I was T-boned at an intersection. How is fault decided?

A T-bone crash is a right-of-way case

When the front of one vehicle hits the side of another — a T-bone, broadside or side-impact collision — it almost always happens at an intersection or a driveway, and the legal question is almost always the same: who had the right to be there?

Texas traffic law answers that question in specific terms. A driver facing a steady red light must stop and stay stopped until the signal lets them go. A driver at a stop sign or yield sign must stop or yield to traffic that has the right of way. And a driver turning left must yield to oncoming traffic that is in the intersection or close enough to be an immediate hazard. The driver who broke one of those rules is, in the ordinary case, the one who caused the crash.

The problem: both drivers say the light was green

T-bone cases are where the “he said, she said” fight is most common. Two people approached the same light from different directions, and each of them is sure it was theirs. An officer who arrived afterward did not see it either, and a crash report that assigns fault on conflicting statements can be wrong.

What makes this harder in Texas: there are no red-light cameras to settle it. Houston voters ended the city’s program in 2010, and the Legislature banned red-light cameras statewide in 2019. The footage people assume exists usually does not.

So these cases are won with other evidence, and most of it has a short life:

Independent witnesses. The driver stopped at the cross street, the pedestrian at the corner. They leave quickly and are hard to find later.

Private video. Gas stations, restaurants, banks and apartment complexes at the corner often have cameras pointed at the street. Many systems record over themselves within days or weeks.

Dashcams in either vehicle, or in a vehicle that was nearby.

Event data recorders. Most modern cars record speed, braking and throttle in the seconds before an airbag deploys. That can show who was speeding up to beat a light and who was braking.

Signal timing. The city’s timing plan for that intersection, measured against the speeds and distances, can show whether a driver’s version is physically possible.

Left-turn crashes

A large share of T-bone collisions are left turns across oncoming traffic, often on a flashing yellow arrow or a green ball with no arrow at all. The turning driver has to yield. The usual defense is that the oncoming car was speeding, ran a yellow, or was hidden behind another vehicle turning the other way. Those claims are sometimes partly true, which is where proportionate responsibility comes in: fault can be divided between the drivers, and you can still recover as long as you are not more than 50% responsible, reduced by your share.

Why side impacts hurt people more

The front and back of a car have several feet of structure designed to crumple and absorb a crash. A door has a few inches. In a side impact the occupant on the struck side is close to the point of impact, and the head and torso are thrown sideways, a direction the body handles badly. Head injuries, shoulder and hip injuries, broken ribs, pelvic fractures and internal injuries are all more common in side impacts than in rear-end crashes. Passengers on the struck side are often hurt worse than the driver.

That is one more reason for an emergency evaluation the same day, even if you walked away.

What not to do

Do not argue about the light with the other driver or their insurer. Whatever you say about the signal, your speed or where you were looking will be written down and used. You are not required to give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement, and in a disputed-signal case it is the worst place to explain yourself. The version that counts is the one built from the evidence.

Authority: Tex. Transp. Code §§ 544.007, 544.010 (signals; stop and yield signs) · Tex. Transp. Code §§ 545.151–.152 (intersections; left turns) · Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code ch. 33 (proportionate responsibility)