What Types of Injuries are Associated with T-Bone Accidents?

A car’s side panels and doors generally provide less protection and have a smaller crumple zone than the front and rear of the car. Because of this, side-impact or “T-Bone” accidents can cause more serious injuries than head-on or rear impact crashes.

At Douglas and London, our New York City car accident lawyers represent auto drivers and passengers who have suffered serious injuries in T-Bone accidents. We understand the costs and expenses for medical treatment, recovery, and rehabilitation.

What Injuries Are Common in T-Bone Accidents?

The occupants of a vehicle that are on the receiving end of a side-impact collision may suffer multiple injuries, including:

  • traumatic brain injuries and cuts and contusions to the head and face from metal, shattered glass, and other components of the car;
  • neck, back, and spinal injuries, herniated disks, whiplash, and displacements of vertebrae;
  • internal chest and abdominal injuries and organ displacement from impact trauma and projectiles that pierce the victim’s trunk or core;
  • broken bones, particularly pelvic bones that absorb the side-impact collision;
  • traumatic limb amputations;
  • muscle and other soft tissue injuries;
  • burns and other heat-related injuries from ignitable fluids.

The severity of injuries will be a function of the integrity of the vehicles and the speeds at which they were traveling when the impact occurred.

Where and How Do T-Bone Accidents Happen?   

Because they involve collisions between two vehicles that are traveling at right angles to each other– T-Bone accidents frequently occur at intersections. They are also common in large parking lots where cars are moving in different directions in tighter spaces. A car might also skid on ice and end up sideways in a lane of traffic, leaving it exposed to side-impact collisions.

T-Bone accidents occur as a result of inattentive driving, speeding through intersections, misjudging oncoming traffic, impaired judgment due to drugs or alcohol, mechanical failures, and bad weather. Large vehicles, like certain types of trucks, might also give the driver poor sightlines that prevent them from seeing cars that are entering an intersection.

Determining the cause of a T-Bone accident is generally key to assigning liability for damages and injuries.

Who is Liable for Damages in a T-Bone Accident?

All drivers owe a duty of care to other motorists to safely operate their vehicles and to follow the rules of the road. Liability will generally be assessed on motorists who are driving unsafely or who fail to adhere to those rules. A driver who crashes into the side of another car might not be liable, for example, if the other car ran a red light and drove into an intersection– in front of an oncoming driver.

Because of this, victims in T-Bone accidents should attempt to record and preserve as much evidence about the accident as is possible for their personal injury lawyer to use as a basis for their case. At a minimum, that victim should file a police report to illustrate their version of the accident.

If possible, they should also take photographs of the accident scene and the damaged vehicles—as well as asking witnesses for statements and contact information, noting traffic and weather conditions, and saving all medical invoices. All of that information will be aggregated to show which party was primarily liable.

 Call Douglas and London to Pursue Damages for T-Bone Accident Injuries

If you have been injured—contact us to consult with our New York City personal injury lawyers, who will assess your case and determine if you have a valid basis to seek damages. We have extensive experience in representing car accident victims.

Please see our website or call our offices directly for a consultation when you suffer injuries in a T-Bone accident in Manhattan, the Bronx, Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens, or anywhere else in New York.  We provide compassionate and aggressive legal representation and fight to recover the full amount of damages that you deserve.

 Resources:

  1. The National Institutes of Health, Side Impact Motor Vehicle Crashes: Driver, Passenger, Vehicle, and Crash Characteristics for Fatally and Nonfatally-injured Rear-Seated Adults,
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5045916/
  2. Accident Values, Side-Impact Collisions,
    https://accidentvalues.com/info/crash-types/side-impact-collisions/