Traveling Turlock roads can make for a stressful trip when other drivers seem to ignore the road in front of them and even basic traffic laws. A distracted driver can miss a stop sign or a red light and never hit the brakes while you are simply trying to travel across an intersection. That vehicle may be headed straight for your door to result in one of the most dangerous impacts on the road.
These collisions are known as “broadside” or “t-bone” accidents. A strike from another car on one or multiple doors is an impact on one of the least protected parts of the vehicle. You could be just a few inches of steal away from the hood and engine of another car and the result could be a severe injury.
If you are hurt in a t-bone accident talk to a Turlock accident attorney with Maison Law about protecting your rights. You didn’t cause your accident and you shouldn’t have to face the consequences alone. Filing a claim for damages can help secure the financial help you’ll need to cover the costs of medical care, physical therapy and even recoup your lost wages from missed time at work. Contact us for a free consultation on your case.
T-Bone Accident Dangers In Turlock
These right-angle collisions can be especially dangerous in vehicles without side-impact airbags. Without that protection, victims in the front or backseat are frighteningly close to an impact from a vehicle. A door can be caved in by the blunt force meaning even more force absorbed by anyone inside.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) finds that side-impact accidents cause around 25% of all fatalities across the country each year.
Locally, accident responders in Turlock reported 149 “broadside” impact accidents in 2019. Those accidents resulted in 252 injuries and tragically cost three people their lives. Across Stanislaus County, 12 more victims of side-impact collisions sadly lost their lives and another 1,748 victims were injured.
Common Causes for Broadside Accidents In Turlock
The causes of t-bone accidents, like most accidents, can be linked to careless driving. A distracted driver can fail to take a proper look before turning or fail to notice a traffic light change ahead of them.
These accidents are often associated with intersections, where turning cars can leave themselves open to collision with other drivers. A driver may be turning safely and legally, but another motorist failing to stop for a red light or a stop sign can lead to a devastating accident.
These are two of the most common situations that lead to these accidents:
- Vehicles Turning at Four-Way Intersections – Drivers turning left or right in front of oncoming traffic must trust that other drivers won’t run a red light. The driver may think the path is clear or that they have the right of way and turn in front of a speeding motorist. The side of the car can form a hard-to-miss obstacle for another driver.
- Vehicle Entering a Roadway – A driver is pulling onto a roadway or traveling across a roadway leaving his or her broadside open to collision from traffic in sometimes both directions.
Insurance Company Tricks to Avoid Paying You
A broadside accident can result in severe injuries involving head trauma, spinal damage, and broken bones. The damage could leave you with a disability or a disfigurement that’s with you the rest of your life.
What can make things worse is if the at-fault driver’s insurance company decides they don’t want to pay for their policyholder’s mistake. If they can’t somehow pass the blame for the accident on to you, they may try a few more tricks to either get you to drop your civil claim for damages or minimize how much compensation you receive.
These are just a few insurance strategies they may try:
- Take their time responding: As you face higher and higher medical bills and may be going without paychecks from the work you’ve missed, insurance companies can be slow to acknowledge they’ve received your claim or may take weeks to process it. They know that the longer you wait the more desperate you may become.
- Falsely deny your claim: Insurers may reject your claim outright just to see if you’ll give up. They might already know you are in the right, but they may falsely point to some fine print on a policy that protects them from liability in the accident. An attorney will know how to interpret the fine print and help you throw your case right back on their desks.
- Refuse to settle: They may refuse to offer you a settlement for your physical, emotional, and financial hardships. They want to see if you are committed enough to take them to court over your case. If they see that you and your attorney are prepared for a civil trial before a jury if that’s what it takes. Insurance companies will usually cave and try to settle and avoid a trial.
- Lowball offers: If they think you’re desperate enough, they’ll make you a lowball offer trying to get you to accept what’s less than fair. The offer might not even fully cover your hospital bills resulting from the accident their policyholder caused. Experience is the only defense against this tactic. Your attorney will know what’s fair and what’s not after years of dealing with insurance agents.
Contact a Turlock Car Accident Attorney
If you are in a frightening t-bone accident that causes serious injury contact an experienced Turlock car accident lawyer such as Martin Gasparian for a free consultation and case evaluation. Mr. Gasparian takes a hands-on approach to every case. He believes that every client should work directly with their lawyer, get honest advice, and personalized attention to detail their case deserves.
