In theory, if every single driver followed every traffic law to the letter, we wouldn’t have any car accidents. Well, you may have a few based on mechanical error or things of this nature, but human drivers cause more than 94% of accidents, so most of them would be avoided.
Why can’t we get to that point? A big reason is that people do not actually know what the traffic laws are. They make mistakes without even understanding what they’re doing wrong. A few examples include:
- Drivers who are coming toward a school bus may think that they don’t have to stop, when the lights actually apply to drivers on both sides of the road.
- People using a traffic circle may think they take turns like a four-way stop, when they’re actually supposed to yield to cars in the traffic circle.
- Drivers may not understand when they have to yield to a pedestrian; for instance, a driver with a green light, who is turning right, may still need to wait for someone in the crosswalk.
- Drivers don’t know that they’re supposed to share the road with cyclists. They may think that cyclists should ride on the sidewalk or stay out of the traffic lanes, for instance, when riders actually have a right to ride in the street, with cars.
By no means are these all the traffic laws that people get wrong, but they do help to show you how one little misunderstanding can quickly cause an accident. If you get injured when someone else makes a mistake like this, you need to know what legal options you have to seek compensation.
