Whichever driver failed to yield the right of way. Texas Transportation Code § 545.151 sets the rules at intersections, including obedience to stop signs and yield signs and the rule that a driver yields to a vehicle approaching from the right at an uncontrolled intersection. Section 545.152 requires a driver turning left to yield to oncoming traffic that is in the intersection or close enough to be an immediate hazard. Most T-bone cases resolve into one of those two provisions.

With physical evidence rather than competing accounts, because two sincere people can genuinely remember different lights. Signal timing and phasing data from the city establishes what was possible. Nearby business, transit, and traffic cameras sometimes captured it. Vehicle crush patterns, the point of impact on each vehicle, and the final rest positions establish geometry and speed. Event data recorder downloads from both vehicles frequently settle it outright.

Yes, and it is one of the most useful provisions in the code for these cases. Texas Transportation Code § 545.151 provides that an operator who is required to stop and yield the right of way, and who is then involved in a collision with the vehicle entitled to that right of way, is presumed not to have yielded. That shifts the practical burden onto the driver who blew the sign.

Because of what is missing. A frontal collision has an engine bay, structural rails, and roughly three feet of designed crush space between the impact and the occupant. A side impact has a door skin, an intrusion beam if the vehicle has one, and a few inches. That is why T-bone crashes produce pelvic fractures, chest and abdominal injuries, and head injuries at ordinary urban speeds.

Usually, yes. Most vehicles built in the last fifteen years record speed, throttle position, brake application, steering input, and seat belt status in the seconds before an impact. It is objective, it is not subject to memory, and it is often decisive on the question of who was moving and who was stopped. It is also lost permanently when a vehicle is repaired, sold to salvage, or crushed, which frequently happens within weeks.

You can claim against either driver, or both, and you carry no share of the fault. The dispute between the two drivers over who had the light is their problem to resolve, not yours, and it does not reduce what you recover. Passengers in T-bone crashes are often the most seriously hurt people in the vehicle, because the impact frequently lands on the side where someone was sitting.

Sometimes. A signal that malfunctioned or displayed conflicting greens, vegetation or signage that obstructed sight lines, or a known dangerous configuration can support a claim against a governmental entity. Those claims are difficult, because immunity is limited and waived only in defined circumstances, and they carry notice deadlines far shorter than the ordinary filing deadline. They need to be evaluated in the first weeks, not later.

It is persuasive but not conclusive. A citation records the responding officer's judgment based on what was available at the scene, which often does not include camera footage, signal data, or vehicle download data. Civil fault is decided on the complete evidence. A citation strengthens your position, and its absence does not weaken it nearly as much as insurers suggest.

No. Frontal airbags are designed to fire in frontal collisions and often will not deploy in a pure side impact, which is expected behavior rather than evidence of a low-speed crash. The separate question worth asking is whether side curtain or side torso airbags should have deployed and did not. Where a vehicle was equipped with them and they failed to fire, that raises a potential claim against the manufacturer.

Yes, unless your share passes 51 percent. Texas assigns each party a percentage of responsibility under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 33.001 and reduces your recovery by yours. In intersection cases the argument is usually that you could have avoided the collision even though the other driver failed to yield. It is answerable with sight-line and closing-speed evidence.

Two years from the crash under Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003. The evidence that decides these cases, signal data, intersection video, and vehicle event recorder downloads, is typically gone within weeks, so the practical deadline is much earlier than the legal one.

The firm is based in Austin and represents clients throughout Texas, primarily in Travis County, Williamson County, and Bastrop County.

Board certification by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization recognizes attorneys who demonstrate substantial experience in a specific area of law, pass a rigorous examination, and receive peer review.Brent A. Devere is Board Certified in Consumer and Commercial Law, Consumer Bankruptcy Law, Residential Real Estate Law, and Commercial Real Estate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.Working with a board-certified attorney means your case is handled by a lawyer with proven knowledge, experience, and commitment in their field.

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