If you got T-boned at an uncontrolled intersection in South Burlington and the other driver blew through without yielding, yes, it can still be worth pursuing even if you're 72, working part-time, and your employer is acting like a workers' comp claim is some kind of personal betrayal.

That pressure from the boss is garbage.

If you were driving for work when this happened, workers' comp is usually part of the picture whether your employer likes it or not. And if the crash was caused by the other driver, that does not let their insurer off the hook either.

The ugly part: the other side will try to make this your fault

Uncontrolled intersections are where insurers start playing games.

South Burlington has plenty of them once you get off the big arteries like Shelburne Road, Dorset Street, Williston Road, and Hinesburg Road. In neighborhoods and light industrial areas, you get crossings with no stop sign for either direction, or weird sightlines from parked cars, snowbanks, hedges, and delivery vans.

The basic rule is simple enough: a driver has to yield to a vehicle already in the intersection, and when two vehicles enter at about the same time, the driver on the left generally yields to the driver on the right.

But after a crash, nobody keeps it simple.

The other driver's insurer is going to say you "darted out," "failed to keep a proper lookout," or "entered when it wasn't safe." If impact was to the side of your vehicle, they may act like that alone proves you cut them off. It doesn't. T-bone damage shows angle and timing. It does not magically settle who had the right of way.

And if you said anything shaky at the scene because you were hurt, rattled, or embarrassed, they'll grab onto that too.

Vermont's shared-fault rule matters more than people think

Vermont uses modified comparative negligence.

That means you can still recover money if you were partly at fault, as long as you were not 51% or more responsible. Your recovery gets reduced by your share of the blame.

So if your damages are $40,000 and they pin 20% on you, you don't get zero. You get $32,000.

This is where older drivers on fixed incomes get squeezed. The insurer knows a retiree may not want hassle. It knows a part-time worker may need next week's paycheck more than a fight over fault. So it pushes a story that makes the case sound too messy to bother with.

That's the trick.

Why the workers' comp pressure is a red flag

If you were doing something for your employer when the crash happened - making a delivery, picking up parts, going between job sites, running an errand they sent you on - workers' comp may cover medical treatment and wage-related benefits.

Your employer might tell you not to file because premiums could go up, paperwork is a pain, or they think their auto insurer should handle it. None of that is your problem.

And if you're hourly with no sick days, this matters fast.

Even a retired person working part-time can get hit hard by missed wages, deductibles, co-pays, and mileage to appointments. A trip to UVM Medical Center in Burlington after a hard side-impact crash can turn into imaging, follow-ups, physical therapy, and weeks of pain before anybody has admitted fault.

Workers' comp can provide a quicker lane for some of that while the liability fight with the other driver's insurer drags on.

Your employer does not get to make that choice for you by leaning on you in the parking lot or telling you to "just use your regular health insurance."

The blame fight usually comes down to boring details

Not drama. Details.

At an uncontrolled intersection in South Burlington, the key questions are usually:

• who was on the right, who entered first, how fast each vehicle was moving, and whether view was blocked by anything like parked cars, snow piles, hedges, or work trucks

Photos matter. So does vehicle damage. So do 911 records, body cam if police responded, and whether either driver was cited.

Spring in Vermont makes this messier than people expect. Frost heaves, potholes, leftover sand, rain, and dirty windshields after a long winter all get folded into the argument. After Irene washed out whole roads back in 2011, Vermonters learned the hard way that road conditions can change a claim. Insurers still use that mindset now: bad surface, limited visibility, everybody should have been more careful. Fine. But "everybody should have been careful" is not the same as "nobody is liable."

Is it worth it if your bills don't look catastrophic yet?

Usually yes, because the real number is not just the first urgent care bill.

It's the ambulance if there was one. The ER. The scan. The shoulder that still won't lift right three weeks later. The neck pain that wakes you up. The days you missed. The fact that at 72, recovery can take longer, not because you're weak, but because bodies heal slower and insurers know it.

The other thing most people miss: once workers' comp or health insurance pays, those payments can affect how the rest of the claim gets sorted out. You do not want to bungle that just because your employer said, "Let's keep this off the books."

That's not keeping it simple. That's handing your leverage away.

When the other side says you pulled out, here's what actually matters

Not who talks louder.

What matters is whether you had entered and established yourself in the intersection, whether the other driver was approaching from your left or right, whether they were moving too fast for the conditions, and whether there were independent facts backing up your version.

If you were sent out for work and got hit doing that, the comp claim issue is separate from whether the other driver caused the crash. Both can exist at the same time.

So yes, even for a retired South Burlington worker on a fixed income, this can absolutely be worth pursuing. Especially when the pushback starts early. Early pressure usually means somebody knows the claim has real value and wants you to fold before the paperwork catches up with the truth.