Rhode Island T-Bone Car Accident Lawyer

A Rhode Island or Massachusetts T-bone car, truck or motorcycle crash frequently occurs at an intersection. A “T-bone” accident is a slang term for a broadside or side collision.

There are hundreds of different causes of side impact motor vehicle and truck collisions in RI and Mass. These include:

• TEXTING WHILE DRIVING Distracted Accidents are often caused by a distracted motorist negligently texting while driving or utilizing a gps or mobile phone. “The number of people killed in distraction-affected crashes decreased slightly from 3,360 in 2011 to 3,328 in 2012. An estimated 421,000 people were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver, this was a nine percent increase from the estimated 387,000 people injured in 2011” Distraction
•  A negligent car motorist failing to realize that there is a stop sign or red light at an intersection. (meaning his motor vehicle does not have the right of way.)
• A drunk, stoned or drugged driver who is too intoxicated to properly operate a motor vehicle
• A speeding driver who does not have enough time to apply his brakes causing him to careen into another vehicle at an intersection.
• A motor vehicle or auto operator who makes a judgment error and enters into an intersection at the end of a yellow light and therefore runs a red light.
• A reckless driving motorist who fails to stop at stop signs or runs red lights intentionally.

Sadly, there are many crashes in Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and in New Bedford, Fall River and Dartmouth Massachusetts involving automobiles or tractor trailers hitting motorcycles or bikes making left hand turns at intersections.

Tragically, many of these mishaps are fatal. These fatal RI bike crashes often lead to wrongful death litigation in Providence Superior Court. If a family member or spouse was killed in a deadly accident, you should immediately speak with a RI wrongful death attorney. Only the estate of the person who was killed in the accident, acting through the executor or administrator of the estate of the deceased can pursue wrongful death litigation in Rhode Island.

Top Los Angles Motorcycle accident attorney published an article in which he stated “biker is approaching an intersection or is near an entry to a parking lot of a shopping center and a driver in an automobile turns left in front of the bike, causing the rider to either collide with the car broadside or to lose control of the bike and lay it down while the rider is ejected to the pavement.”

According to wikipedia:”Broadside collisions, known as right-angle collisions or T-bone collisions in the United States and Canada, are where the side of one vehicle is impacted by the front or rear of another vehicle, forming the “T”. Vehicle damage and occupant injury are more likely to be severe, but severity varies based on the part of the vehicle that is struck, safety features present, the speeds of both vehicles, and vehicle weight and construction.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Side_collision

According to Top Indianapolis Car accident Lawyer William Bill Hurst “One of the most common intersection auto crashes involve a vehicle making a left turn at an intersection during a “yellow” light striking an oncoming vehicle. The injuries and damages incurred in these crashes can be catastrophic because of the nature of the “T-bone” impact between the cars involved in the accident.”

It is crucial that an injured motorist, motorcyclist or truck driver retain a Providence Personal Injury Lawyer who has experience litigating T-bone accidents resulting in typical injuries from such crashes: fractures, whiplash, broken bones, cervical injury, Traumatic Brain injury (TBI), concussions and back/neck / leg injury.

“Impacts to the side of a passenger car rank second only to frontal crashes as a source of occupant fatalities and serious injuries. They are especially dangerous when the impact is on the passenger compartment because there are no deep, crushable metal structures between the occupant and the impacting vehicle or object, as there are, for instance, in frontal or rear-end crashes. The door collapses into the passenger compartment and the occupants contact the door at a high relative velocity.” NHTSA

It is especially important that Rhode Island Motorists’ yield to bicyclists and cyclists to avoid a serious bicycle accident. Below you will find the RI law concerning auto drivers yielding the right of way to a bicycle lane.

Bicycle accident right of way:

“§ 31-17-9 Yielding to riders on bicycle lane. – (a) The driver of a vehicle about to cross or to turn left or right across a bicycle lane shall yield the right-of-way to any person operating a bicycle or motorized wheelchair upon the bicycle lane.”

“Beginning September 1, 1993, all light trucks (pickup trucks, vans, and sport utility vehicles) were required to meet a crush resistance standard for side doors. Data from calendar years 1989 through 2001 of the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) were used to determine the effectiveness of changes made by vehicle manufacturers to meet this standard. Effectiveness was determined by comparing changes in the number of fatalities in side impacts relative to those in frontal impacts.” NHTSA

Many Providence area and RI truckers and motorists are unaware of the law concerning who has the right of way at an intersection in RI when their are no signs or signals. Here is RI law concerning that issue:

§ 31-17-1 Right-of-way in absence of signs or signals. – (a) The driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to a vehicle which has entered the intersection from a different highway.

(b) When two vehicles enter an intersection from different highways at approximately the same time, the driver of the vehicle on the left shall yield the right-of-way to the vehicle on the right…..

(d) Violations of this section are subject to the fines enumerated in § 31-41.1-4, unless bodily injury, serious bodily injury or death occurs to any person other than the offending operator under this section.