Archives & Crash Tests

[Fringe Ryder <fringe@fringeweb.com>]

John, I feel for you, and understand how much it sucks to be liable even
though you weren't the catalyst, so don't take any of this as an attack.
This is just painful experience talking here...

Folks, I've learned a couple o' things from living in lawyer-centric Los
Angeles, and then from dating an insurance adjuster.  DO NOT EVER SWERVE TO
AVOID A LEFT-TURN ACCIDENT.  If you succeed, but hit somebody else, you are
the liable one.  What's more, you are far more likely to hit someone else,
because you are aware only of the threat; you probably don't know what else
is around you.  Some of those may be pedestrians, rather than an idiot
protected by their car.  Pedestrians are small, soft and squishy, so they
aren't as obvious (i.e. visible) and don't do as much damage to your
bumper, but they're expensive to replace.

In California, and in many other places, you do not become liable for not
taking evasive action.  Further, in California and many other states, the
driver making the left turn is ALWAYS at fault.  The law is that they must
clear the intersection (which means that they must verify it is clear, not
that they must get through it.)  This puts responsibility on them even over
people running a red light.  (And this holds up in court quite well actually.)

The only exception to this is when you've noticed the idiot, and have an
escape route mapped out.  Of course, if that's the case, you should have
slowed down anyhow, so we would only hear about this when you vent about
stupid drivers.

Again, I feel for John.  Avoiding the hard threat is the instictive
reaction.  Unfortunately, it puts others in danger and you at financial
liability.  Try not to do it.  

John Courtney wrote:
>Less than 24 hours after I bought my new 93 100cs, an oncoming car turned
>left in front of me in an intersection.  I was able to swerve to avoid her
>(instant reaction  . . . I had my son in the back seat), but hit a Ford
 {snip}
>The woman driving the car making the oncoming left in front of me  . . .
>left the scene of the accident.  Witnesses got the make and model of her car
>. . . but no plate.   I got left holding the financial bag.

Fringe
'97 2.8L A4Q stick