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How To Determine Liability and Compensation in a T-Bone Accident in MD


Have you been involved in a car accident in Maryland? Did you suffer injuries due to the negligence of another driver? If so, a Baltimore personal injury lawyer may be able to help you.

After an accident, you may not be able to partake in your normal activities. The law can’t heal your injuries, but it can get you compensation for your pain and suffering.

T-Bone Car Accident Lawsuits

T-bone collisions, also known as side-impact cross traffic, occur when a vehicle collides with the side of another vehicle. T-bone accidents normally occur at intersections where the driver fails to follow traffic signs.

Side impact accidents are generally caused because someone ran a red light or stop sign or failed to yield while the other driver was at the intersection and had the right of way.

  • According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in 2014, 709 people were killed, and 126,000 were injured in crashes involving red-light running.
  • Side crashes account for about a quarter of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in the United States
  • Together about five deaths occur in every million side impact car accidents.
  • In 2015, 33% of all vehicle occupants died from multiple vehicle-side impact accidents.

Another form of a side collision is when both vehicles are moving in the same direction but come in contact on the side. This is often called a sideswipe accident and can occur when one driver goes to switch lanes and doesn’t see another vehicle on its side.

Both accidents, whether a T-bone or sideswipe, can cause serious injury to the drivers and passengers of the cars.

Common Injuries to Victims T-Boned by Another Car

Side impact collisions, especially T-bone accidents, can be deadly. These types of accidents can cause cars to roll over, spin, or even run off the road.

Upon contact with the cars, there is very little to protect the car’s passengers from the impact.

Normally, if a car is rear-ended or in a head-on collision, there is a trunk or hood of the car that can crumple upon impact. However, with a T-bone accident, there is just a door between the other car and the passenger. This can cause serious, life-changing injuries such as:

Death

With so little protection between the passenger in the car and the oncoming car striking, death is a very real outcome.

If you have a loved one who has been killed in a side impact accident, you may have a wrongful death suit. You should not have to lose a beloved family member and pay for the cost of a funeral and medical bills they may have incurred before passing.

Neck injuries

The most common form of neck injury is whiplash. Whiplash is characterized by a number of symptoms, such as neck pain, headaches, and shoulder pain.

The symptoms of whiplash can last a year or longer, depending on the severity of the injury. If you were in an accident and suffered whiplash, you may suffer far into the future. Call a personal injury lawyer to discuss what options you have open to you.

Head injuries

One of the most thought-of head injuries is a concussion. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that can result in either short-term or long-term memory loss.

Concussions can take up to weeks to recover and can severely limit your everyday activities until you do recover. There can be other brain injuries that have must more permanent side effects, such as internal bleeding. If you have a head injury after being involved in a side-impact car accident, you deserve compensation.

Nerve injury

Your entire body consists of nerves. If you get a nerve injury, that means that you may experience numbness or pain. Nerve injury can occur in any part of your body.

In a side-impact car accident, you will be likely to suffer from a nerve injury in your back. This sort of injury may follow you for life. Even though the law cannot fix your pain, it can compensate you for the other driver’s negligence.

Chest Injury

If you are a responsible passenger in a car, you will be wearing a seatbelt. Seatbelts save lives; however, they can cause chest injury from the impact.

This could mean that your breathing gets restricted, or your ribs could get broken. Now, these types of chest injuries can also occur just from the major impact of getting hit from the side. No matter the cause, you have a personal injury case if you were injured during the accident.

Determining Liability in a T-Bone Accident

When determining who is at fault for the accident, it is going to depend on the circumstances of the accident. This will raise many questions, such as who had the right of way and were both or only one of the drivers negligent.

Many people will think that the car that did the striking is, without a doubt, at fault, which may be true. However, it could be true that both cars were to some proportion at fault.

In Maryland, the standard is contributory negligence meaning that if you were injured but were even one percent at fault for the accident, you will be barred from recovering.

Now, if you were driving through the intersection at the posted speed while the light was green, there is a good chance that the other driver was negligent.

This means that there is a good chance you will recover from any injuries or damage you sustained due to the car accident.

Contact an attorney if you are worried about who was at fault in your accident. We will be able to walk you through all of the factors in your case to explain the concept of liability.

Get the Help You Deserve for Your Maryland T-Bone Accident

If you have been injured in a side-impact accident, do not worry. A Baltimore car accident attorney can help. At Rice, Murtha & Psoras, we care about you and want to help you recover as much as possible from your injuries.