# Does a wrong way driver have the "right of way"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-wrong-way-driver-have-the-right-of-way/813405>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 1, 2018, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-wrong-way-driver-have-the-right-of-way/813405 "2018-05-01T12:19:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-wrong-way-driver-have-the-right-of-way/813405/21 "2018-05-02T20:47:09Z")

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> [@electronbee](#):
>
> Doesn’t sound right to me at all. I’d think a sequence of events leading to an accident would have to be examined:
> 
> Really? I can be DUI/DWI, going the wrong way on a road, speeding, and because I turn into a parking lot as X was leaving and we get in an accident, it’s X’s fault? Seriously? Yeah, uh-huh. No.
> 
> I forgot the legal term to the sequence of events leading to an event, IANAL, but I’m pretty sure these things would plant the responsibility on driver Y:  
> [ol]  
> [li]Driving the wrong way on the street[/li][li]Driving drunk[/li][li]Speeding[/li][/ol]
> 
> I’d get a lawyer. I imagine one wouldn’t require a very expensive one, just one that specializes in this sort of thing.

Some new saying I just came up with describes this situation: “Two wrongs don’t make a right…”

driver Y:  
[ol]  
[li]Driving the wrong way on the street[/li][li]Driving drunk[/li][li]Speeding[/li][/ol]

driver X:  
[ol]  
[li]Driving on the wrong side of the roadway[/li][li]Failing to yield.[/li][/ol]

This is more of the “Sure I took one cookie, but Bobby took three” argument. It didn’t work with mom when you were 5 and it doesn’t work with judges.

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-wrong-way-driver-have-the-right-of-way/813405/22 "2018-05-04T00:16:53Z")

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> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#):
>
> I often see cars driving the wrong way, just in case anybody was wondering about any anecdotal evidence about wrong-way drivers.

Often? I think I’ll avoid Idaho. I’ve seen new reports of this, but they are almost always drunks or someone fleeing the police. There are cases of people going the wrong way on a ramp, say, but they don’t last long before the person corrects his behavior.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-a-wrong-way-driver-have-the-right-of-way/813405/23 "2018-05-04T00:20:36Z")

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> [@md2000](#):
>
> Some new saying I just came up with describes this situation: “Two wrongs don’t make a right…”
> 
> driver Y:  
> [ol]  
> [li]Driving the wrong way on the street[/li][li]Driving drunk[/li][li]Speeding[/li][/ol]
> 
> driver X:  
> [ol]  
> [li]Driving on the wrong side of the roadway[/li][li]Failing to yield.[/li][/ol]
> 
> This is more of the “Sure I took one cookie, but Bobby took three” argument. It didn’t work with mom when you were 5 and it doesn’t work with judges.

Where did you get that X was driving on the wrong side of the roadway?  
And if someone checks for traffic going the right way, and is hit by someone going the wrong way, would it even be failure to yield? I don’t check for people driving the wrong way on a multilane road - do you?  
(If I drove near bars on a Saturday night I might, though.)

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