Had my first traffic accident last night

[Bateluer]

Was driving home after a run for some food. Driving in the right lane, there was a vehicle at an intersection ahead of me that had pulled out into the right lane to increase their visibility to make a left turn.

The vehicles impacted. Their vehicle had two females and young child, mine had only myself. There were no injuries. Police were called, information was exchanged, etc. Officers were very professional and polite, I should add.

My front bumper impacted the front driver's side tire of their vehicle. The officer on scene was shocked that there was almost no damage to my vehicle, their front tire was crumpled inward. My front bumper had a paint scrap on it, but otherwise, not even a scratch. After the police cleared me to leave, I drove away no problem. Their vehicle had to be towed.

My vehicle = 2000 Corolla, theirs was a 2009 Corolla. I have a card from the police with their name, address, insurance information, and the police report number, and they have an identical card with my information.

 

[Vette73]

Never know till your bumper comes off. Could be a lot more hidden or weakend that will not show right away.

 

[mb]

needs ms paint scene

 

[FDF12389]

Was driving home after a run for some food. Driving in the right lane, there was a vehicle at an intersection ahead of me that had pulled out into the right lane to increase their visibility to make a left turn.

What?

 

[SandEagle]

Did they hit you or did you hit them?

 

[RKS]

Did they pull out right before the impact or were they stopped for any amount of time? Was the other driver cited?

 

[Bateluer]

Never know till your bumper comes off. Could be a lot more hidden or weakend that will not show right away.

This is true. I popped the hood, didn't notice any bent metal or anything like that though. Could have been a lot worse though.

 

[mb]

What?

Glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't know WTF the OP meant by that.

 

[Bateluer]

needs ms paint scene

Standby.

I'm not going to place blame anywhere at this time, but I do not believe the police cited either of us. I was not ticketed at the scene and I didn't see the police cite them either.

 

[Bateluer]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who doesn't know WTF the OP meant by that.

This help?

The blue square is them, gray is me. After the impact, their vehicle was in the exact same place as above.

 

[L00PY]

What?

Here's a hypothetical situation that could fit what the OP described.

OP was northbound along a North-South road. The other vehicle was headed westbound along a East-West road. We'll give the other vehicle a stop sign and the OP the right of way through the intersection. The other vehicle wanted to make a left turn to go south. For whatever reason, the other vehicle couldn't see N-S traffic well enough so they inched into the intersection to get better visibility. OP's right bumper struck the other vehicle's front left tire.

 

[mb]

This help?

The blue square is them, gray is me. After the impact, their vehicle was in the exact same place as above.

Ah yes, it seems to me like they tried making a left turn without making sure it was clear and they couldn't see you behind the turning (red) car.

 

[SandEagle]

Your fault for not paying attention. You were following red too close and couldnt see ahead.

 

[CRXican]

how could you plow into innocent women and children like that?

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Ok your MSPaint masterpiece makes way more sense than what I was picturing from your description.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Your fault for not paying attention. You were following red too close and couldnt see ahead.

I would be very surprised if he was ruled against by any reasonable cop.

 

[ShawnD1]

Was driving home after a run for some food. Driving in the right lane, there was a vehicle at an intersection ahead of me that had pulled out into the right lane to increase their visibility to make a left turn.

Same thing happened to me. I was in the right lane. Car on the perpendicular road started to pull out to make a left turn, he drove into me. Estimated damage was over $15,000 and my car was written off. It didn't help that I was traveling 60mph at the time (the speed limit).

I would be very surprised if he was ruled against by any reasonable cop.

When this happened to me, the guy with the stop sign got a ticket for "failing to yield" or something like that. He actually did stop at the stop sign, but he started going when it wasn't safe.

 

[calvinbiss]

So after the "red" car made the right hand turn, you were so close to the intersection that you could not stop before hitting the "blue" car?

I assume its their fault because they were blocking the intersection and you had the right-of-way? Still seems like you should have been able to see them and stop, or that you would ahve had to slow down to allow the car in front of you to turn...

 

[Bateluer]

Your fault for not paying attention. You were following red too close and couldnt see ahead.

Drawing isn't too scale. I'm not an artist.

Hind sight is always 20/20, and one can always do the 'coulda, woulda, shoulda' thing. What happened, happened. Nobody was injured at the scene. When asked by the officer, they declined all medical attention as well.

 

[CRXican]

shouldn't cruise in the right lane either

 

[mb]

shouldn't cruise in the right lane either

 

[Bateluer]

Same thing happened to me. I was in the right lane. Car on the perpendicular road started to pull out to make a left turn, he drove into me. Estimated damage was over $15,000 and my car was written off. It didn't help that I was traveling 60mph at the time (the speed limit).

Ouch. Thankfully, the speed limit was only 40 and I hadn't had the time to get up to speed yet because of a red light. Was probably doing about 30 when I slammed by brakes, impact likely around the ~15mph range. The force of the impact didn't move their vehicle more than a few inches. Had the impact occurred at a higher speed, or more on the corner of their vehicle, it could have sent us both spinning and impacting other vehicles. Could have been much worse.

shouldn't cruise in the right lane either

I wasn't.

 

[ShawnD1]

Ya see, CRXican lives in LA. In LA you're supposed to cruise at or below the speed limit when you're in the left lanes. The right lane should only be used for passing or doing cool stunts on your motorcycle.

 

[Bateluer]

Ya see, CRXican lives in LA. In LA you're supposed to cruise at or below the speed limit when you're in the left lanes. The right lane should only be used for passing or doing cool stunts on your motorcycle.

I was in the right lane because its a right turn into my housing development, a few miles west of my 'map'.

Wish I'd had my cell phone on me last night, would have been good to snap some photos of their vehicle in case. They seem liked nice people. I took some pictures of my car when I got home, both with my cell and with my Fuji.

 

[SP33Demon]

Their fault, you had right of way.