Clearwater Failure to Yield Truck Accidents
When a truck driver does not have the right of way and fails to yield that right of way to a vehicle that legally does have the right of way, it is defined as failing to yield. Further, if a driver is turning right on red, even if they think they can go and make a safe right turn, hits another car who has a green light, they have failed to yield the right of way given to the driver with the green light.
A third scenario with failur to yield is if you approach a yield sign while traffic is moving, refrain from stopping, and go right through the yield sign causing a collision, even if someone rear-ends you, you could be cited for failing to yield the right of way. Regardless of which way your failure to yield accident occurred, a Clearwater truck accident lawyer can guide you through the legal process on your road to recovery by dealing with medical bills and administrative work so you can focus on recovery.
Determining Fault
Determining fault in a failure to yield case involving a truck can be more complicated because, sometimes if a driver failed to yield the right of way and somebody rear ended them, that creates a dispute for who is at fault—the person that did the rear-ending or the person that failed to yield the right of way.
Additionally, if a driver makes a left turn in front of another vehicle that has the right of way but the person that has the right of way is going 50 miles over the speed limit, that creates a problem because both drivers can be accused of negligence.
For a truck accident lawyer to pursue an injury claim in Clearwater, both parties would have to figure out who exactly was at fault. If one driver did yield the right of way but the other was speeding so was not able to have that last chance to avoid the accident, then the speeder should be at fault. However, if the person was not speeding and the other driver turned in front of them, then the turning driver will be at fault for failing to yield the right of way.
Attorney’s Role in Investigation
Employing an accident reconstructionist is one way that an attorney tries reconstructing the accident to see how the damage was done, to see if it was actually the person that was failing to yield the right of way or the person that rear-ended the car in front of them who is at fault. Truck accident lawyers with experience in failure to yield cases can send investigators out in order to question witnesses and question the drivers in the case to see who is at fault, and the attorney themselves can depose, or question the witnesses and the law enforcement officer that investigated the crash.
Treatment by Insurance Companies
Failure to yield truck accidents are treated very similarly to other accidents by insurance companies. If somebody was cited, usually, that gives the benefit of the doubt as to who is the at-fault party, but many times, there can be some arguments in a failure to yield case of contributory negligence from the other driver, whether it was that they should have seen the person merging over, that they should not have been driving so fast and that speed actually created the accident, or some other reason that may be related to contributory negligence.
Benefits of Working with an Established Clearwater Injury Law Firm
Many times it is beneficial to work with an established law firm if you want to have more available resources and collective group experience to be able to help you in your case. Additionally, if one of the attorneys is sick, on vacation, or in trial that week, there are several other truck accident lawyers that are able to answer questions for you if you have an emergency or they can answer any questions coming in to the firm during that time instead of everything having to wait until that single attorney is back in the office.
If you are facing the aftermath of a Clearwater failure to yield truck accident, contact our firm today.