Michigan Injury Lawyer BlogDangerous Intersections: A Major Cause of Michigan Car Accidents
Pedestrian and road intersections are critical to connecting people who are traveling from one route to another. However, the area where roads and paths intersect often creates dangerous points. A recent list reports that out of Michigan’s 20 most dangerous intersections, nearly 75% of them are in Detroit. A significant number of Michigan accidents occur at these intersections. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) explained that enhancing intersection safety is one of the best ways to prevent serious and fatal accidents.
The FHWA Safety Program focuses on addressing the three main factors contributing to these accidents: conflict point, vehicle speed, and collision angle. The main conflict points are where the vehicles merge, diverge or cross. These accidents usually involve accidents between two vehicles, vehicles with pedestrians, and vehicles with cyclists. A majority of accidents are caused by displaced left-turns on quadrant highways. Next, vehicle speed plays a significant role in accidents; the amount of energy a car exerts during a crash can drastically impact the severity of an accident. Finally, collision angle also impacts crash severity; traditional intersections present more opportunities to collide at dangerous angles.
Michigan’s most dangerous intersections occur at 18 ½ Mile and Van Dyke Avenue in Sterling Heights. This location is the site of about five accidents every two weeks. Additionally, 11 Mile/Interstate 696 and Van Dyke Avenue, U.S. 131 and Wealthy Street, Martin Parkway and Pontiac Trail, and Schoolcraft Road and Telegraph Road, were the top five locations for intersection accidents in the state. A startling 587 accidents occurred at these locations, accounting for nearly 100 injuries.
The state supreme court recently issued a 
As the name implies, multi-vehicle accidents occur when more than two vehicles are involved in a collision. Chain-reaction refers to the manner in which many multi-vehicle accidents begin. Michigan chain-reaction accidents usually start with one collision whose force causes other vehicles to slam into one another. These accidents frequently occur in areas where vehicles are close to each other, such as densely occupied highways, narrow roads, or traffic stops. After a Michigan chain-reaction accident, establishing fault and liability presents many challenges to injury victims, as it can be hard to determine the exact course of events that lead to the accident. Further, in some cases, more than one party may be responsible for the accident.
Losing a loved one is often one of the most painful things that one has to experience in life. Knowing that your loved one’s life was cut short, however, because of another person’s recklessness or lack of care is even worse. When a preventable accident causes the death of a loved one, those who are responsible must be held accountable—and you may have grounds to do so through a wrongful death claim.
Car accidents frequently occur in the most unexpected ways and can yield devastating results. When an accident results in the death of a loved one and was potentially caused by negligence or wrongdoing of another driver, those who are responsible must be held accountable. In Michigan, you may be eligible for compensation through a wrongful death claim if you lost a loved one in a Michigan car accident.
There have been many technological advancements in the motor vehicle industry, especially those involving self-driving vehicles. Autonomous vehicles, such as the self-driving Tesla, presents consumers with economic shifts and industrial changes. Although there are positive environmental and societal impacts of the state’s early adoption of these innovations, these vehicles pose many dangers to Michigan motorists. Those who suffer injuries in a Michigan accident involving a self-driving vehicle should consult an attorney to address their right to recovery.
Michigan recently underwent drastic changes to its 
Motor vehicle accidents (“MVAs”) are extremely dangerous. An average mid-sized sedan weighs about one-and-a-half tons. Even when moving at relatively low rate of speed, the force of a one-ton collision is enormous. A head on collision is far worse. If a vehicle going 47 mph strikes another vehicle traveling 64 mph, the collision is of a similar magnitude to a vehicle traveling at 111 mph ramming into a concrete barrier. Modern safety features have dramatically reduced the risk of injury in a MVA, but there is little technological innovation can do to offset the impact of a high-speed head-on collision.
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