Other driver ran a red light and hit me — now their insurance says it's partly MY fault??

Oh man, this is almost exactly what happened to me two years ago. Other driver blew a stop sign, police report was crystal clear, and the insurance company still tried to say I was 'contributing' because I supposedly could have avoided the collision. It felt insane. I ended up getting a PI attorney involved and honestly it changed everything — the adjuster's tone completely shifted once there was a lawyer in the picture. Don't let them bully you into accepting blame that isn't yours.

I used to work claims and I'll be real with you — when an adjuster floats a shared-fault theory this early, it's often a negotiating starting point, not a final determination. They're testing whether you'll push back. That said, if you don't push back (ideally through an attorney), that opening number has a way of becoming the final number. The police report is valuable, but they know how to argue around it if you let them.

Not legal advice, but I'll say this: most personal injury attorneys work on contingency for cases like yours, meaning you pay nothing upfront and they only get paid if you recover something. So the 'I can't afford a lawyer' concern is usually a misconception in PI cases. Given that you're also still dealing with neck and shoulder symptoms, you really shouldn't be settling anything right now anyway — you don't know your full medical picture yet.

Please don't ignore that neck and shoulder pain. Post-accident soft tissue injuries can take days or even weeks to fully show up, and if you settle before you know the extent of it, you could be left covering medical costs out of pocket. Get evaluated, follow through with whatever treatment is recommended, and keep every single document — visit summaries, bills, all of it.

A few things worth doing right now: get a copy of the official police report if you haven't already, write down everything you remember about the accident while it's still fresh (time, weather, road conditions, exactly what the other driver said to the officer), and see if any businesses or homes near that intersection might have security cameras that captured the crash. Evidence like that can completely undercut the 'you were speeding' argument.

Stop taking calls from their adjuster without representation. Full stop. You're not legally required to give them recorded statements. Get a consultation — most PI lawyers do free ones — describe exactly what you told us, and let them tell you if you have a case. You almost certainly do. The partial-fault angle falls apart pretty fast when there's a police report showing he admitted fault at the scene.