ExpertLaw.com Forums

Traffic Accident Due to Improper Lane Usage

Printable View

  • 12-06-2013, 10:37 PM
    kwest
    Traffic Accident Due to Improper Lane Usage
    My question involves a traffic accident in the State of: Illinois. I was coming off of a private drive owned by an office building, it has its own right turn on red lane onto a busy street. I looked left, and went. I needed to get across 3 lanes of traffic into the turn lane so that I could continue on my way home. there were basically 4 lanes, the first (a long right turn lane for the next intersection) then 3 lanes of normal traffic, I was in the third lane (one more lane to the turn lane) when I was hit in the passenger side rear bumper by a car that locked up its breaks trying to stop. My truck had a couple scratches to the rear bumper, the Honda that hit it broke the light, dented the hood, pushed the drivers side fender back , and messed up the front fascia. Neither of us were injured in the crash. I have a clean record, no accidents on record, no moving violations. When the officer came up, he immediately took the side of the other driver (the other driver was visually older, I'm 20 and look around 18). The officer gave me a ticket for improper lane usage resulting in an accident. While yeah I guess I should have looked a little longer or something, I truly believe that if the other driver was going the speed limit I would have been fine. Is there a way to fight this in court? I'm training to be a fireman, and one of the first questions they always ask is if you have any accidents... I feel like this will kinda screw over my chances at that now.
  • 12-06-2013, 11:00 PM
    jk
    Re: Traffic Accident Due to Improper Lane Usage
    Quote:

    when I was hit in the passenger side rear bumper by a car that locked up its breaks trying to stop.
    that doesn't make a lot of sense, at least without some explanation.

    How is it you were hit in the passenger side rear? If you were cutting across mutitple lanes without due regard to the traffic, one would think you would be hit on the drivers side or more centered.


    Quote:

    I truly believe that if the other driver was going the speed limit I would have been fine.
    that may be but it is actually irrelevant. Part of determining whether it is safe to change lanes is determining not only the position of other vehicles but their speed so you can judge if you can pull into the adjacent lane without cutting off somebody, even if they are driving above the speed limit.
  • 12-07-2013, 08:52 AM
    kwest
    Re: Traffic Accident Due to Improper Lane Usage
    The other driver stated that he was unable to get over into the right lane because there was someone in it... and he still managed to hit my passenger side rear bumper. I may have been just about out of the lane? and going into the next? I had to get across 3 lanes of traffic to get into the turn lane. I was going about 25 mph when I was hit, and barely felt it in my truck...
  • 12-07-2013, 10:49 AM
    jk
    Re: Traffic Accident Due to Improper Lane Usage
    it sounds like you were quite aggressive in your intent to get to the inner turn lane. I suspect fault has been properly assigned.
  • 12-07-2013, 12:12 PM
    kwest
    Re: Traffic Accident Due to Improper Lane Usage
    is there a possibility of me saying that I was trying to get out of the way... that still places fault on me it seems. Is there a possibility of split fault... hit driving too fast for conditions, and me with the improper lane usage?
All times are GMT -7. The time now is 01:56 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.4
Copyright © 2023 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2004 - 2018 ExpertLaw.com, All Rights Reserved