You were minding your own business, driving home after a long day at work. You stopped at the light only a few blocks from home when you heard honking. Suddenly, you find yourself hit and pushed into the intersection.
You were fortunate, and no other vehicles struck you. Unfortunately, you did suffer injuries, and the other driver simply wasn’t paying attention when he hit you.
If you’re rear-ended when you’re stopped at a traffic light, you may be able to file a claim against the driver who hit you. These are common accidents, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous. While some happen at lower speeds, others occur because a driver doesn’t see you stopped ahead of him or her. That leads to a serious impact that could leave you with severe injuries.
Besides your injuries, your vehicle sustains damage as well. Although some people get lucky and can walk away without injuries, it’s more likely that you could suffer from whiplash due to the force of the impact and angle of impact.
There is sometimes a difficulty in situations like these when the vehicle that hit you was not the one that caused the crash. For example, if there are three vehicles waiting at a stop light and a fourth fails to stop, that vehicle could hit the third, which then hits the second and then you. Who is to blame in that situation? Usually, you can sue all parties involved to collect compensation. It may be that you sue the person behind you, that person sues the party behind them, and so on.
Our website has more on rear-end collisions and what you should do if you’re hit.