Few things that you do while driving are as dangerous as going through an intersection. You must trust other drivers who are purposefully driving in a way that would cause an accident if they make a simple mistake.
Say that you come to a four-way stop, for instance. You drive forward when it’s your turn, but the driver on the cross-street thinks it is his turn and also drives forward. The two cars crash in the middle, with both of you insisting the other person caused it.
Or maybe it’s a two-way stop, and you don’t have a stop sign. You get to drive right through and cross traffic has to wait. However, another driver doesn’t see their stop sign. Maybe they’re distracted or maybe the sign is hidden by overgrown vegetation along the road. Regardless, they drive right into the intersection ahead of you and you can’t avoid the crash.
These are just two examples, but it’s worth looking at the crash statistics to see how these wrecks tend to play out:
- 22% of intersection accidents happen when one car turns left.
- 12.6% of these accidents happen when one car crosses over.
- 1.2% of accidents happen when someone turns right.
Often, the right-turn and left-turn accidents happen when drivers simply misjudge the distance. They turn left, for instance, when there’s not enough of a gap, and someone going straight through slams into the side of the car.
The key thing to take away from this is that you need to be aware and alert at intersections, where you face increased risks. If another driver does cause an accident that leaves you with serious injuries, you also need to know what legal rights you have to compensation.