First Car Accident

[j0hnny007]

Originally Posted by Brandons714

I've lived in Cali for 16 years before moving out here, It's the same thing there to. It clearly states "If making a left hand turn, the driver must yield until the turn is safe." (Not those 100% exact words, but very close, and I don't want to try to find my book.)

And he lives in Canada, he even stated that the officer said according to his statment the lady is the one at fault, now im willing to bet that the officer that lives in Canada knows more about Canadian law than you do.

[Fuel]

Based on what OP was saying, I made a photo:



Legally, I think the lady was at fault, as you can see (in the red) she crossed a lane of traffic in making her right turn. The pink shows what she SHOULD have done and the green shows what she could have done (assuming the lane permitted it).

As for yielding until the turn is safe, I'm pretty sure that is for oncoming traffic, not traffic that is coming from a right hand turn; they have to yield to oncoming traffic (which would be people turning left, too).

The road was possibly different but this is just an overall theme

[Brandons714]

Originally Posted by j0hnny007

And he lives in Canada, he even stated that the officer said according to his statment the lady is the one at fault, now im willing to bet that the officer that lives in Canada knows more about Canadian law than you do.

If Canadians drive on the left side of the road like Europeans, than you're right. The officer never said that she was "Legally at fault." he most likely meant that she was Morally at fault.
I know that this is the same thing in EVERY U.S. driving handbook, quoted from the (RIGHT-OF-WAY) portion of the book:
If you are in an intersection and want to turn left, you must yield to the right-of-way to any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction. After yielding, you may turn left if it is safe to do so. In the situation shown below car B must yield to car A.
*The picture below is of his exact situation, Car A (The Woman) turning Right, and Car B (Him) Turning left.*

Would you like to try to prove me wrong again?

[jagan323]

Fuel's diagram is mostly correct. But the concept is the same. The lane we WERE on, so the vertical street, is a Single Lane. The horizontal is 2 lane. But I see you noted that if she was the Green Line, she had the right of way. But yes... it was single line, and she is exactly the Red line.

I'll post pictures for you guys to see in a second

[Fuel]

Yeah, there is a street right around me that is sketchy like that.
I originally drew it like that, but added that extra lane to draw the green line representing what she could have done to turn into that lane.

[jagan323]

My Car

Lady's Car

As you can see, it was no T-bone... I was kinda Squished. Someone mentioned to me that she should have checked her blind spot when she wanted to come left. Eitherway, there is the pics. Its harder to see the damage on my car, since its black... but its pretty bad. I dont think a simple Bumping out the dent will suffice.

[Fuel]

Oh wow.
Based on the damage, I'm going to have to say it was her fault. You (OP) was clearly in the process of turning left as she pulled out and based on the lane change she did, what was he supposed to do, stop in the middle of oncoming traffic during his turn?

[Brandons714]

Here's my diagram of how I pictured it.

Top being what actually happened.
And Bottom being what should of happened.



Which puts him in the wrong, because, he assumed that she was going to turn into the right lane (Never assume when driving, I'm only 18 and even I know that) so they both made the turn at the same time.

Now in the bottom 3 is what he should of done, Pulled to the middle and waited till it fully clear to turn, than making the turn.

So, Legally, he IS at fault. Unless, Canada is completely different than the US, which would, no offense, be very stupid in that situation.

-Edit-
She is Red, he is Blue.
Also, no those are not sperms, they are cars, and the path that they moved in.

[jagan323]

Brandons714, I think you are right... I should have not assumed, that is my major flaw here. But i guess i'm usually used to making your BOTTOM diagram conditions, if they oncoming driver was going straight. lol... but yea, I'll definately tell you guys what the outcome is, and whose fault it is when I get the Claim report settled on Monday...

[Brandons714]

Originally Posted by jagan323

Brandons714, I think you are right... I should have not assumed, that is my major flaw here. But i guess i'm usually used to making your BOTTOM diagram conditions, if they oncoming driver was going straight. lol... but yea, I'll definately tell you guys what the outcome is, and whose fault it is when I get the Claim report settled on Monday...

Well, Either way, no matter the outcome, I wish you the best of luck!
You're much more calm about it than I would be.

[jty03]

Originally Posted by Fuel

Based on what OP was saying, I made a photo:



Legally, I think the lady was at fault, as you can see (in the red) she crossed a lane of traffic in making her right turn. The pink shows what she SHOULD have done and the green shows what she could have done (assuming the lane permitted it).

As for yielding until the turn is safe, I'm pretty sure that is for oncoming traffic, not traffic that is coming from a right hand turn; they have to yield to oncoming traffic (which would be people turning left, too).

The road was possibly different but this is just an overall theme

Negative. As long he didn't have a protected left turn (a green left arrow), turning left must yield to traffic of all sorts in the opposite direction. It sucks but it's true. You can assume that a guy who's turning right will take the right lane (in fact, that's the law here), but if he doesn't and you hit him, it's on you. YIELD UNLESS YOU SEE A GREEN LEFT ARROW.

[jagan323]

Originally Posted by Brandons714

Well, Either way, no matter the outcome, I wish you the best of luck!
You're much more calm about it than I would be.

Hahaha... I am not calm... I'm like crying on the inside. I mean, its my Camaro!... I hope NONE of you will ever see a dent on your Camaro. It's just like someone died man, no jokes.

[JohnInSoCal]

assumption is the mother of all foul ups, never trust a blinker or assume a person will only turn into a specific lane. It sounds like both were at fault here, she had right of way and you should have waited until it was safe. She shouldn't have pulled into the other lane but you have to assume people do that because they do all the time.

[j0hnny007]

Originally Posted by Brandons714

Here's my diagram of how I pictured it.

Top being what actually happened.
And Bottom being what should of happened.



Which puts him in the wrong, because, he assumed that she was going to turn into the right lane (Never assume when driving, I'm only 18 and even I know that) so they both made the turn at the same time.

Now in the bottom 3 is what he should of done, Pulled to the middle and waited till it fully clear to turn, than making the turn.

So, Legally, he IS at fault. Unless, Canada is completely different than the US, which would, no offense, be very stupid in that situation.

-Edit-
She is Red, he is Blue.
Also, no those are not sperms, they are cars, and the path that they moved in.

actually it puts her in the wrong because the law says she has to turn into that right lane then lane change to the lane beside her, she was 100% wrong then and is still 100% wrong now