A horrific accident recently made the news, involving the deaths of five people and an unborn child traveling through Maryland. A tractor-trailer collided with their vehicle at an intersection.
The accident highlights not only the potential deadliness of intersection accidents, but also the questions that might arise afterwards.
Intersection accidents
One insight shared on SafeRoads.org, a public safety group, is that intersections see a disproportionate share of vehicular collisions; although they make up only a small fraction of all road surfaces, there are estimates that roughly two-fifths of motor vehicle collisions occur at intersections or are “intersection-related.”
In this recent accident in Maryland, investigators need to clear up a number of details. For instance, there was a traffic signal at the intersection, but it wasn’t clear if the tractor-trailer or the passenger vehicle had the light (another possibility, albeit more remote, is that the traffic signal itself was faulty).
Furthermore, it’s critical to look into driver behavior. If one of the drivers ran a red light, why did that happen? The painful reality is that an otherwise responsible driver might get distracted for just a second or two and miss a changing traffic signal. No drinking while driving or other egregious violations of traffic law are necessary to cause a catastrophic crash.
There are also more subtle factors to look into, such as malfunctioning brakes; vehicle malfunctions don’t contribute nearly as much to accidents as human behavior, but sometimes they play a significant role.
Intersections are a backdrop for many possible accidents, some of them devastating. People run red lights or blow stop signs. They don’t check for oncoming traffic. Or they glance at their mobile device or turn to speak to someone in the back seat for a moment or two.
A Maryland accident attorney can help you investigate what happened and piece together the events. Your attorney will also help you explore options for dealing with the steep cost of such an accident. For example, at intersections a side-impact crash is likely, resulting in possible severe injuries for multiple vehicle occupants and extensive damage to the car. If you contact us, we can help you find ways to cope with the costs.
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