Sunday, January 27, 2008

Right of Way

Minor fender bender last night. Thought I'd draw out the scene with Skitch and see what the Towform jury thinks. (Cars anonymized to eliminate bias.)

Three-way stop at a slightly goofy intersection. Just after 6pm, mostly dark and slightly rainy. Cars are represented by the numbered dots (ignore the satellite image cars).

  • Car 1 and Car 2 reach the intersection and stop at the same time. (Car 1 may have been slightly first, but it's negligible and a virtual tie.) Both are signaling left turns.

  • Car 3 is approaching the intersection but has not yet arrived. They are signaling for a right turn. (I don't recall if the signal was on or not, but will assume yes for this exercise.)

  • Cars 1 & 2 are at a standstill for about 3 seconds. Car 1 slowly edges into intersection. Car 2 remains at the stop sign. Car 3 arrives at about this time.

  • Car 1 completes their left turn, and has a small accident with Car 3. Point of impact is approximately the black dot in the image.

  • Corner of the rear passenger-side bumper of Car 1 is scratched, while the front driver-side corner of Car 3 is dented.

  • Drivers exit to exchange pleasantries. Car 1 says "Three way stop, I was there first, my right of way." Car 3 says "Doesn't matter. I was taking a right, you were taking a left. Right trumps left."

    Who would be the at-fault party?

    SpaceMonkeyMojo said...

    I'm thinking Car 3 is at fault. Car 1 was already making the left, and I believe he is correct about the first to arrive at the intersection. And car 3 should have seen car 1 coming - even if he thinks he has the right of way he should stay put if it will mean avoiding an accident.

    Right doesn't trump left. Especially when left got there first. That seems like a weird argument to me.

    Adam said...

    Car 3's a jerk.