Today after school, I drove my car out of the University and headed north bound on Collegiate Bv. I was driving on the right most lane and while coming up to the intersection of Collegiate Bv. and Collegiate Road, I noticed a Brown 2 door 80 Oldsmobile making a left turn from Collegiate Road onto Collegiate Bv. Instead of turning onto the left lane, the 80 Oldsmobile turned directly onto my lane, which is the right hand lane. By this time, my car is in the middle of the intersection and I tried to emergency brake. However, my wheels locked up and resulted in colliding onto the rear end of the 80 Oldsmobile. Right after the accident, my car suffered a damaged front bumper while the Oldsmobile was completely fine.

Whose fault would it be? Thanks!!

 

Usually in accidents involving a left hand turn in an intersection it is the one who was making the turns fault. You must realize that he switched lanes while in the intersection, which is illegal. He was supposed to turn into the left lane (lane closest to him) Therefore, since he made a poorly timed turn (first fault) and proceeded to cut you off by changing lanes (second fault) I would have to say that he would be at fault. However, insurance ocmpanies can screw you over at times and say that you were proceeding at an unsafe speed and rear ended him. That when there are alot of gray area that come into play. Do you have any witnesses or was there a police report made?

 

I don't think there is enough damage for a police report, only my front bumper is damaged

 

Im guessing the person in the Oldsmobile was a female??? lol j/k. Ladies take no offense I was kidding

 

This is a tough one. I'm not a lawyer, but here's my take on it. If you rear-ended the person, it's probably your fault legally. Even if it was the other dude's fault for an illegal lane change. I had a guy slam on his brakes in the middle of the road once; I hit him - My fault. My insurance company said it wasn't and they hated these situations becasue they had to go by state law which says all rear-ends in Maryland are the fault of the person who hits the other guy.

If he were to have sideswiped you, you'd have a good argument for it not being your fault. "Failure to yeild right-of-way" is the trick for this not being your fault.

I wonder if they would care that you locked up the tires on purpose and thus avoided the ABS - that doesn't look favorable either. Just a thought though. On the other hand, it does show you tried to stop. Did you leave skid marks?


A tip for all of the kids out there - ALWAYS get a police report if you are unsure of whos fault it is or if you are sure that it is someone elses fault. The amount of damage is irrelevant - there is no minimum to file a police report on the scene.

 

Left turn is always at fault, this is compounded by the illegal lane change... the only possible way they can say it was your fault is the speed issue - but with no police report, and apparently no witnesses, it's up to the insurance companies - they'll go through abrogation, which means the legal eagles on each end will haggle until one admits "Yeah, we'll cover it." Since he was making a left turn, you had right of way, and they can't prove you were speeding since he had no damage and no witnesses, you seem to be in the clear. Your insurance should win this one easily, if you told the story well... I'm assuming you hit somewhere on his rear panel, and not straight-on in the back - that gets trickier. Here in Maryland, the rear-ender is always always at fault, no matter why. But if he was still in the middle of the turning procedure, you're ok.

 

What he said, he made an unsafe left hand turn, or failed to do it right anyway. If you are changing lanes(Like sliding to the right as you make a left) You lose. It des not matter that you hit him from behind, he had no business in your lane

 

It's an issue of timing. If the guy claims he turned into the closest lane and then switched lanes, it's a rear-end and it's variable_x's fault. If variable_x hit the guy square in the back, everthing else that happened before that is a moot point - they'll declare it a rear-end and he'll be paying.

 

Insurance companies can be a pain to go through. I'm currently dealing with a problem of my own, wanted to hear some opinions of what you guys think.

I was at an intersection inside the parking structure of my school. Me and this other car are both stopped, I'm facing north he's facing east. Other car waves me through so i proceed to make a left. Before completing my turn he decides to head on straight, so his car plows straight into mine. (his front left bumper contacts my drivers side rear panel) Afterwards he said he thought i was going straight, thats why he went ahead so quickly. But now my insurance company is saying that he had the right of way and it doesnt matter that he waved me through. Its basically his word against mines. Any opinions?

Oh ya variable_x sorry for mooching off ur thread. I hate $hitty drivers.

 

I don't know why this thread interests me so much - probably becasue I've seen or had all of this stuff happen to me before. Luckily, not in the 'teg.

ant6177 - How is this stop configured? Is it a four-way stop? Does everyone have a stop sign? Who got there first?