Injury and fatality statistics paint a dire picture. Most car accidents that have these serious ramifications happen at intersections. These include roundabouts, four-way stops, two-way stops, light-controlled intersections and much more.
Understanding that you face elevated risk at intersections is important and may help you avoid a car accident. But you may also find yourself wondering why intersections are so inherently dangerous. You have to use them every day, after all. What is it about an intersection that dramatically increases the odds of a serious crash?
Mistakes have greater ramifications
The issue is that traffic always crosses paths at an intersection. This means that the ramifications of a driving mistake are more severe.
For instance, say that a driver is distracted and not paying attention to the road around them. They’re looking down at their phone. If they’re on a stretch of highway that runs straight for the next 50 miles, this distraction may not lead to an accident. But if they’re on a rural road and they run a stop sign because they aren’t paying attention, they could hit another car that is going through the intersection.
In both of these cases, the driver has made the exact same mistake: Distracted driving. But the odds of a serious crash are much higher at the intersection. Driving through an intersection simply means putting your faith in all of the other drivers around you. All it takes is one driver to make a mistake and you could be involved in a serious crash.
If you do get injured, you may find yourself facing high medical bills, lost wages and other costs. It’s important to know how you can seek appropriate financial compensation.