Who is at fault? | Vehicle merging into highway

by Jeffrey
(St.Louis,MO)

Driver #1 is passing a yield sign not stopping ( failure to yield to right of way traffic), but half way down the freeway ramp he slams on his brakes, to let traffic pass him when he still had 600 feet in distance to work with.

Driver #2 stops at the yield point and builds speed up as he is he hits him from the rear due to the fact he stopped entirely on a freeway ramp when state law prohibits that,

Driver #2 entirely tried to avoid this by hitting the brakes and trying to come to a stop, but while doing this he was building speed up for the highway speed.


Answer:


Hello Jeffrey,

I think you need to check your state law on that. Most states codes are silent to be stopped on a freeway ramp, highway, or road. Car are not supposed to park there, but they can stop. And they have to do this in certain circumstances (stop and go traffic) or to avoid an accident.

This really leaves Driver #2 in a very bad position. Driver #2 must look out and keep a safe distance (so it has enough time to stop and avoid a collision). The inability of Driver #2 to stop on time and/or to avoid the collision is evidence of such breach.

The argument regarding the yield sign may not be as strong. Yield means to allow other vehicles to merge in, it appears that Driver #1 was doing that (albeit late, but was doing that). Remember, fault has different elements and people can come with different results regarding who is at fault. Please see: http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/Fault-for-the-Accident.html


Good Luck,
Auto Insurance Claim Advice
Spokane Washington