Every year, thousands suffer severe injuries from T-bone collisions in Pennsylvania. How prepared are you to protect yourself and your loved ones if it happens to you? While it’s true that a sudden accident can leave you confused, overwhelmed, and stressed out, you can always ask for the help of a legal professional. Yes, determining fault in a T-bone car accident can be challenging, but the good news is – you don’t have to do it alone.
Let’s break down the common causes of T-bone accidents, discuss the methods and principles of determining fault, explore car accident rights, and provide logical steps you may need to take to secure fair compensation.
What Are T-Bone Accidents?
T-bone accidents are also known as side-impact collisions or broadside collisions. They commonly occur at intersections when a driver fails to yield the right of way, runs a red light, or disregards a stop sign. The collision forms a T shape, hence the name.
Unfortunately, T-bone crashes often result in severe injuries, since the side of the vehicle is less protected than the front or rear, and passengers sitting on the side are at a higher risk of life-threatening injuries.
What Causes T-Bone Accidents?
There are several common causes of T-bone accidents, including driver negligence. Below, you can learn more about some of the common causes:
- Running Red Lights or Stop Signs: Ignoring traffic signs is always a bad idea. Running red lights or not stopping at stop signs is a leading cause of T-bone collisions. Particularly at busy intersections, drivers must avoid reckless behavior, being impatient, and other distractions.
- Distracted Driving: A significant contributor to T-bone auto accidents, distracted driving is a growing problem in Pennsylvania. Distracting factors include phone use, eating, drinking, and generally focusing on activities other than driving. Just a brief moment of inattention can cause a devastating accident due to reduced reaction time and awareness of traffic signals.
- A Failure to Yield Right-of-way: Drivers who fail to yield the right-of-way often cause intersection accidents – so caution is necessary at these crossings. Drivers may misjudge the speed or distance of an oncoming vehicle, pull into traffic too soon, and cause a side-effect collision. Drivers often ignore traffic rules during left turns and at four-way stops.
- Drunk Driving: Drinking alcohol or using drugs greatly raises the chances of T-bone crashes. Impaired drivers often react slowly and struggle to stay alert. They are more likely to fail to stop at intersections, misjudge other vehicle’s speed, and miss traffic signals due to poor judgment.
- Reckless Driving: Driving at high speeds makes it harder to stop in time at an intersection and increases the risk of a T-bone collision because the driver may not react quickly enough to avoid a dangerous situation. Aggressive lane changes, tailgating, and weaving through traffic also increase the chances of accidents on the road. At higher speeds, the force of effect during a T-bone collision may be greater, leading to more severe injuries and property damage.
- Vehicle Malfunctions: Brake failure, for example, or a problem with the car’s steering mechanism can affect the driver’s ability to stop at a red light. At other times it may be due to substandard hardware or poor maintenance of the hardware. These failures render drivers helpless, and most of the time end up in accidents.
- Poor Intersection Visibility: Intersections are particularly dangerous because an obstructed view of the other vehicle can be a concealed hazard. Parked trucks, high encroaching vegetation, or ill-placed signs may hinder the view of an oncoming vehicle. This has frequently resulted in misjudgments and accidents, especially in heavy traffic places.
- Adverse Weather Conditions: Rain, snow, fog, and icy roads make driving conditions risky, particularly at intersections. Rain weakens light conditions, makes the road surfaces slippery, and prolongs the stopping distance. Drivers who do not change their speed or mode of driving during these weather conditions are likely to cause T-bone car accidents.
What Are Some Common T-Bone Accident Injuries?
T-bone accidents often result in serious physical and mental injuries that require long-term medical attention. These injuries may include:
- Head Trauma and Concussions
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Fractures and Broken Bones
- Internal Injuries
- Whiplash and Neck Injuries
- Emotional Trauma and Psychological Effects
How Is Fault Determined in a T-Bone Accident
Determining fault in a T-bone motor vehicle accident is an important aspect of proving negligence and, therefore, pursuing compensation. Several factors are at play and investigators use a combination of evidence and analysis to pinpoint responsibility. Police reports may be a source of evidence that can be used for certain factual information, since officers make notes of the accident scene, sketch the scene, and file their initial observations. Witness statements may come into play as well, as they can provide an unbiased view. Additionally, Philadelphia car accident lawyers will acquire videos from security cameras or dash cams that will further prove fault.
Other physical evidence that we also come across include skid marks and crash debris which assist reconstruction analysts in determining the mechanics of the crash. The placement of cars, tire skids, and impact patterns may reveal who had the right of way and who was negligent. Incidents such as running a red light or failing to stop at a stop sign can serve to demonstrate per se negligence which in turn removes the injured party’s requirement to show that the defendant breached their duty of care. .
Legal Options After a T-Bone Accident
The first step after an accident is for your attorney to make an insurance claim on your behalf. During this process, your lawyer will collect information, establish pre-conditions of the accident, and provide compelling evidence to the insurer of the negligent driver. Your attorney will handle all communications with insurance adjusters and counter their attempts to minimize compensation while ensuring that your claim is supported with robust documentation such as medical bills, property damage estimates, and other costs.
The type of insurance policy you have – whether it is full tort or limited tort – will influence the legal strategy for recovering compensation. Full tort coverage allows you to pursue compensation for economic and non-economic damages. Limited tort policies may restrict claims for non-economic damages (unless, for instance, serious injuries are present). Your attorney will assess your policy, guide you through legal options, and, if necessary, pursue additional compensation through a personal injury lawsuit.
Victims may, in addition to having their attorney file a claim with the insurance company, potentially bring a personal injury lawsuit , such as when the damages exceed the limits of the at-fault driver’s insurance policy or when non-economic losses, such as pain and suffering, are significant. The losses embraced within compensation include both the tangible ones that are expressed in terms such as medical costs, lost wages, and property costs while the intangible ones are the pain and suffering experienced by the client and the loss of a normal and healthy life.
Statute of Limitations for a T-bone Accident Claim
The statute of limitations for filing a T-bone accident claim in Pennsylvania is generally two years from the date of the accident. This means that the victims have to make a legal complaint within this time, otherwise, they may be unable to seek compensation. However, there are exceptions to this rule. For instance, if the accident involved a governmental body or agency, including but not limited to, the police or SEPTA, a notice of a claim is required to be given within a shorter time frame. The statute of limitations for wrongful death is 2 years from the time of death. Timely action guarantees that evidence remains unaltered, witnesses are available, and the parties’ legal enforcement is upheld.
When Will Third Parties Have Some Fault After T-Bone Accident?
Although fault in T-bone accidents often lies with one of the drivers involved, third parties can sometimes share responsibility. For instance, if a vehicle had a mechanical problem, the manufacturer or the maintenance company could be taken to court. Poorly maintained intersections which have either faulty traffic signals or signs that are hard to see also cause accidents. In such cases, the municipality or property owner responsible for the intersection’s upkeep could potentially be liable.
Multi-vehicle accidents further complicate fault determination. Pennsylvania follows a modified comparative negligence approach when it comes to the compensation an injured party may receive if they are deemed to be partially negligent in an accident involving one or more parties. Generally speaking, an injured party may still recover compensation as long as they are not 51% or more at fault. The percentage of liability attributed to the injured party may be used to lessen the amount of damages received. Determining liability in an accident involving any number of parties is complex. This makes gathering through evidence and having a skilled personal injury lawyer essential in multi-vehicle accidents.
Pennsylvania’s Modified Comparative Fault Laws
In some T-bone accidents, the fault may not lie entirely with one driver. For example, one driver may have run a red light, while the other was speeding. In such scenarios, Pennsylvania’s modified comparative fault laws determine how compensation is awarded when both parties share responsibility.
This is how comparative negligence works:
- Determining fault: in a personal injury case, the jury assesses the percentage of fault for each party involved, determining by car accident damage. For instance, they may conclude that the injured party is 30% at fault while the other driver is 70% at fault.
- Damage reduction: the injured party’s total compensation is reduced by their percentage of fault. If the injured is awarded $100,000 in damages but is 30% at fault, their compensation will decrease by 30%, leaving them with $70,000.
- The 51% Rule: following this rule, if the injured party is 51% or more at fault for the accident causing their injuries, they may be precluded from recovering damages. For instance, if the injured party is 55% responsible for the accident, they will not be eligible to recover damages. At the same time, recoverable damages are reduced by a percentage of the injured’s fault: if the injured is 30% at fault, the amount of recoverable damages will be reduced by 30%.
How an Experienced Lawyer Can Help You
Insurance companies and defense lawyers often try to place more blame on the injured person to reduce compensation. Personal injury lawyers from The Law Offices of Greg Prosmushkin will fight insurance companies after a car accident to pursue fair compensation. Right from the onset, your attorney will ensure that they collect as much evidence as possible; this may include police reports, statements from witnesses, videos from surveillance cameras, or even dash cams.
As soon as liability is proven, your attorney will take over dealing with insurance providers. If the insurance company does not wish to provide a reasonable settlement, your lawyer will pursue a personal injury claim and may settle your car accident case out of court. No detail of your claim will be overlooked, enabling you to concentrate on your recovery process as you seek the compensation that you are rightfully entitled to.