New York City’s traffic is notorious. Many residents of the four subway-enabled boroughs avoid driving whenever possible, preferring instead to rely on public transportation. Visitors to the city are in awe of the traffic, and New York City’s taxi drivers and rideshare drivers have a heroic reputation for their courageous driving maneuvers. For you, however, this is all just a normal part of daily life. You navigate the mind-boggling traffic patterns of Brooklyn’s roads on a daily basis, even though your car probably has a few battle scars to show for it. Lane change accidents are one of the most common types of collisions. While they do not usually end up totaling your car or leading to severe injuries, they can lead to a lot of hassle and financial stress, sometimes including medical bills. If you got injured in a sideswipe car accident or if the insurance companies refuse to see things your way, contact a New York car accident lawyer.
Do Serious Injuries Result From Lane Change Accidents?
Lane change accidents are a common type of motor vehicle collision, especially in urban areas like New York City. The chances of suffering a severe injury such as a spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considerably less in a sideswipe accident, such as typically occurs with an improper lane change, than in other collision scenarios such as a head-on collision or a T-bone accident, where the front of one car strikes the side of another.
Sideswipe accidents usually happen when one driver misjudges whether they have enough room to merge from one lane of traffic to another. As a result, the side of the merging vehicle collides with the side of a vehicle in the destination lane. Therefore, they usually occur on crowded city streets with traffic lights and relatively low speed limits. When they occur on the highway, where speed limits are higher, they usually happen during times of heavy traffic congestion, so the traffic is not moving very fast.
It is possible for injuries to result from lane change accidents. Whiplash injury, which can cause chronic neck or upper back pain, is one type of injury that can result.
Who is at Fault for a Lane Change Accident?
Drivers who are remaining in their lane of traffic have the right of way, so it is the responsibility of the driver who is changing lanes to use a turn signal to indicate the lane change and to determine the appropriate time to merge. Therefore, the driver who initiated the lane change is usually at fault for the accident. Under New York’s comparative negligence laws, the driver in the destination lane could also be partially at fault.
Contact Leitner Varughese Warywoda PLLC About Car Accident Cases
A car accident lawyer can help you if you have been injured in a lane change accident. Contact Leitner Varughese Warywoda PLLC in Brooklyn, New York, or call (212)671-1110 to discuss your case.
