Determining who is at fault

[jcolon68]

My wife was just involved in an accident. She was turning left to make a legal U-turn and was hit on the rear passenger side.
The posted speed limit is 45mph and the accident report states this was the speed the other driver was going, in essence he was at the posted speed limit, while my wife was going 10 mph per the report.
The other driver got out of the car ,asked my wife if she was ok , then got back in his car and fled the scene of the accident. A witness followed him and the police picked him up in about 20 minutes. He was driving with a suspended license , that's why he fled.

The accident report states my wife did not yield the right of way.

anyone knows how the insurance companies will see this?

[Happy Trails]

It will be reviewed as "your wife did not yield the right of way", which caused an accident. She is at fault.

[jcolon68]

It will be reviewed as "your wife did not yield the right of way", which caused an accident. She is at fault.

So it doesn't matter that the guy left the scene and was driving with a suspended license?

[chuckycheese]

I think 'failure to yield', 'hit and split' and 'driving while suspended' are 3 separate and distinct problems.

[Happy Trails]

So it doesn't matter that the guy left the scene and was driving with a suspended license?

Not to determine who was at fault for the accident.

He will have to take care of any tickets that he may have received, but he didn't cause the accident.

Just because he was driving illegally, doesn't make him liable for your wife's mistake.

[jcolon68]

Not to determine who was at fault for the accident.

He will have to take care of any tickets that he may have received, but he didn't cause the accident.

Just because he was driving illegally, doesn't make him liable for your wife's mistake.

Ok, thats interesting. I understand my wife is partly to blame. According to witnesses the guy was speeding and he shouldn't even have been driving, he had no license.

[Happy Trails]

Ok, thats interesting. I understand my wife is partly to blame. According to witnesses the guy was speeding and he shouldn't even have been driving, he had no license.

You stated:

The posted speed limit is 45mph and the accident report states this was the speed the other driver was going, in essence he was at the posted speed limit,

The fact that he wasn't driving legally doesn't make him at fault for the accident.

Let me put it this way, if the other driver would have been driving with a valid license... Who caused the accident?

If your wife would have yielded to the other driver (who had the right of way), the accident wouldn't have happened.

[jcolon68]

You stated:



The fact that he wasn't driving legally doesn't make him at fault for the accident.

Let me put it this way, if the other driver would have been driving with a valid license... Who caused the accident?

If your wife would have yielded to the other driver (who had the right of way), the accident wouldn't have happened.

I totally understand what you're saying. But if the driver weren't driving like he should not have ,the accident wouldnt have happened either. True , if he WOULD'VE had a valid ilcense, but he didn't.

I will keep you posted of the outcome. I spoke to the other driver's insurance yesterday and funny, the car is in someone else's name and according to that person , the driver is out of town and she doesn't know when he will be coming back. Interesting since he was under arrest after the accident.

[moburkes]

You didn't state your state. Your wife is likely to be more than 80% at fault.

Some people are allowed to drive with suspended licenses. You are making an assumption.