Left turn accident | issues about fault

by Kenneth

I was leaving from my condo's exit, heading southbound of the street by turning left, it was in rush hours, so the lane heading northbound is jammed, there's 2 lanes on each direction, and a curb lane in the center that has no left or right turn available until 250m away from the next intersection where the accident occurred.

Both lane's drivers yield me way to let me turn left and signal me to go through.

Just when i reach the curb lane and have half of the front wheel of my car touches the curb lane, i got hit by a vehicle who was rushing down the curb lane. But the problem is, all driver including me have the right to expect all drivers on the road drives safely,

it is not expectable that a driver would run down the curb lane when there's no turns available until like 250m to the next intersection, and the drivers tries to escape from the traffic jam because he's making a left turn "anyway" in the next intersection,

he decided to use the curb lane as an express way not knowing there's an exit that has left turn up ahead, and ran into me where i was yielded the right of way to cross both legal lanes and head southbound. It was an immediate hazard,

I drove out and seconds later i was hit. It's like a grey area here, where all left turner are at false, but is driving down a curb lane with no turns ahead until next intersection which is above 300m away from where he pulled out to the curb lane acceptable?

I also got an eye witness who had worked in an insurance company before, he saw the whole scene, but the problem is I heard that the witness is useless when the judge decide to put me at fault for the accident...

I would like to hear some professional comments about this accident, i know all left turner are at fault most of the time.. but i would like to know should the other driver split the liability for doing such thing?


Answer:


Well, the other person only has the right of way if they were legally there to begin with. If the lane was not supposed to be open yet for them to go ahead and advance traffic, it is very possible that they are 100% at fault.

It is very difficult to determine if this will be your case because every state has a different statute that address exactly how long a person may approach and pass on that fashion.

Also different states do different things regarding the amount of fault on each driver.

Some states would bar recovery at 50% split fault, some will at 51%. It truly depends on your state.

Remember, all states call different amounts of fault, meaning that it is very probable that you are at least certain percentage at fault. It would depend on your local statutes as of how much.

For a more detail discussion on fault and car accidents, visit:
http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/Fault-for-the-Accident.html