You might experience a car wreck while less than a block from your house. You might experience one while driving to work or while on vacation hundreds of miles from home. You can never completely avoid them as a motorist, even if you obey traffic laws and drive defensively.
You should know a little about car wrecks and the particular dangers that go along with each one. We’ll talk about that a bit in the following article. We will run through the details of five different car accident types that you might witness or experience on America’s roadways at any time.
T-Bone Car Accidents
T-bone crashes represent about 13% of total accidents. That means they’re not particularly common. That’s a good thing, since these sorts of accidents can cause very serious injuries, especially if the vehicle that hits the other car has a good rate of speed going at the time.
When a T-bone accident happens, you have one car that hits another one broadside. The two cars, when they meet, form the capital letter T, hence the term T-bone collision.
If this accident occurs, it probably means someone made a serious traffic-related mistake. They can happen in the middle of an intersection if one car runs through a red light, for instance.
If you have a drunk driver or someone who’s not paying attention, this can happen. You might also see a T-bone collision occur if someone falls asleep at the wheel.
If this happens, and one car strikes the other broadside where there’s no passenger, that’s very lucky. If a car hits another vehicle and forms a letter T, and there’s either a driver or passenger sitting in that spot, the crash can easily kill them or cause many broken bones and other serious injuries.
Fender Benders
A fender bender doesn’t sound like a very big deal, and in most cases, it isn’t. You might also hear someone call this kind of crash a rear-end collision.
If it happens, usually, one car backs up and hits the front fender of the vehicle behind it. This can happen on the street, but also in a parking lot if you have an inexperienced driver or one who lets something like their smartphone or the radio distract them.
You might also have a fender bender where one driver moves forward and hits the car’s rear fender ahead of them. It’s the same term each time.
Fender benders don’t often cause very serious damage, assuming the vehicle that hits the other car slowed down in time. You might see injuries from this kind of a crash, but if it happens, they’re usually not too bad.
Whiplash injuries frequently happen from these accidents. If someone in the car in front’s head and neck whip back and forth at the moment of impact, that can cause a sore neck, headaches, and things of that nature.
Usually, rest, over-the-counter pain meds, and perhaps some ice packs or heating pads will alleviate the pain. In more serious cases, you might need to wear a neck brace for a while.
Head-to-Head Collisions
The head-to-head accident belongs on the list of ones that can seriously injure or kill someone. As the name implies, with this accident type, two cars collide front grille to front grille.
If the two cars have built up a decent rate of speed when they hit each other this way, that can kill a driver or passenger. It can also seriously injure them.
This kind of accident should trigger a car’s airbags. If it does, those can save the life of the drivers and passengers in the front seat.
In this scenario, it’s probable once again that someone made a serious driving error. Maybe an intoxicated person drove the wrong way up a one-way street. Perhaps they couldn’t see the road or the other car in a blinding snowstorm or rainstorm.
Sideswipe Accidents
A sideswipe accident might cause a little damage, but usually not too much. If injuries occur, they’re rarely too serious or fatal.
This accident usually happens if someone doesn’t realize there’s a car in the lane beside them, and they try to change lanes without signaling or without checking their blind spot. They might scrape the car beside them with the side of their own vehicle.
These days, these accidents happen less often because of improved vehicle safety features. Car companies came up with blind spot detection technology.
This tech sounds an alert or lights up a car’s driver’s side mirror if there’s a vehicle or another large object in their blind spot. This signals to the driver that they shouldn’t try to change lanes at that moment. It’s still not a foolproof system, but fewer of these accidents happen now with this tech on the roads and in many modern and high-end cars.
Rollover Accidents
A rollover accident can also kill or seriously injure a driver or passenger quite easily. As the name implies, in this situation, a car will roll over onto its roof.
It might also roll over several times before coming to rest on its side. It may land right-side up again after rolling over once or multiple times.
If this happens, usually, someone loses control of their vehicle. Maybe they’re driving too fast on the highway and try to go around a steep curve.
If they’re driving an SUV that’s top heavy, that makes this situation far more likely. SUVs have taken steps to try and solve this problem, but it can still happen, especially with older models.
To prevent rollover accidents, you should slow down. If you’re driving slower, particularly on the highway, you can probably keep control of the car if you’re approaching a sharp curve.
While any of these accidents can happen at any time, driving defensively and obeying all applicable traffic laws can often prevent them. You should try to keep yourself safe while driving, and your passengers as well.
