Being Held Responsible For Others’ Driving

Hi, It’s Legal Tip Tuesday and this is Dick Galloway. And I want to talk today about a question I have had asked of me in the past. If I’m driving a car and it’s owned by somebody else, and they’re in the car, and I’m speeding, does it affect them at all? And the answer is yes, there’s a little know prevision in the vehicle code called Permitting Violation of Title. And it says that if you’re the owner of a vehicle, and that you knowingly permit and/or authorize somebody to operate your vehicle in violation of any of the previsions of the motor vehicle code then you’re as responsible as they are. So that, if you’re in the car and you’re in the passenger seat and somebody else is driving your car because you’re tired and they’re speeding or they run a stop sign, you can be caused to pay the same fine and suffer the same penalties as they do. So, the moral of the story is when you’re in the car and somebody else is driving it, make sure they drive properly because you suffer the same penalties as they do and that’s not in your best interest. You don’t want to accrue legal fees and points and fines and all those things for something somebody else did.

Now mind you this only occurs if you are the owner of the car and in the car at the time. In theory you could be held responsible if you knew somebody was going to go out and speed your car, but it’s pretty hard for the police to prove that. However, when you’re in the car and it’s going 70 miles an hour in a 55 zone, it’s not very hard for them to prove that you knew or should have known that your driver was violating the law. So be careful, drive carefully, we do a lot of accident cases and we don’t want to see you get hurt and we certainly don’t want to see you get in legal trouble. So be careful and make sure your driver is careful.