negligently? Are husbands liable for the careless driving of their wives? Mothers for their sons? What if the negligent driver is drunk or does not have a valid driver’s license?

Duty of Care

While most people feel morally obliged to look out for the safety and welfare of others, the law has for centuries embraced the fundamental premise that the mere knowledge of a dangerous situation, even by one who has the ability to intervene, is not sufficient to create a legal duty to act. Before a person can be held legally liable for another person’s injuries, the law looks for a reason why a duty of care may be imposed. Without a legal duty of care, no legal liability for negligence exists.

Husbands, wives, sons, and daughters may share their lives and their households, but they do not share liability for each other’s negligent driving. Even if a parent or spouse has given another family member permission to use a car, and even if the parent or spouse is the title owner of the car, and even if the car is on a policy of insurance with other family cars in the parent’s or spouse’s name, the parent or spouse has no automatic liability for the unexpected negligence of the driver. Similarly, loaning a car to a friend does not make you liable for the friend’s unexpected negligent driving. Drivers themselves are liable for their careless driving.

Car owners or family members can be held liable if they negligently loan a car to someone when they have a specific reason to know that the other person may drive carelessly. Handing the keys to your intoxicated son or making your car available to your spouse for an evening of illegal drag racing are obvious examples of negligent entrustment. If you carelessly ignore any facts which clearly tell you that a friend or family member is not in the proper physical condition to drive or has specific intentions to drive dangerously, you can be held liable.

In addition, serving alcohol to minors is a crime and is a sure route to exposing yourself to liability to others. Anyone who knowingly serves alcohol to a driver under the age of 21 is liable to persons injured by the minor’s negligence while driving under the influence of alcohol.

While parents are not held directly responsible for their child’s negligent driving, parents do have some financial responsibility to contribute toward a damages award against their child. If damages are awarded to the injured claimant in a suit against a minor child, the minor’s custodial parent or parents are responsible for paying a maximum of $1,000 per injured person or $2,500 per incident. Any damages awarded against a minor over these amounts cannot be collected against the child’s parents.

Passenger Liability

The liability of passengers is limited. Merely being present in a car with a negligent driver is not enough to make a passenger liable to others. Even riding with an intoxicated person does not make a passenger liable to others who may be injured by the dangerous driving of the driver. A passenger is liable to others only if he or she actually assists or encourages the driver to engage in unsafe behavior. Encouraging a driver to speed, or supplying a driver with drugs or alcohol while he or she is driving, can make a passenger liable to other injured persons.

Passengers are held somewhat responsible for ensuring their own safety. When a passenger knows or has reason to know that the driver may be intoxicated or otherwise unfit to drive, the passenger may be unable to recover damages for his or her own injuries. A passenger who rides with an intoxicated driver may suffer a reduction or complete elimination of the right to damages, since riding with an impaired driver may constitute assumption of the risk or contributory negligence. Central to the inquiry is whether the passenger was actually aware of the dangers.

If you loan a car to someone whom you know to be unlicensed or to be unfit or unlikely to drive safely, you can be held criminally liable. The Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code prescribes fines and sanctions for such careless conduct. Liability for damages to others in civil lawsuits is part of the criminal sanction—if you violate the Motor Vehicle Code by loaning a car to someone who is unlicensed or unfit, you are responsible for the injuries caused to others.

If you are injured by a negligent driver, consider promptly investigating the circumstances of his or her driving. You may be able to pursue an award of damages against someone other than the careless driver.