You’re driving through an intersection when another driver runs the stop sign. It all happens in a split second, and you don’t even realize the other driver made a mistake. After all, they never honk the horn or even hit the brakes. You don’t hear anything until the moment of impact.
After the collision, though, you may find yourself wondering why they didn’t hit the brakes. They did have a stop sign, after all? What does this tell you about the accident?
It may have been a distracted driving accident
One thing this can tell you is that the driver was distracted. Maybe they looked down at their phone, which is a visual distraction that takes their eyes off of the road. Maybe they were just cognitively distracted and lost in thought. Either way, they weren’t paying attention, so they never saw the stop sign and didn’t even know they were about to run it until they hit your car. The lack of braking is evidence of this distraction.
It may have been a drunk driving accident
Another option is that the driver was impaired. Roughly a third of all fatal accidents in the United States are related to alcohol impairment, so it’s clear that these are common and serious accidents. Impairment can also come from medication, marijuana or illegal drugs. If the driver was impaired, they may never have hit the brakes because their altered mental state meant they didn’t see the stop sign at all.
When it becomes clear that the other driver was at fault for the accident, you may want to look into your options to seek financial compensation.