How Your Life Can Change Following a Collision in an Intersection

You can experience a car wreck virtually anywhere. You can hit another vehicle while backing out of your driveway, or you might strike an inanimate object in a parking lot. However, if you see a car wreck on the street, many times, you’ll notice that two cars struck each other in an intersection.

You should know the steps to take after an intersection accident, and you should also understand how your life can change following one. We’ll talk about that in detail in the following article.

You Might Sustain Serious Injuries

First, you should look at the possibility that you’ll walk away from such an accident with serious injuries, or you may not walk away at all. Cars often hit each other in intersections if one vehicle’s driver feels they can make it through a yellow light or even a red one. If that happens, another car can T-bone the first one.

Whether you’re in the vehicle that T-boned the other one or the second car that experienced the impact, you might hit your head on the steering wheel. You might experience whiplash if your head and neck bounce backward and forward with some significant velocity.

If the seatbelt constricts around your body tightly during the impact, that can cause internal damage. You might also sustain cuts, bruises, and abrasions.

In short, you might never feel the same after one of these intersection accidents. Maybe you’ll recover fully, but if you can’t, you may mark this day in your mind. It’s one that can permanently change your life if you’re unlucky.

You May Have a Car with Severe Damage

You might also have a car with severe damage if another vehicle hits you in an intersection or you strike another car instead. Either way, a high-speed intersection collision can total your vehicle.

If you total your car, that means it would cost you more to repair it than the vehicle’s entire estimated worth. Unless you’re a mechanic or a claims adjuster, you likely won’t know whether you have a totaled car on your hands after an intersection accident.

However, if you look at the car and see a ton of damage, you might suspect you have totaled it. You must take it to an auto body shop so they can look it over and possibly give you the bad news.

If the accident did total your car, you must consider what you’ll do next. You might just sell it for scrap and get a couple of hundred dollars for it. If so, you must figure out whether you can afford a new car. Your insurance situation and whether the other driver caused the accident will likely come into play.

The Court System Might Hit You with Serious Charges

You might also have some serious legal charges after an intersection accident. That depends on whether you caused the collision and whether you acted egregiously by doing so.

Let’s say you caused the crash because you ran a red light. The other driver might sue you for negligence. That’s a civil case, but you might also have a criminal one forthcoming if you ran a red light after ingesting alcohol or using some other drug.

If you went considerably over the speed limit while driving drunk and caused an accident in an intersection that way, you might even get a depraved indifference charge. Unless you plead that down, you may see some jail time. Even if you do plead it down, if your actions severely injured or even killed someone, you might not escape without seeing the inside of a prison cell.

You May Experience Stress at Home

You might also experience some stress at home after an accident like this. Regardless of whether you caused it or not, you may have PTSD. You might find that you’re experiencing depression or feeling socially isolated. Maybe you have a significant other or spouse who understands what you are going through, but perhaps you feel like they’re not supporting you.

If you drank alcohol and caused the accident, maybe your spouse or significant other feels angry at you. They might commiserate, but they may also blame you, and your relationship might change because of that. They may not respect you as much. They might acknowledge you made a mistake, but things between you might not ever get back to their former status.

You might have your kids tell you they’re hearing rumors about you at school. Other children might even make fun of them because of what they heard you did.

These might sound like worst-case scenarios, but they’re all too possible in some instances. That’s how bad things can get after a serious intersection accident that you caused.

You May Need to Take Public Transportation from That Point Forward

You might also need to take public transportation after you crashed your car. Maybe you can’t afford to get a new one after you totaled your vehicle, or perhaps the court took away your driver’s license.

That might make your life difficult. You may not have the ability to drive to work anymore, so you must get up earlier and take the bus. Maybe your city has trains you can take to work instead. Either way, you might not like that as much as having your own car. You may find yourself waiting for the bus in the rain and replaying the mistake you made in your mind.

If the court took your driver’s license, you can’t drive your kids to school or pick them up. You can’t drive to the grocery store, to a movie, or anywhere else. If you defy the courts and drive without a license, you face even worse penalties if the police pull you over.

With such potentially dire consequences, you should stay safe while driving, particularly when approaching intersections. Don’t try to run through any yellow lights, and pay attention to the pedestrians in crosswalks as well.