The actions (or inactions) of one person can have a tremendous effect on the lives of multiple individuals when that person is behind the wheel of an automobile. Slamming one multi-ton piece of machinery into another can have a horrific fallout for everyone involved, and as the number of cars on our streets increase, so do the number of multiple-victim crashes. This truth was brought horrifically to light earlier this year when a car accident in Arkansas injured multiple victims and left a trail of destruction and debris throughout a busy intersection. The whole thing was caused because a driver failed to stop for a red light at an intersection in Springdale.
Red Lights Don’t Stop Everyone
The car accident in Springdale, Arkansas happened on Saturday, January 18th at around 3:30 PM. Police investigators were able to cobble together eyewitness’ testimony and physical evidence to reconstruct the crash and found that the inattention of one driver caused the devastation.
The accident report shows that the at-fault driver failed to stop at a red light at the intersection of Sunset Road and Jones Road. Not only did they fail to stop, they were also traveling at such a high rate of speed that the initial impact didn’t stop or significantly slow them down. Indeed, their vehicle came into contact with one vehicle, then continued through the intersection and smashed into two more.
Unfortunately, these types of failure to stop car accidents in Arkansas are becoming more and more common.
Red Light Car Accident Fatalities in Arkansas at a 10-Year High
According to statistics published by AAA, the number of fatal car accidents caused by one driver running a red light (or other traffic control devices such as a stop sign) reached a 10-year high in 2017. The data shows a 28% increase in such accidents since 2012 and now equates to two people being killed every day nationwide simply because a driver runs a red light.
Disturbingly, this increase in intersection-related fatal car accidents is actually outpacing the increase in total fatalities. For the same period of time, the total number of people killed in car accidents only rose by 10%.
The researchers who authored the study couldn’t find any evidence concretely linked to this dramatic increase but safety advocates suspect speed plays a role in multiple-vehicle crashes at intersections.
Determining Liability in Multiple Vehicle Car Crashes in Arkansas
If you or a loved one has been injured by an impatient or reckless driver while waiting for the light to turn at an intersection, the key to your personal financial recovery process is proving liability. In some cases, such as the Arkansas car accident mentioned above, proving liability is fairly easy. In others, not everything is so cut and dry.
There can be extenuating circumstances such as:
- Visibility issues
- Mechanical failures
- Errors in signal patterns
- Weather conditions
And if any of these circumstances can be used to lower the at-fault driver’s liability, you can bet they will be.
Having an experienced car accident lawyer in Arkansas on your side is often the best course of action. Even if your injuries aren’t debilitating, even if the cost of repair/replacement cost of fixing your car isn’t that high, even if you didn’t lose that much time from work, every penny adds up and you shouldn’t have to bear the financial responsibility of a wreck that another driver caused.
Contact the legal experts at the Pfeifer Law Firm for help today. Call 501-374-4440 for a free consultation today or get in touch online. You don’t owe us anything until we recover for you.