Who Do You Believe Is At Fault?

[abran]

Who do you think is at fault? Veh. 1 was traveling north of Paw Ave. in the far right lane. Veh. 1 slowed and stopped to move left into the left lane to avoid a construction zone farther north ahead in the right lane which was closed to all traffic. Veh. 2 was stopped on Village Grn S. waiting at the intersection of Paw Ave to turn right(north). The operator of Veh 2 was under the erroneous assumption that Veh. 1 had slowed and stopped to let her out of Village Grn S. Veh 2 proceeded to move forward entering the intersection of Paw Ave. into the right lane of Paw Ave. north towards the left lane. Veh 1. moved forward to get into left lane and struck Veh 2. Veh 1. front passenger side bumper struck the rear driver side bumper of Veh 2. causing substantial damage to Veh 2. Veh 1. appeared to sustain minor damage to its front passenger side bumper. Please help me with this. I am Veh.2 in this case and I think my insurance is going against me and saying I am at fault. Provide me with some advice on what to do if I am at fault.

[Clair]

Well, your case is going to be based on who makes a better witness for themselves.

1.  Someone who stops in the roadway must not have been paying attention to someone entering the roadway from a side street.  (driver inattention)

2.  Someone pulling onto a roadway from a side street must only do so when it is clear.

This is a catch 22.  Technically, traffic law will side with the party who was traveling North on Paw ave.  The other driver failed to yield the right of way from a stop sign or red light(whatever the case may be).

On the other hand, tort law would ultimately govern this case if it were tried in front of a jury and the "pattern jury charges" for traffic accident liability cases would be what the jury would consider.  Traffic law would come into play, but so would common law negligence.  There are many defenses for the party pulling out from the side street, just as there are defenses for the other party.

If I were handling the liability on this case, I would likely assign 60% to the person that had a stop sign or signal light and 40% to the person that was stopped and not paying attention to the traffic entering the roadway from their right.  Both have responsibility.  

Take it as lesson learned.  No matter if you feel someone is letting you in, refuse.  Just sit there until it is clear.  Don't let people in either.  Letting someone in or assuming you are being let in simply adds risk to a traffic situation.  Neither party really knows what the other's intentions are, and that just adds an unknown factor.  

60/40 in my opinion.

JP