Virginia is an “at-fault” state for car accidents, which means you can hold another driver financially liable for your damages if they caused the crash. However, Virginia is also a “pure contributory negligence” state, which means you must be 0% liable for your damages to retain the right to file against someone else for them. Even if you are 1% liable and the other driver is 99% liable for the accident, you will lose the legal ability to demand compensation from them. Working with a car accident attorney is arguably more important in Virginia than in most other states for this reason because a lawyer knows more about how to argue down liability.