"The Sun was in my Eyes" Isn't an Excuse for Using the Gas Pedal Instead of the Brake

You hear it all the time: The sun was in my eyes.

It's used as an excuse for getting into a wreck. But the sun doesn't care who it blinds. And the excuse doesn't carry any weight under Washington law.

As courts have explained: "Reduced visibility doesn’t lessen the protection of the crosswalk but gives rise to greater vigilance on the part of driver."

And it's not just the sun. The same thing applies to other phenomena like fog.

People responsible for harm like to say: It was just an accident. But if you ask about choices that were made it becomes clear that negligence causes "accidents."

Defendants and defense attorneys like using the word "accident" because it softens the blow. It's not new.

The other day I heard something new from an attorney. Super simple and very effective. I'm going to start using it. He told the jury:

Whenever you hear the word "accident" you should think of the word "negligence."

(Negligence doesn't mean you did it on purpose. It means you weren't using reasonable care--that you weren't being as safe as you should have been. Choosing the gas pedal over the brake isn't being reasonably careful.)

Attaching reality to the excuse and making the two intertwined should be used whenever the defense tries to sidestep responsibility.

Next time the defendant claims "the sun was in my eyes" I'm going to tell the jury every time it hears that excuse it should think of the real explanation: "I pulled out into traffic even though I couldn't see. I chose the gas pedal instead of the brake."