Side Impact Car Accidents in Victorville
Even brand-new cars with every possible modern safety feature cannot completely protect passengers from the forces involved in a side-impact collision—or, more specifically, from the thin physical barrier between a person and oncoming vehicles. For this reason, T-bone crashes often cause especially serious injuries, which can make demanding fair financial recovery from the person at fault much more important.
Lawsuits and settlement demands built around T-bone incidents tend to be far from simple. When you want to achieve the best case result possible following a side-impact car accident in Victorville, getting representation from a skilled vehicle crash attorney is crucial.
How Negligence Can Lead to T-Bone Collisions
The term side-impact car accident covers a few different types of auto accidents that can happen in Victorville. The most dangerous of these is typically a T-bone collision, where the front of one car crashes directly into the doors or side paneling of another. Sideswipe accidents—the side of one car colliding with the side of another—can also be dangerous.
T-bone crashes are most common at four-way intersections where two or more lanes of traffic are traveling perpendicularly to each other. They typically stem from one or both drivers disobeying a red light, running a stop sign, or advancing without the right of way. Sideswipe collisions can happen on any road but are especially common in turn and interstate merge lanes, where drivers fail to check their blind spots before moving to one side or the other.
Possible Legal Obstacles to Recovery After a Side-Impact Collision
Regardless of the specific cause, anyone who injures another person in a Victorville side-impact auto accident by breaking a traffic law or acting irresponsibly behind the wheel can be held liable for ensuing damages based on their negligence. However, state law may throw a few roadblocks in the way of plaintiffs who try to proceed with claims without help from capable legal counsel.
A state court can reduce the total compensation available to an injured person should a judge decide they hold a portion of total responsibility for the incident based on their negligent driving. California Code of Civil Procedure § 3333.4 generally prohibits any person without automobile insurance from recovering for non-economic forms of harm—such as physical pain and psychological distress—caused by a car crash, even if the other person involved is 100 percent to blame.
California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 allows most people a maximum of two years after an accident to file suit. This deadline applies even in situations where the collision left a person with debilitating and permanent injuries.
Talk to an Attorney About Side-Impact Car Accidents in Victorville
No one deserves to get hurt because someone else was irresponsible, especially not from a traffic accident that could have been avoided if everyone involved had followed the law. Unfortunately, these kinds of incidents happen every day, and when you are not familiar with the rights state law provides you after such an incident, you may have to pay for all your losses yourself.
Whether you were T-boned, sideswiped, or caught up in another kind of side-impact car accident in Victorville, you have help available from practiced legal professionals experienced with handling cases like yours. Call today to learn more about your legal options.