When turning left at a green light and an oncoming car hits you because they were going to fast for one to accurately judge how fast the vehicle was going who is at fault?

Answer 1

Both of you are At Fault because the other car was speeding and you should be waiting for a break in the traffic to make your left turn and you could be charged with "undo care and attention" and of course, the other driver will obviously be charged with speeding.

Marcy

AnswerI disagree with Marcy's response because she does not have enough information to respond. Neither do I, so I will provide an either/or answer.

The function of traffic laws and conventions is to create a pattern of predictable or expected behavior so that we know how what to expect from any given vehicle. When we see brake lights we expect a vehicle is going to slow down. When we see a left turn signal, we expect a vehicle to turn left or change into a left lane. If we see no signal or brake lights, we generally expect a vehicle to maintain its current course and speed. And we have speed limits in part so that we can judge how much distance a vehicle will cover in a given amount of time. This lattermost expectation is what comes into play in your question.

Your reasonable expectation of an oncoming car's distance-closing time -- that is, the time you judge it will take for an oncoming car to reach the intersection from its presently observed position -- is based primarily on the speed limit. However, the speed limit is not the only determining factor. A person may technically be speeding but may be judged to not be driving at an unsafe or unreasonable speed if they were only violating the speed limit by a nominal amount -- say, 5mph over -- or if they were driving at a speed that is customary for traffic on that particular section of roadway, no matter what the speed limit is; that is, if all drivers routinely drive 15mph over the limit on this section of road, you should reasonably expect that the oncoming driver will be exceeding the speed limit by 15mph and judge the closing time accordingly. Under those circumstances, you are more likely to be found at fault. However, if the person was traveling at an excessive speed -- say, 75 in a 40 -- then they will be at fault because they were driving in a reckless manner, making it difficult for you to reasonably judge the distance-closing time.

There is no bright, easy cut-off line for when an approaching car's speed crosses from reasonable to excessive and therefore whether you or the other driver, respectively, were at fault. Some cases speak for themselves; for instance, if the speed limit was 20mph and he hit you so hard the whole side of your car is caved in, the obvious evidence will show that he was driving with excessive speed. However, in most cases the determination will need to be made by the trier of facts in a court of law, based on the facts of the case and the evidence at the scene of the accident. With all this in mind, understand that the legal presumption is that you would be at fault unless you can prove otherwise -- for instance, that the other person was driving in an unreasonable manner.

AnswerThe above poster gave some good insight into the question, but facts are facts and if one takes a driving test this is instilled in you ... "turning left be aware of traffic" and, as you said no one can estimate the speed of on on-coming car and that's all the more reason that the person turning left should be careful. It's no different than making than watching the light turn green (going through an intersection) and using common sense to wait a few seconds to be sure someone is not running a light. I live in British Columbia and it happens often. 75% of our accidents are in intersections. One does't need to calculate, but use common sense. AnswerCommon sense is great and all, but it is not the legal standard to determine fault in an auto accident. Refer to above.

Answer

I think who ever hits you it is their fault!!!!!! LOL