Clearwater, Florida intersections are dangerous. According to the Florida Crash Facts Report, intersection accidents caused over 97,000 injuries and fatalities in 2021. While not all of these crashes involved a red or yellow light violation, a significant portion did.
Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers helps victims after red and yellow light accidents in Clearwater, FL. Our Clearwater red and yellow accident attorneys gather evidence of how the car accident happened so they can prove the liability of the driver who disobeyed the traffic signals.
If you were injured in an intersection collision, contact our Clearwater red and yellow light accident lawyers, you can call us today at (727) 493-4418.
How Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After An Accident In Clearwater, FL
Since 2001, Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers have represented accident victims in Clearwater, Florida, against the people and businesses responsible for their injuries. Our Clearwater car accident lawyers have over 119 years of combined legal experience fighting at-fault parties and their insurers for fair compensation.
After you suffer an injury, our Clearwater red and yellow light accident attorneys provide the following:
- Legal analysis of your claim so you understand exactly where you stand
- A firm that stands up to insurers to negotiate fair settlements
- Litigators known as the “Aggressive Attorneys” to fight for you in court
An intersection crash can leave you with chronic pain and permanent disabilities. Contact Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers to discuss your accident and the compensation you may be entitled to seek under Florida law.
How Many People Suffer Injuries In Red and Yellow Light Crashes?
Florida traffic accidents injured or killed nearly 257,000 people in 2021, according to the Crash Facts Report. This number includes people injured or killed in car accidents, motorcycle accidents, and pedestrian accidents.
You can calculate that nearly 38% of these victims were injured or killed at intersections, with 4.9% injured or killed in red light crashes and the remaining 95.1% injured or killed due to a failure to yield. Some of those accidents happened due to yellow light violations, while others happened due to yield violations.
What Do Red and Yellow Light Accident Lawyers Do?
Florida uses a no-fault auto insurance system. Automobile owners must purchase personal injury protection (PIP) coverage with their auto insurance policies. After a crash, this coverage pays 80% of your medical expenses and 60% of your income losses up to $10,000. Florida only allows you to seek compensation for unreimbursed losses in two situations.
First, you can file a claim against the at-fault driver if your losses exceed your $10,000 PIP policy limit. In this situation, you can only seek compensation for unreimbursed economic losses.
Second, the law allows injury claims against at-fault drivers for significant, permanent injuries, including:
- Death
- Significant loss of an important body function
- Significant scarring and disfigurement
- Permanent injury with a reasonable degree of medical certainty
For these injuries, you can seek compensation for both economic and non-economic losses if you prove the other driver negligently or intentionally hit you.
Proving Liability for Running a Red Light
Florida law requires drivers to stop when facing a solid red light. They may not proceed until the signal turns green and the intersection is clear. A driver runs a red light by failing to stop or proceeding before the signal turns green.
Occasionally, drivers intend to hit other vehicles when running a red light. For example, someone escaping the police might deliberately hit your car to move it out of the way. But in most cases, drivers act negligently when they run red lights.
Drivers run red lights for a few reasons, including:
- Impatience
- Distractions
- Intoxication
- Speeding
- Aggressive driving
- Inexperience
A red light lawyer does not need to prove why the other driver ran the red light. They only need to prove that the other driver failed to exercise reasonable care when they disobeyed the signal.
Proving Liability for Running a Yellow Light
Running a yellow light raises different issues. Florida traffic laws do not require drivers to stop at yellow lights. And contrary to popular belief, the law does not even state that yellow lights mean “caution.” Instead, the law only states that a yellow signal indicates that the light will soon turn red.
Thus, proving liability for running a yellow light requires a lawyer to explain how the circumstances made the light-running driver’s actions objectively unreasonable. In other words, the lawyer must show that a reasonable person would have known the risk to other road users of running a yellow light under the same circumstances.
Some factors that might affect the reasonableness of the driver’s actions include:
- How long the light had been yellow
- The vehicle’s location when the light turned yellow
- Whether the light turned red before the vehicle cleared the intersection
- The driver’s speed and whether the driver sped up after the light changed
- The visibility and location of the other vehicles on the road
If your lawyer proves the other driver’s actions were intentional or negligent, a claims adjuster or jury should award you compensation for your losses.
Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Clearwater Car Accident Lawyers
Intersection crashes can cause catastrophic injuries. Our Clearwater red and yellow light accident attorneys are here for you after an intersection crash. Contact Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss your crash and how you can pursue compensation.
We handle all car accident cases, including:
- Head-on crashes
- Hit-and-run accidents
- Parking lot accidents
- Rear-end crashes
- Multi vehicle accidents
- Lane change crashes
