Many serious accidents happen at intersections

When you study traffic accident data, you can sometimes identify why and where accidents take place. One thing that research has found is that serious crashes are most likely to occur at intersections. Studies define serious accidents as those that involve major injuries or fatalities. Roughly 50% of injury accidents happen at intersections, along with 25% of deadly accidents.

These crashes can happen at all types of intersections. Some are light-controlled, but drivers run the red light. Others are four-way stops, where drivers go out of turn. Still others are two-way stops, where drivers who have a stop sign may cut off through traffic—which has the right of way.

Making critical decisions

The big problem with intersections is simply that the safety of all involved hinges on the fact that all drivers must make the right decisions at the right time. Inherently, there is always going to be a level of risk because traffic has to cross paths at these points. If drivers do things correctly, traffic flows smoothly and accidents are avoided.

But all it takes is one negligent driver to cause a serious accident. Additionally, this is why issues like drunk driving, drugged driving, distracted driving or fatigued driving are so serious. All of them can have an impact on a driver’s decision-making ability, which may become especially apparent at an intersection. Human error leads to most accidents, and a lot of these errors happen at intersections.

Seeking compensation

Have you been in an accident at an intersection? If the other driver was responsible, you may be able to seek substantial compensation. This can help with lost wages, medical bills, funeral costs and much more.