Law School Discussion

Thanks! Anyone else have any insight?

By the way, if this individual had the intention of making a left turn (according to the police report) but was in the right lane of his road upon entering the intersection (which constitutes an illegal left turn) does this somehow help my case? Also, if there was no ticket issued at the scene, would the officer maybe consider issuing it after the driver's own admission of driving in the right lane with intent to make a left turn at the intersection?

Thank you Papa Bear. I was a bit shaken up by the whole thing.

Does it matter at all about statutes and official rules of the road? I understand that the lights are in dispute. But beyond that, there are clear guidelines on who has right of way and such. Do I have any foot to stand on in that sense in your opinion?

I would think that reasonable safety has something to do with verifying there are no vehicles already in the intersection, and also checking any blind spots for pedestrians that might be walking in front of cars that are beside you. The reason why I probably did not kill this gentleman is because I had checked for all these things, even though I had the green light. My little cautionary actions allowed me to see his car moving, and instantly recognizing that it may be a danger... prompting me to slow down a bit.

It's so weird. I think that by looking at the intersection, one would agree that this particular juncture is quite awkward and requires a certain level of precaution.

Here's a picture of it:


Oddly enough, the officer incorrectly listed the intersection in question and instead listed an intersection that is a block away.

Location: New York

Thank you folks for taking a look at this thread. It is long, but I felt that detail was necessary to show the true extent of the circumstances. I look forward to your comments. The following may seem like the average 50/50 fault, but I ask you to consider the other factors in the case.

Image of accident scene layout:


Link To Image

Description:

The intersection has stop lights for every direction of traffic.

I was on the main road (car marked: ME) going straight east bound on the map I made.

I had passed the light on green, which is of course... disputed by the other individual involved.

To my main road, there was a perpendicular road to my right. In this perpendicular road, there was a truck in the left lane (truck marked T) and a white sedan was in the right lane (white sedan marked X).

Before I passed the truck that was waiting for his/her red light in the left lane of the perpendicular road, I realized and saw simply by the extra set of tires that there was another vehicle to its right. I saw that it was inching forward and I dramatically decreased my speed fearing and sensing that the car may either make a right on red (which is legal on Long Island) or simply blow through the red light without taking any additional precaution.

My suspicion was correct and before I could make anymore substantial adjustments to my speed, the car leaped out onto my lane resulting in an accident. According to the police report, the driver was intending to turn left.

The front right of my vehicle was damaged, airbags were deployed, and the windshield was cracked on the right as a result.

As far as the other car is concerned, I am not sure about the damage of the other vehicle. I remained in my seat waiting for the officer. The driver of the vehicle is well enough to come out and yell at me for "running a red light." I am not personally injured, but I did not want to leave the vehicle at the moment in case something was horribly wrong with me.

I found this little tidbit about vehicle operation law in New York State:

§ 1163. Turning movements and required signals. (a) No person shall
turn a vehicle at an intersection unless the vehicle is in proper
position upon the roadway as required in section eleven hundred sixty,
or turn a vehicle to enter a private road or driveway, or otherwise turn
a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a roadway
unless and until such movement can be made with reasonable safety. No
person shall so turn any vehicle without giving an appropriate signal in
the manner hereinafter provided.

There were no witnesses and no tapes, so the light can be easily argued by both sides.

My Reasoning:

However, since there was no clear way for him to go straight, his only options were to turn right, bear right, or turn left. Therefore, I feel that since the truck was creating an obvious obstruction for his view while it was stopped, he should have exercised more caution before entering the intersection on the main road. If he did not see me, he may not have been able to see any pedestrians that were crossing over from the left to the right of the truck he was next to or in the crosswalk which I had passed. This in my opinion is an example of the driver's carelessness for maintaining reasonable safety standards. I believe that he would have seen me if he was looking out for pedestrians and vehicles already in the intersection. I exercised caution and tried to mitigate the damage by lowering my speed before the accident.

My insurance company has stated that I am not at fault. I do not want my insurance company sued for something they are not responsible for.

Please offer some of your thoughts.

Do purported civil rights violations cases automatically go to federal court?

Obviously for a person that is uneducated on the topic, I would not know the answer to this following question.

What, if any, are the benefits of considering this matter under the term covenant? Does a covenant have some innate positives about it for one/both parties?

I may be misguided on what the OP wanted. Is he/she looking for a way to consider this scenario as a covenant, or is he/she simply clarifying that this hypothetical is in fact an easement of the sort that he described?

Thank you.