Cars allow people to get about without a certain amount of convenience. You may feel this convenience is crucial after a limb injury restricts your mobility.
For example, if you break your leg, you might not be able to walk to the nearest bus stop and getting on and off the bus could be risk prone due to the high steps you must negotiate. Another example is walking to the store after dislocating a shoulder. You would not want to risk falling on icy pavement, as it could aggravate your injury or cause another, as you cannot put your hand out to stop yourself.
Therefore you may take the car, but that can come with considerable risks and endanger other people’s safety as well as your own.
It may be a while before you’re able to drive again
While it is possible to adapt a car so someone who loses a limb can still drive, you probably won’t do that if it is just a break you are dealing with. It would be too much expense for a few months.
Taking the wheel of a vehicle comes with the obligation to ensure you are fit to do so. Anyone that takes their car out when a limb injury prevents them from driving safely could be held responsible in a crash. A court might understand their need to be mobile. However, it would still consider them to be negligent if their injury prevented them from braking with enough force or steering with sufficient dexterity to be safe.
If someone injures you in a crash, it can affect you in multiple ways, including impacting your mobility and capacity to get to and from work or errands easily. Find out more about how you can hold the negligent driver accountable for their actions.