Got into my first major car accident

Were you hurt at all? Guess not too seriously, else you wouldn't be posting.

Sorry about the accident. Did police investigate? Ticket anyone?

Assume your Prius had to be towed...?

 

what a b*, i always stop and ponder what kind of morals they grew up with. that is horrible.

 

Be careful - the black box could prove you were speeding too!

But anyway, isn't the lady turning left required to yield to oncoming traffic? I don't understand how it could be your fault if she didn't yield and ended up crossing in front of you. Besides, she must have gone through -- if not entered -- the intersection on red if you went into it on yellow and then had time to slow a bit to let the other car cross in front of you.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. That really stinks.

 

If you respective insurance companies *don't* ask for the EDR log,
I'd be quite surprised. That's what it's for. Hopefully it'll
come up in your favor.
.
_H*

 

What did the cops do with tickets and the report?


and,..... One time, i was driving a pickup and I was the guy who turned in front of a straight through oncoming car. It was my fault from the beginning, I got a ticket and my insurance paid the deal.. there were no questions about fault... Don't the cops normally assign a failure to yield to that turning person... Failure to yield or something.. that was 2000 in Utah..

 

I'm not surprised that the accident happened. So many people drive in lockstep with the car in front of them, rather than actually paying attention to road conditions.

Not directed at the OP -- I find myself pushing the boundaries of getting through intersections, in order to avoid the FE hit of stopping. It is an unwelcome change to my usual very defensive driving habits.

 

Oh? Does she have a radar gun installed in her forehead? Maybe her meds were kicking in

 

I wouldn't worry about her too much. Her reaction is pretty natural for a typical American who has been conditioned through life to directly find and place blame on someone/something else. This is what we teach our children you know.

Though none of us where there to actually see what happened, it apears that the other driver was at fault in a fail to yield situation.

 

About ten years ago, I was in heavy rush hour traffic. We were all going like 5 mph. I had just gotten on the road from the office and was, naturally, in the far right lane which ends soon after the light which I just passed. I was merging to the left and looked briefly in the rearview mirror to make sure I was clear and the guy in front of me stopped dead so I rear-ended him. He gets out of the car shaking his head and acting disoriented as if he was really damaged somehow. At 5 mph? Anyway, I wasn't ticketed because I didn't do anything wrong but that image of the dufus acting as if he was majorally hurt is still in my head.

 

I'm sure he was having revelations of an upcoming lawsuit...

 

If I read his post right he was speeding. He said the speed limit was 30 mph and he was going 35, 40 tops....... I think that's speeding. I'm not 100 % sure of this but if she was all ready in the intersection (when the light changed) and he wasn't, he's at fault. It really sounds like they both were gunning to make it through the light. Maybe if he was going 30 mph he could have stopped in time and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

The yellow light is there to let you get out of the intersection. Legally you are not allowed to enter the intersection on a yellow light. I'm pretty sure of this but I will check with my brother-in-law, he's a cop.

I think you can chalk this one up to..... The hurrier I go the behinder I get!

Good luck

 

Well, if dn6603 was driving 55 in a 30, then I think that'd qualify as reckless driving and (s)he'd be at fault. Of course, I don't think this is actually the case, and the person that turned in front of dn6603 was just looking for someone to blame for her own inattention/stupidity.

I would also be interested in knowing what the police did. Who was ticketed? What's in the report?

 

If/when this comes to court, I would use your first argument, rather than your second one. I think that, if you were going "50, 60 or 70," she'd be LESS likely to see you (i.e. because you were coming so fast); she would also misjudge the amount of time she had to turn based on your distance (i.e if you're going fast, you travel a given distance in less time).

I think that you have a very simple case: she turned left in front of you, so she is at fault. As long as you weren't excessively speeding, I think that you're fine when it comes to the "at fault" decision.

 

Weinerneck, make sure you get back to us about entering the intersection on a yellow (you are wrong). If the the SECOND car is the one that hit him dn6603 has no worry in the world, he is not at fault. dn6603 make sure you are happy with what the insurance company gives to get a new car or be VERY picky about the autoshop. You deserve a happy ending.