A driver who runs a red light can turn an ordinary trip through Birmingham into a life-changing crash. Intersections give drivers only seconds to react, and a vehicle entering an intersection against a traffic signal can strike another car with tremendous force.
Red-light crashes frequently involve side-impact collisions, sometimes called T-bone accidents. Depending on where the vehicles collide, occupants can suffer serious injuries that require emergency treatment, surgery, rehabilitation, and time away from work.
If another driver’s decision to ignore a traffic signal caused your injuries, determining exactly what happened can be important to a personal injury claim.
How Red-Light Accidents Happen
Running a red light is not always as simple as a driver deliberately ignoring a traffic signal. Drivers may enter an intersection because they are speeding, distracted, impaired, or trying to beat a changing signal.
Other examples include:
- A driver accelerating through a yellow light when there is not enough time to safely clear the intersection
- A distracted driver failing to notice a red signal
- A driver turning left without yielding to oncoming traffic
- A motorist unfamiliar with an intersection
- A driver traveling at excessive speed and failing to stop
- A driver who is impaired by alcohol or drugs
The circumstances surrounding the crash matter. A police report, traffic-camera footage, photographs, witness accounts, and vehicle damage may help establish how the collision occurred.
Why Intersection Crashes Can Cause Serious Injuries
A vehicle struck in an intersection may have less protection on the side than it does at the front or rear. The location and force of the impact can make a major difference in the injuries occupants suffer.
A serious intersection crash can result in:
- Traumatic brain injuries
- Spinal cord injuries
- Broken bones
- Internal injuries
- Neck and back injuries
- Shoulder injuries
- Permanent disability
- Significant scarring or disfigurement
Some injuries may require months or years of treatment. A person who initially expects to return to normal quickly may later discover that the crash has affected their ability to work, care for their family, or perform everyday activities.
How Do You Prove Someone Ran a Red Light?
Determining who had the right of way is often one of the most important issues in an intersection collision.
Evidence can include the police crash report, photographs from the scene, statements from witnesses, vehicle damage, traffic-camera footage, nearby business surveillance, and information from the vehicles involved.
Video evidence can be particularly important. Businesses near busy Birmingham intersections may have exterior cameras that captured the collision or the seconds leading up to it. Traffic signals and nearby cameras may also provide useful information.
The sooner potential evidence is identified, the better. Some surveillance systems automatically overwrite older recordings.
What If the Other Driver Claims the Light Was Green?
Disputed traffic signals can make an otherwise straightforward accident much more complicated.
If both drivers claim they had the right of way, the case may depend on evidence rather than simply one person’s account. Witnesses, photographs, vehicle positioning, video footage, and the physical evidence from the crash can help establish what happened.
Insurance companies may conduct their own investigation. Their determination is not necessarily the final word on liability.
This is especially important in Alabama because contributory negligence can create significant problems for an injured person’s claim. Establishing the facts surrounding the collision is therefore critical.
What Should You Do After a Red-Light Crash?
After an intersection collision, prioritize your safety and medical care.
If possible, remain at the scene and report the crash. Obtain information from the other driver and identify witnesses. Take photographs of the vehicles, intersection, traffic signals, road conditions, and visible injuries.
You should also seek medical attention. Some serious injuries are not immediately obvious after a crash.
Keep copies of medical records, bills, prescriptions, work-related documentation, and other information connected to the collision.
Do not assume that a quick insurance settlement is necessarily enough to cover the full consequences of your injuries.
Talk to a Birmingham Car Accident Attorney
A red-light crash may appear straightforward, but liability can become disputed when the drivers tell different stories or important evidence is missing.
Shaun Capps Injury Law helps injured people investigate serious motor vehicle collisions and pursue compensation from responsible parties. If you were injured because another driver failed to obey a traffic signal, a Birmingham car accident attorney can review the circumstances and explain your legal options.