GET A FREE-ANGLE ACCIDENT CONSULTATION
Have you or your loved ones suffered a severe injury during a Los Angeles car accident at a red light, stop sign, or green or yellow light? Did your primary wage earner suffer a wrongful death during an intersection accident? If so, these seriously injured survivors may be entitled to seek personal injury compensation.
Our Los Angeles auto accident attorneys help seriously injured victims win all sorts of intersection accident court and insurance claims. Intersections are the at-grade junctions where most traffic accidents occur. Los Angeles has some of the most dangerous roads and intersections in the United States.
Modernly, these types of roadway collisions compose almost 40% of U.S. annual vehicle accidents. Typically, another vehicle will collide with the front or rear quarter panel or your vehicle’s front or rear doors. Most of our accident claims will involve collisions occurring at yellow signals phasing to a red light. If you have driven in L.A., you also know that many aggressive motorists running behind think they can speed through a traffic intersection to beat a yellow light and avoid an auto accident. Also, many children get run over at stop signs in school zone crosswalks by speeders, drunks, and inattentive drivers.
Adding to your commuting frustration, for example, not all four-way stops and traffic intersections are controlled by a traffic signal phasing from yellow to red to green. You may have noticed signal phasing problems giving other oncoming drivers the green light. Also, some stop signs might be poorly lit, missing, or faded.
Our Los Angeles personal injury attorney offers victims a free consultation. After we attentively listen to your problems. Once you hire our winning team of paralegals and attorneys, you will have experts helping you. We have the know-how to deal with these situations and other personal injury claims.
Victims seriously injured in an intersection auto collision must seek legal advice before assuming the other side will be responsible for covering severe injury and wrongful death consequences. However, most of the time, you will battle tooth and nail just to get adequate property damage coverage, let alone money for your medical expenses and time off work.
You must meet your “preponderance of the evidence” burden of proof. You must establish a 51% or more likely that your version or recollection or that of your expert witness is correct. Since you are not a trained trial attorney, you don’t know the evidence and procedure rules. Your lack of legal experts will make it extremely difficult to convince an adjuster or jury to follow instructions.
Unless you (or your personal injury attorney) takes the necessary steps to build your accident case, you could lose out on total compensation. Our experienced Los Angeles intersection accident attorneys have insider, winning knowledge. We make it happen for you!
The insurance company is not your friend: Contrary to what an insurance adjuster may tell you, to prevail, you must show it’s more likely than not that the other car ran through the intersection unlawfully. To do that, you’ll need some evidence establishing the plaintiff’s obligatory burden of proof.
The Other Driver Will Probably Lie: After the other driver speaks to their insurance agent, they will typically finger you as the at-fault party, even if they previously admitted fault.
The Insurance Company Will Probably Refuse Liability Acceptance: Because the other driver now has amnesia or a false version of events, their insurance company will refuse to accept compensation responsibility until you establish legal liability.
The Cops May Blame YOU: If no witnesses perceived or saw the accident occur, and both drivers say the yellow or green light favored them, the LAPD or CHP might place both parties at fault! Because of this, the law-abiding driver will become hard-pressed to convince a well-trained insurance adjuster they should pay your bodily injury claim.
So how do you deal with a liar or someone who “misremembered?” How, for example, does a motorcycle accident attorney win a case when biased police officers wrongly placed them at fault for the traffic wreck? How can a lawyer help this victim receive monetary damages? Our job is to convince the insurance company that a jury will believe it’s more likely than not the other party caused the accident.
We will take steps to identify the liable party immediately. For example, sometimes both sides will claim they had the “green light” or argue over who had the right way. But you will face problems establishing party fault without a dashcam or some videotaped footage. You will be facing a “he said, she said” situation with a court splitting the baby, so to speak. Your whole case hinges on your lawyer finding proof.
We will begin your insurance claims process. You already know most intersection accidents will generally see the front bumper of one of the vehicles collide with another person or object.
We can help you find a lien doctor to treat you now and get paid back after winning.
We will cover upfront costs for ordering and obtaining police reports, medical bills/medical treatment records, and expert witnesses when necessary.
We charge you nothing upfront to hear what you have to say and give you an honest civil case assessment over the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
That’s right, we believe in your case so much; if we can’t win, we take no attorney’s fee! We think you deserve nothing less than the best personal injury attorney in Los Angeles. We put our money where our mouth is.
“I don’t know who could have given me better legal assistance for my intersection accident rear-end collision while riding my motorcycle. The cops and the other side tried blaming me, but Mike and his staff turned it around my car crash lawyer. I will recommend anyone hurt in a car accident case, reach out to Ehline Law Firm!” – Ryan E., San Diego, Camp Pendleton, CA
Generally, our Los Angeles intersection accident attorneys help victims with accidents occurring at two main types of intersections:
As discussed, intersection accidents are collisions at roadway intersections, including vehicle vs. vehicle or vehicle vs. pedestrian at a crosswalk.
An intersection crash will commonly take a variety of different forms, including:
The two most common causes of intersection accidents are:
Our accident attorneys have first-hand knowledge of dangerous drivers and dangerous road conditions leading to most intersection collisions. Although most intersection accidents remain preventable, sometimes, these catastrophes are wholly unavoidable. In Los Angeles, California, “angle crashes” present real threats to anyone sharing roads. An angle crash happens when two vehicles approaching opposite roadways collide at a junction point, including a highway intersection, driveway, offramp, or entrance ramp.
Negligence: Most intersection accidents are the result of driver negligence. All drivers on the road have an obligation to drive safely. This requires obeying all posted traffic laws, understanding responsibilities at an intersection, and using caution to prevent the risk of harm. When drivers do not uphold their duty of care to others, they can be held financially responsible for injuries.
Common causes of dangerous/reckless/negligent driver intersection accidents include:
Common causes of dangerous/hazardous road intersection accidents include:
Faulty traffic signal device collisions due to faulty traffic signals, including signs and lights, are a major problem in Los Angeles. Imagine the signal phasing giving both parties the green light resulting in a vehicle pile-up. The city will deny anything was wrong, so how can you win? Witnesses can change things. But absent some type of proof, good luck proving party’s fault. And you will find it more complicated if the traffic signal location maintained zero records of traffic light phasing or triggering. Again, this is why you need an aggressive, no-nonsense law firm by your side.
TIP: If you suspect your intersection accident would not have happened but for a substantially changed or poorly maintained road hazard listed above, you can make a government compensation claim (Tort claim). Our tort claims act attorneys would typically file an official claim form with the agency, the municipality, or the party responsible for road repair and maintenance (Discussed more below).
Most intersection accidents involve someone failing to obey red and yellow traffic lights. Many drivers remain unaware of their obligations at an intersection due to Vehicle Code ambiguities. Basically, we are required to drive reasonably, what that means can mean many things to many people. California law provides motor vehicle operators with some guidance about drivers’ expectations when facing a yellow or red traffic sign or signal.
Yellow Light or Flashing Yellow? No unambiguous rules exist concerning yellow traffic signaling devices and driver response duties. When you face a steady yellow light, California law explains that a yellow traffic light means that “a red [light] indication will be shown immediately thereafter.” This change can happen in a matter of seconds. Motorists must exercise caution by slowing early when approaching a yellow traffic signal.
“(a) A driver facing a … red signal [must] stop … before entering the crosswalk … of the intersection … before entering the intersection, and shall remain stopped until … [SAFE].”
“(b) [If no] sign is in place prohibiting a turn,… after stopping … facing a … red signal, [you] may turn right, … [or] left from a one-way street onto a one-way street. A driver making that turn shall yield the right-of-way to pedestrians … within … crosswalk and … vehicle … approaching … and … continue to yield the right-of-way to that vehicle until the driver can proceed with reasonable safety.”
“(c) A driver facing a … red arrow signal shall not enter the intersection … unless … permitted by another signal, shall stop … before entering the crosswalk … and shall remain stopped until [SAFE].”
The bottom line is whether or not a clearly marked limit line exists near a footpath, where two or more roads or streets meet, or cross, or not,
“When lane use control signals are placed over individual lanes; those signals shall indicate and apply to drivers of vehicles as follows:
(a) Green indication: A driver may travel in any lane over which a green signal is shown.
(b) Steady yellow indication: A driver is thereby warned that a lane control change is being made.
(c) Steady red indication: A driver shall not enter or travel in any lane over which a red signal is shown.
(d) Flashing yellow indication: A driver may use the lane only to make a left turn to or from the highway. (Some Los Angeles traffic signals will display a flashing yellow signal or arrow. Drivers are permitted to use these lanes to perform left-hand turns. The driver must yield to all oncoming traffic and pedestrians. Left-hand turns can only be executed when the driver has reason to believe that the turn can be executed safely.).” (See also CVC 21454).
Who has the legal right of way when an intersection has multiple stop signs? When two vehicles simultaneously enter an intersection from different highways, the vehicle’s driver on the left remains legally obligated to yield the right-of-way to the vehicle on their immediate right. But the driver of any vehicle on a “terminating highway” shall yield the right-of-way to any motorists approaching the intersecting, continuing highway.
Sometimes an intersection will be equipped with multiple stop signs rather than changing traffic signals. Anytime a vehicle operator approaches a stop sign, they remain legally obligated to completely stop with their vehicle’s front behind the limit line, if any.
Sometimes drivers will need to enter or cross a highway from a road or drive not marked by traffic signals.
Under CVC § 21804:
“(a) The driver of any vehicle about to enter or cross a highway from any public or private property, or an alley, shall yield the right-of-way to all traffic … approaching on the highway close enough to constitute an immediate hazard, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to that traffic until they can proceed with reasonable safety.
(b) A driver having yielded … may … enter or cross the highway, and the drivers of … vehicles approaching on the highway shall yield the right-of-way to the vehicle entering or crossing the intersection.” (CVC § 21804). Traffic, as used in this section, means pedestrians, bicycles, and passenger cars.
As we noted during the introduction, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) has reported around 40% of all U.S. accidents to occur at intersections. (2013 study estimated 5.8 million crashes in 2012 were at or near an intersection).
Los Angeles intersections reported the greatest number of traffic accidents from 2019-2020’s COVID-19 lockdown period?
The following intersections tied for most dangerous:
Although intersection collisions are the second-leading cause of traffic accidents in the U.S., Los Angeles intersections are more dangerous than anywhere else. Injuries you can sustain will vary depending on the collision itself. Even at low impact speed, severe injury cases and wrongful death claims can arise from these accident types.
According to SWITRS, from 2018-2020, Los Angeles County saw:
Of these reported L.A. intersection collisions, 535 people were killed & 91,989 people in vehicles received injuries
The personal injury attorneys at Ehline Law believe negligent and reckless drivers contributing to a crash at an intersection should be held accountable.
Collision Severity |
Count |
% |
4 – Injury (Complaint of Pain) |
38086 |
63.54% |
3 – Injury (Other Visible) |
18233 |
30.42% |
2 – Injury (Severe) |
3119 |
5.20% |
1 – Fatal |
504 |
0.84% |
Victim Role |
Count |
% |
1 – Driver |
57191 |
61.81% |
2 – Passenger |
24416 |
26.39% |
3 – Pedestrian |
6516 |
7.04% |
4 – Bicyclist |
4107 |
4.44% |
5 – Other |
292 |
0.32% |
According to SWITRS, from 2018-2020, out of 92,506 Los Angeles angle crash victims, more female victims were present than males 20-24 years of age.
Most pedestrian crashes and deaths occur while pedestrians are crossing a street’s intersection. Most bicyclists are killed by cars at intersections.
Type of Collision |
Count |
% |
D – Broadside |
34085 |
56.86% |
A – Head-On |
6956 |
11.60% |
G – Vehicle/Pedestrian |
5403 |
9.01% |
C – Rear End |
5169 |
8.62% |
B – Sideswipe |
4515 |
7.53% |
H – Other |
1303 |
2.17% |
‘- – Not Stated |
1105 |
1.84% |
E – Hit Object |
1058 |
1.77% |
F – Overturned |
348 |
0.58% |
PCF Violation |
Count |
% |
00 – Unknown |
2484 |
4.18% |
01 – Driving or Bicycling Under the Influence of Alcohol or Drug |
1810 |
3.05% |
02 – Impeding Traffic |
13 |
0.02% |
03 – Unsafe Speed |
4868 |
8.20% |
04 – Following Too Closely |
1155 |
1.95% |
05 – Wrong Side of Road |
1151 |
1.94% |
06 – Improper Passing |
259 |
0.44% |
07 – Unsafe Lane Change |
641 |
1.08% |
08 – Improper Turning |
4145 |
6.98% |
09 – Automobile Right of Way |
22508 |
37.91% |
10 – Pedestrian Right of Way |
3696 |
6.22% |
11 – Pedestrian Violation |
1074 |
1.81% |
12 – Traffic Signals and Signs |
14206 |
23.92% |
13 – Hazardous Parking |
12 |
0.02% |
14 – Lights |
2 |
0.00% |
15 – Brakes |
16 |
0.03% |
16 – Other Equipment |
10 |
0.02% |
17 – Other Hazardous Violation |
534 |
0.90% |
18 – Other Than Driver (or Pedestrian) |
199 |
0.34% |
21 – Unsafe Starting or Backing |
393 |
0.66% |
22 – Other Improper Driving |
203 |
0.34% |
24 – Fell Asleep |
1 |
0.00% |
Some accidents are due to pure negligence but not violations of legislative enactments. But some roadway law violations violate local laws. When a motorist violates a traffic law (makes a left-hand turn when the static or lit traffic signal is still red), victims recover compensation easier based upon a presumption they were negligent by ignoring the posted regulations. Violating the California Vehicle Code is negligence per se, meaning victims won’t be burdened to prove the at-fault driver was negligent.
Here, the defendant who crashed into you might be presumed negligent by violating the below laws. Unless the other driver can shift the burden back at you, they are up the creek without a paddle. (Read More about negligence per se here)
Once you or your representative determines who violated the law, your Los Angeles car accident attorneys must look for other parties who may have liability for the other driver or some road condition, increasing accident risks.
Whether you were hit at a controlled or uncontrolled intersection, you have the right to recover full and fair compensation.
Potentially At-Fault-Parties Include:
In the event of an accident, especially when drivers do not come to a complete stop at a stop sign, drivers entering the intersection at the main thoroughfare have the right of way first. And those drivers approaching from secondary roads must wait till they can safely proceed. That is the law!
Yes, we may find evidence that other parties must contribute money to your compensation amount. So this means they would typically be at fault for helping cover your medical expenses, lost wages, loss of income, loss of consortium, replacement vehicle, and more.
If you were on the clock, you might be eligible to receive worker’s compensation insurance payments, including unemployment disability.
You already know that drivers failing to stop or who stop but carelessly pull out into oncoming traffic are negligent under California law.
Yes, intersection accidents can be tricky. First, you have to prove you had the right of way. How do you prove the other driver liable when you both have asserted you had a green light?
You may bear some fault in causing or contributing to the accident and making your injuries worse after the accident.
Your recovery is not barred in these cases, but your damages award will be reduced based on your fault percentages.
How much money you can receive from an at-fault party will be determined on a case-by-case basis, based upon your percentage of fault, if any, and your total general and special damages.
Our magnificent intersection accident lawyers will use their superior knowledge and skills to retrieve the maximum compensation award under the law.
Driving at or near intersections remains one of the most dangerous places for vehicle operators in L.A. However, young people and elders drive in and out of many local intersections each day, rarely imagining the risks they pose. Most crashes in L.A. County happen at an intersection. Since you can’t avoid passing through every intersection, we have provided several tips to help you safely navigate them.
In most personal injury cases, the victim will have two years from the date of the accident to file a lawsuit for personal injuries and three years to sue for property damage. But in a cruise ship accident or case against a government agency, you may have other problems. Only a highly trained, expeditious injury law firm will handle all these issues with confidence.
We provided these tips to keep you safe when driving through an intersection. You should teach your teen driver and spouse about these dangers. Being a good citizen means developing excellent, safe driving habits. When you have suffered harm in an intersection accident caused due to another’s negligence, you will endure bills, lost wages/profits, immense pain, and suffering.
Our superior Los Angeles intersection accident attorneys think you deserve compensation. Our legal team and charismatic staff offer the best legal representation in Southern California. We have the legal know-how and financial wherewithal to investigate any intersection accident and determine party fault comprehensively. Also, we have vast experience negotiating with sneaky insurance adjusters.
Our award-winning trial lawyers have no fear of filing a lawsuit either. We are experts at law and motion and complex civil litigation. We encourage seriously injured accident victims to reach out to Ehline Law Firm Personal Injury Attorneys, APLC, today. We have a proven track record for helping California accident victims. We have recovered over $150 million for satisfied clients.
And we only get paid attorney’s fees if we get you money. You can call us toll-free at (213) 596-9642 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at our injury attorney hotline. You and your family members can also use our convenient online contact form to receive your free legal consultation at no charge!
Fill out this contact form to schedule your free consultation. One of our serious injury lawyers will respond to your query within 24 hours. We will fight for MAXIMUM compensation and never surrender. No recovery and no fee unless you get paid. Dial (213) 596-9642 for superior trial lawyers handling intersection accidents today!
Michael Ehline
Michael Ehline is an inactive U.S. Marine and world-famous legal historian. Michael helped draft the Cruise Ship Safety Act and has won some of U.S. history’s largest motorcycle accident settlements. Together with his legal team, Michael and the Ehline Law Firm collect damages on behalf of clients. We pride ourselves on being available to answer your most pressing and difficult questions 24/7. We are proud sponsors of the Paul Ehline Memorial Motorcycle Ride and a Service Disabled Veteran Operated Business. (SDVOB.) We are ready to fight.