Driver's Duty of Care-§ 20.01

Negligence involving motorists consists of three elements: (1) a defendant's legal duty touse due care; (2) a breach of that duty; and (3) the breach as the proximate or legal cause of the plaintiff's resulting injury. A motorist is required to exercise reasonable care in the operation of a vehicle on the highway. They are required to use the degree of care that would be required of a reasonably prudent driver acting in a similar circumstance.

The care required of a motorist of ordinary prudence necessarily varies with the circumstances that are present at the time of the accident. Ordinary care is usually measured as a reasonable lookout for traffic lawfully on the street. Negligence may also be measured as a vehicle to transport objects in an improper manner. For example, a driver may be negligent for breaking and stopping his car in the middle of the freeway. There is a set standard of care; however there is a higher standard of care to commercial vehicles.

The commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act outlines the basic limitations as, ''commercial motor vehicle'' is a self-propelled or towed vehicle used on the highways in commerce principally to transport passengers or cargo, if the vehicle also: (1) has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of at least 10,001 pounds, whichever is greater; (2) is designed to transport more than 10 passengers, including the driver; or (3) is used in transporting material found by the Secretary of Transportation to be hazardous under 49 U.S.C.S. § 5103 and transported in a quantity requiring placards under that statute.

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