At-fault accident while making turn?

Thats good. Hope all goes well.

 

Paying a ticket is a conviction.

Accidents place a driver in this industry at risk of termination by employer.

If you and yours do not have already a active camera facing forward recording the situation now you need to buy one today and get it working. That way the next time (When not if...) something develops it's not he said she said and video does not lie.

CDL is federal. So anything under CDL, CMV etc is recorded everywhere in the USA. It falls off after a number of years.

In addition, driver (And company) could be sued for damages in civil court. I have had experienced two such suits in my life time driving a big truck, one for destroying a car in DC and the other for having a car run into me, the resulting suit was a attempt to deflect the true root cause when the employee was late again for the third time ran past the gaurd shack specifically prohibiting all traffic to the dock area at that moment in time. That person was also revealed under oath to be a drug seeker way beyond the simple ER several day prescription for the owie incurred by a sprain. So he was pretty much laughed out of the deposition room prior to trial when the evidence came to light.

I was not going to say anything here myself about the situation because I was not there to see it. Using my own way of trucking, I usually deliberately position the 18 wheeler to essentially use it's size and heft to threaten anyone thinking about sneaking around. They will find quickly that it cannot be done. Although it has not stopped a small number from trying. Then we deal with potential death and maiming possibly which they brought upon themselves. Way more serious than just a simple ticket.

 

Can you return to this thread when this concludes and let me know how it turned out? I'm from Louisiana as well. Louisiana does not have a point system.

 

If the car attempted to pass during the turn and it's a single turn lane isn't that illegal.. I'd talk to a lawyer about it or the guy might try to sue down the road

 

Have to fight the ticket but..when making turns you need to always be expecting 4 wheelers to try and pass.
I'm sure getting other drivers phone records should clear yours.

 

from what i am reading, your husband made a left turn?

then by all means, he does have a mirror on that left side (as well as the right) and he should have seen the car. now if you husband were to have been making a right turn, then he would have been blinded to the car.

as others have said, an attorney should be of some help. but that ticket may stick. not too many people are going to believe, your husband did not see that car, on his "sight side"

 

The way I am visualizing this, he turned so wide that his trailer left room for the car behind him to sneak up alongside him on the left. In order for that to happen, he likely turned into the right-hand lane on the one-way street, then moved back into the left lane which at that point was already occupied by the car. If that's the case, yes, he is at fault for improper lane usage.

This exposes a larger issue with traffic law, and that there is in most cases no allowance for oversize vehicles as the statues are written. For example, if your farm implement is 15' wide and you are traveling on a 10' wide lane, if a vehicle traveling from the other directions strikes the portion of your farm implement that is sticking out across the center line of the roadway, you are likely going to be found at fault for a 'left of center' or similar violation. This is regardless if there was room for you to move over or not. Same thing applies while making a turn, if you don't maintain your lane (which as we all know is all but impossible in most instance with a semi), you can be found at fault for making an improper turn.

My suggestion would be similar to that made by others, get an attorney, try to plea it down to a lesser charge. In either case, though, the 'at fault' finding on the accident report will probably not get changed.

Good luck!

 

I can't speak for other states but in Louisiana this is not true.

The DOT in our state specifically says that we can use the road as we see fit to turn safely and that includes going off the road if necessary. So if we are at a tight intersection and we make a wide right turn and someone just plows into us, that would mean they hit us at a red light (their light was red, mine was green) they would get cited, not me.

You have to remember, we have a right to use the road just like anyone else. And because of the truck we drive, we might have to leave the lane we're in to successfully and safely navigate tight turns and such. That's perfectly legal in Louisiana.

Now thats Louisiana, I can't speak for any other states.