Who's at fault for this car accident?

by **caspar99** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:36 pm

Earlier I was involved in a car accident. Refer to picture link at bottom for my quick map of the street. It was a five lane road with a center turn lane. I was making a left into this 5 lane road. To the right of me was a red light about 300' down. There was a bit of traffic and 2 bigger cars stopped before me so I can get through. One waived me through so I accelerated through my stop a little and was looking to my right to see if I was clear to go through when I saw I was good on that side, I accelerated some more and was trying to look down the center lane the best I could. There was a pretty large truck with more cars behind him blocking my view of the center lane. My car sits really low to the ground and has a somewhat long hood. Once when I was able to get, what I thought was, a good view down the center lane, I went for it. Then suddenly I noticed an SUV (witnesses said she was mobbing down the center lane passing people) and in a split second bang. She hit only the right half of my front bumper. Because of the tire markings, you can tell that my front right tire was just inches over the center lane line and that she didn't try to swerve around me. Her car is probably fixable, new bumper and radiator and possibly a frame pull. Her seatbelt snapped and when you look at it, it is quite obvious that it was damaged before the accident (possibly a dog chewed on it for a while). She had no passenger seat belt though there were no seatbelts. She went to the hospital and said there were neck pains. I on the other hand just replaced my engine and other things last week for 6600$. I walked away fine but my car is totaled. all the impact went to the hood, radiator, bumper, frame, etc... The speed limit there is 30 mph. With that amount of traffic and everybody at a dead stop, I would think that no one would be traveling at 30 mph in a turn lane and especially for that amount of distance. witnesses say she looked like she was speeding (most people tend to go 35+ on the road). Doubt this can be proven because no officer caught her speed on radar. She said she was turning at the next intersection. From where she hit me to the intersection is over 300' which means she would have been violating RCW 46.61.290 and possibly did before she even got to me. I do feel that this is partially my fault for bad visibility and apparently failing to yield. I do not think I should be paying medical bills for a seat belt that was obviously defective and for her attempting to violate the law. What do you guys think? Where do I stand? I will be talking to some lawyers on Monday as well.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w174/shannonacompton/street.jpg

by **laureano97** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:48 pm

when 2 people are not careful at the same time... accident.

by **teithi71** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:58 pm

Your fault for not making sure you could get out safely. The rest of that about her is not a factor.

by **maddox** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:10 pm

You are, traffic is not allowed to leave a gap for you to inch out. Your responsibility is to make sure all lanes of traffic are clear before you go, people being nice does not trump the law.

by **wakeley58** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:11 pm

You were at fault. it doesn't matter what she was doing, you pulled into her lane where she had the right of way.

by **felabeorbt** » Mon Oct 31, 2011 7:13 pm

Sorry Shannon, but you're at fault. You entered a lane of traffic that was occupied by another vehicle and you could not see the traffic. You should have waited until you had a clear view.

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