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An apparent failure to yield accident in Black Forest at the end of February, resulted in two fatalities after a vehicle was T-boned in an intersection.
According to the Colorado State Patrol, the collision occurred around 9:30 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, February 28th, when a 2004 Saturn driven by a 24-year-old Colorado Springs male, collided into the passenger side of a 2005 Lexus at the intersection of Shoup and Vollmer roads.
After the initial collision, the Lexus spun and was struck by a northbound truck. Tragically, the passengers in the struck Lexus, a 72-year-old male and a 62-year-old female, both passed away in the collision. No one else was injured.
In a press release, the Colorado Springs Police Department said that the driver of the Saturn failed to stop at a stop sign before the crash occurred. That driver was cited with careless driving resulting in death, and released.
Stop Sign Violations Regularly Cause Accidents
Stop sign violations are a common cause of motor vehicle accidents In the United States. According to the data, there are around 700,000 police reported traffic collisions that occur at intersections with stop signs each year, with nearly a third of those crashes resulting in injuries.
One study examining 1,788 police crash reports of accidents occurring at intersections with two-way stop signs over a four year period, found that stop sign violations were responsible for about 70% of those collisions.
These are typically what are called angular collisions, which occur when one vehicle strikes another at an angle between 90 and 180 degrees, such as in a T-bone impact. For collisions that did not involve a stop sign violation, rear-end accidents were the second most common, making up about 12% of all of the accidents studied.
About two-thirds of the drivers involved in the stop sign violation caused accidents, reported that they did actually stop at the sign before the collision, citing a lack of visibility as the main factor in those collisions.
Similarly, red light violations also result in hundreds of fatalities and thousands of injuries annually. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in 2019 alone there were 846 fatalities, and 143,000 people injured in accidents caused by drivers running a red light.
More than half of the fatalities in those crashes consisted of bicyclists, pedestrians and the passengers in the vehicles struck by the red light running driver.
Solving the Problem of Failure to Yield Accidents
Experts suggest that the way to help decrease the number of accidents caused by stop sign and red light violations, is to increase the use of red light cameras, and redesign intersections in order to improve visibility for pedestrians and other vehicles, and in order to make stop signs more conspicuous.
But every driver on the road has a role to play in helping to bring down these unfortunate numbers, and in helping make our roads safer for everyone. Always come to a complete stop at all stop signs, don’t drive distracted and always make sure that you’re paying attention to the friends and neighbors you’re sharing the road with.
Further Reading: The 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
Contact Our Colorado Springs Motor Vehicle Accident Lawyers Today
Have you or a loved one been injured by the negligent actions of a driver? Are you concerned you won’t have the money to pay medical bills and lost expenses? If so, you need an experienced Colorado Springs attorney on your side to help you fight for justice.
Contact the dedicated attorneys at the Green Law Firm, P.C. today by calling (719) 694-8515, or by filling out the contact form on this page, to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation and discuss your case.