So I was driving to my local grocery store and I got hit right on the front of my vehicle, the situation is best put this way : I was driving in the interior lane of a 4 lane road, in a part of this road their is a break in the divider to permit entrance into a shopping plaza, So I align my self to turn left waiting for the traffic in the two opposite flow to quell so i could cross, then this large cadillac in the interior lane lets me pass by her stopping and let me go, so i slowly increase speed so i can see whats in the next lane to see if its safe, right when i push it gently this damn ****** going so damn fast that he TOTALED the front of A VOLVO, hit me and took the front of my car off.....my battery few to another side of the road...., Now the officer hit me with the ticket sayin I failed to yield A left turn. I have a witness and he told them how he saw the other guy going so fast and how the woman had stopped and i yield, well now im fucked because my dad had only liability, so I got to pay to replace his car. So overall, should I go to court to plead Not Guilty and try to fight it, or should i plead Nolo?


help!

heres a visual aid to explain the situation. Witness= Green, B Cadilac =purple , Me= black

 

Its iffy. I think the cadillac had more play in causing the accident than you, why would they stop in a travel lane? Were they turning? They had the right of way. Was there a suicide lane in the middle of the road or was it just an opening to allow people to turn?

The cadillac should not have stopped, they 100% had the right of way and by stopping they were blocking your view of traffic, accoring to your OP they were traveling straight. If i was you i would have sat in right where i was in the travel lane on your side of the road, and or flashed my lights at them. Its dangerous drivers like that not obeying right of way laws that cause accidents, but you should have waited on your side of the road, even if it meant stopping traffic behind you untill you could see that the coast was clear.


I was on a dirt road approaching a 4 way intersection crossing a paved main road with a stop sign on my side and one on the (same) dirt road opposing me. The view of the road to my right was very limited. As i approached my stopsign i saw headlights coming up the road from the right so i turned off my brights, stopped at the stop sign and waited. The car coming from the right slows down, dosnt put a blinker on, and just stops in the middle of the road. THEY have the right of way, not me and there is NO excuse for stopping where they did. After waiting for an extended period of time (half a minute, they didnt get the it), flashing my lights, and reciving a light flash from the other car i was getting pissed. Right of way laws exist for a reason, so drivers act in a predictable and consistent manor. When an operator violates this protocall they dont know how cars around them will react.


So i agressively let off the clutch and hammer the throttle and spin all 4 wheels on the loose gravel on the pavement, getting across the street as fast as possible. I was very close to my destination (200 yards past the intersection), as i pass in front of the other car i can finally see.....its a cop. He turns on his blue lights and i keep driving to my destination, pull into my friends driveway, and get out of the car. I was PISSED. He blocks the driveway and gets out of his car (as i am allready out of mine). He decides to shine his light in my face and act rude as he asks "what i was doing back there". I told the cop exactly what i said above, what he did was reckless, dangerous, and illegal and if he wants to meet me in court ill see him there with my lawyer (i have an ongoing harassment conflict with the police department in my town). He says "consider this a warning, watch yourself" and gets in his car and leaves.

******* dick head.

 

man this blows, thanks for the advice, Im thinking of utilizing Comparative Negligence, were he was speeding above the flow of the traffic and thus higher than the speed posted (can be backed up by my witness), also saying that the cadillac didn't go away, because i did the lights and hand to the lady and she didn't go so i had a blocked view. I had cash stashed away for a VR-4, now I have to buy my father a new Volvo....God dang it man


more on Comparative Negligence http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/obje...4/199/255/art/

 

like i said it wont hurt to fight it, i would definitly try as it isnt really a clear cut case if you take the cadillac and the other drivers speed into account. I can see why the officer who filed the report wrote what he did though. Car accidents suck, no one comes out ahead. I hope it works out for you, maybe someone else sees it differently ot can shed some light on this.

Again sorry dude, at least your allright.

Right now my airbag controll module is dead so if i crash airbags wont go off, nor will the belt tensioners. Pretty much im gonna die if i hit anything

 

I was in an identicle accident 6 years ago. However i was the car that took off your front end.
Truth be told, your at fault. Anytime you turn into on coming traffic (regardless of getting waved through or not your responsable.
The only silver lining was his speed and your witness. However unless the other was ticketed with inprudent speeding....you really dont have a leg to stand on.
In my case it was a 40 mph road. i was doing atleast 45-50 mph. Traffic on the inside lane was stopped and some lady waved a car through. i didnt even have a chance to hit the break. Yes i was speeding and the woman who waved him though said i was going faster than 40 mph. Doesnt make a difference, the burden of responsability is always on the car turning into oncomming.
I wish i had better news for ya.
You may get lucky and convince a judge that he was speeding but it doesnt stop there, you have to convince his insurance company that your were not 100% at fault.....far tougher.