As a rule, don’t trust anyone not to do something stupid. When I took driving lessons this was one of those subtle things to be learned. I don’t like it when people pull out when I’m the guy in the left lane either. For all I know they may be pulling into my lane.
This is more suited to IMHO.
I can not say for certain what is done in each state but I can guess its not too far off from what we do in New Jersey. We don’t assign a percent of blame. That’s what the insurance companies do later. We can list multiple factors which caused the accident. Sometimes one side has no contributing factors. Other times both will have multiple factors.
In this case I would put down that the one vehicle entered the roadway improperly. If all indications were that the other vehicle made a proper lane change to include signaling I would state he had no contributinh factors. If he didn’t signal I would mark off an improper lane change as a factor
Driver pulling out is at fault.
In the event of a collision, I think the lane-change signalling distance of the far-lane driver will matter in court. At least 200 feet of notice is required, higher if the road is a freeway. If the vehicle was closer to you than these limits and you did not see a lane-change signal, I suppose it would not be (all) your fault. Better safe than sorry, though.
I had a somewhat related happening. I was on a 2 lane road which going up a hill goes for a short time to 3 lanes (2 uphill, 1 downhill). However the oncoming traffic also gets a passing lane, which would allow them to use the oncoming lane to pass slower traffic.
Well going up hill, wanting to pass the snailbunny driver in front of me, the road became 3 lanes, but before I could get to this section, an oncoming driver decides to pass by crossing the broken yellow line. This effectively blocks me from my pass attempt and I sit tight in the right lane, missing my opportunity. Did I have the legal right of way to use that left lane on my side over the person using it for passing across a broken yellow?
From they way you describe it, I would say no, on several levels.
One, your right-of-way does not entitle you to cause an accident, which would have happened had you tried to pass. Your right-of-way never justifies your causing an accident.
Two, if I understand your description correctly, the oncoming passer entered his passing lane while you were in a one-lane no-passing zone. That is, I assume his actions were perfectly legal as he was not in a no-passing zone. All he could tell was that the lane he was wanting to use for passing was clear. The presence of another car (traveling in the same direction as you) would prevent you from being able to use that lane for passing as well. You have to wait until the lane is clear.
Now, such issues can vary from state-to-state, but I have to believe that if the state law was that the oncoming passing car did not have the right-of-way to pass than there would have been a solid yellow line in his lane, not a broken yellow one as you describe.
This is major peeve of mine. The left turn lane is not for entering traffic, despite all of the idiots that do it (excusing idiots that do it in states where this idiotic practice is legal).
A few years ago some bimbo hit my rental car while I was turning left from the left turn lane into a drive. Entirely her fault. Hertz told me to leave the car there in a bank parking lot, and they picked me up and took me to a Hertz location, where they gave me a new car. I wanted to return to the bank to let them know that Hertz would eventually fetch the strange, loitering car from their lot, and damned if I didn’t have a near miss from another idiot driver in identical circumstances.
That’s YOU! Hi, I’m the guy in the red Insight who’s almost late for work and stuck behind you as you wait ‘til the right lane is empty, then the middle lane, too, ooh, but there’s a car fifty feet away in the far left lane, he looks shifty… lane shifty, that is, and mayyyybe you can pull out an inch and SLAM on the brakes because there in the distance is a tiny dot, could be a car… eventually, when every lane is devoid of everything except a tumblin’ tumbleweed [cue sad cowboy harmonica]… then you’ll turn.
Many accidents are caused by drivers getting impatient.
In your scenario, why not wait? (since there is so little traffic about.)
It’s hard to imagine scenarios in which the driver pulling out onto the road is not at fault in such a situation (one factor mitigating blame might be if you could prove that the driver in the left lane suddenly moved into the right lane without signaling - still, if you’re entering traffic the expectation (legally too as far as I know) is that you yield to oncoming traffic).
More fun - deciding who’s to blame on a six-lane expressway when drivers in the left and right lanes simultaneously decide to move into the middle lane. :eek:
I’m glad this question was asked, because I face it every day. I turn right onto a four lane street with often lots of traffic. Sometimes, the traffic is only in the left lane. Should I pull out? I don’t know! Sometimes, traffic stays where they were, and the guy behind me thinks I am an idiot. Sometimes the traffic changes lanes right in the intersection and if I had gone there would have been…trouble.
But I did yield the right of way. He could use the left lane all day. Also, more importantly, the law states “from any place other than another roadway”, so does this apply to my scenario of intersecting streets or not? I thought lawyers were more precise than this.
And people have commented on impeding the people behind you. I know they aren’t going to be the ones cited (or dead) after the collision, but they are a factor. At the same intersection coming home one night, I was turning left onto my side street, waiting for traffic, and apparently the kid right behind me (and it’s always a kid, isn’t it?) decided I was too cautious and turned left behind me, cutting me off. Even though he was wrong, that could have been a mess.
I know in Missouri, a vehicle cannot change lanes within 100 feet of a controlled intersection. So in Subby’s example, if there is a light at the intersection, it would be the person changing lanes fault.
I did a quick google on this and what I found is you can not pass at those distances to a controlled intersection, I don’t see anything about changing lanes.
Are turn signals required to be displayed on all cars both back and front now? I know they are standard along with side displays, but if they are only required to display on the back, then you can’t tell from in front whether or not a turn signal was displayed?
Back in the day hand signals (Up for right straight out for left) were acceptable and there would be no way a driver in front of you and to your right would be able to see a hand signal.
I think hand signals still are acceptable?
I don’t think anyone eligible to collect Social Security remembers a time when turn signals didn’t come on the front and back of every new car in the U.S.
Sure, you can pretend you used a hand signal but it’s easier to just pretend that you signaled with your blinker. I would question whether it was reasonable to use a hand signal instead of a readily-available blinker when the person who needed to see it couldn’t your hand.