T-bone intersection crash.

Why side-impact crashes injure you so badly

Unlike front-end collisions, where the engine compartment absorbs much of the energy, side impacts put you inches away from the striking vehicle. Modern side airbags and reinforced door beams help, but even in well-equipped vehicles, T-bone crashes frequently produce:

• Rib fractures and flail chest
• Pelvic fractures — particularly common in driver-side impacts
• Traumatic brain injury from the head striking the window or pillar
• Lacerated liver or ruptured spleen from intrusion on the passenger side
• Cervical spine injuries from the lateral whipping motion
• Internal bleeding that may not be immediately apparent

Proving who had the right of way

Almost every T-bone case comes down to one question: who had the green light, or who had the right of way? We reconstruct the intersection using:

• Traffic-signal sequence data from TxDOT or the City of Houston — we subpoena the signal-timing records for the exact moments surrounding the crash
• Intersection camera footage — Houston's Red-Light Safety Program cameras are gone, but private business cameras, Ring doorbells, and dash cams often capture the crash
• Witness statements — canvassed and locked down within days of the crash, not months later
• EDR data from both vehicles showing speed and braking
• Physical evidence — point of impact on each vehicle, debris field, tire marks

Left-turn T-bones — the "unprotected left" problem

A significant share of Houston T-bones happen when a driver making an unprotected left turn misjudges a gap in oncoming traffic. In Texas, the left-turning driver generally owes the duty to yield — meaning the left-turn driver is almost always at fault, even if the oncoming driver was speeding. We still have to prove it, though, because insurance adjusters will argue the oncoming driver's speed caused the crash.

Red-light running and stop-sign violations

Running a red light or rolling a stop sign supports not just ordinary negligence but also negligence per se — violating a traffic statute designed to prevent exactly the type of harm that occurred. In cases with particularly egregious violations (e.g., a driver who ran multiple red lights or was street-racing), we pursue exemplary damages.