Caused, But Not Involved In, Accident
Question
I became aware that I indirectly caused a major accident today without actually being involved. I was on the freeway when I realized I was missing my exit and I rapidly served into the exit lane. The car behind me served to avoid hitting me. In a chain reaction, several other cars collided, and it tied up traffic for over an hour. I later saw it on the news. There were no fatalities. Legally, I am not responsible because my vehicle did not collide with anyone else’s. And there is no way for the authorities to track me down. But this crash caused monetary to several others and thousands of other people to sit through traffic, having possibly harmful effects on their lives I wouldn’t even know. This is all because of my decision to voice-text behind the wheel, which is legal to do, which caused me to lose focus of the road and nearly overshoot my exit and make this erratic move. I do it all the time and never realized this danger. Do I have any obligation to come forward to anyone?
Answers
I asked a Dayan if you had any Halachic obligation to try and track down all of those who were involved in the pileup. His first reaction was that he could not understand how it was possible for you to have been the cause of the pileup but not have been aware of it. He said that the first crash must have occurred immediately after you moved into the lane to exit the freeway and the subsequent crashes would have occurred immediately after the first one. The noise would have been unmistakable and the Dayan did not understand how you could not have heard it.
In any event, working on the premise that what you are saying is an accurate depiction of what happened, he felt that there is nothing much that you can do. Your insurance will not cover any of the damage done to the other cars, which means that you would have to pay all the expenses. There is also an uncertainty as to who, if anyone, you are obligated to repay, as it is possible that Halachically any car involved in the pileup after the first one is not your Halachic responsibility. There is also an additional issue of who you are supposed to pay. The people whose cars were involved will get their money from their insurance company. That means that paying the individuals will not obviate the obligation to return the money, because it needs to be given to the insurance company. And that introduces a whole slew of additional issues, such as the fact that the deductible is paid by the insurance holder and not by the insurance company. As well as that, as difficult as it is to believe, many insurance companies do not have the logistical capability of taking a payment that is not defined by their software system.
Due to all of the above, the Dayan I spoke to felt that you do not have a Halachic obligation to pay back anyone involved in the pileup.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team
My car was not a physical part of the crash. When I quickly swerved to the exit, I could hear some skidding sounds. I realized that something not so good had happened, but I was not in a crash myself, and I moved on down the ramp and on with my day. Later I saw the 5:00 news and found out what happened. I knew it was all because of me. I know it because of the time and location mentioned on the news, and I was there then. I feel extremely guilty.
Actually, I think that your feelings of guilt are very much in place. You did something irresponsible and it certainly sounds as if it was the cause of damage. Hopefully your feelings of guilt will help cleanse any vestige of spiritual accountability that you might have.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team