California Failure to Yield Accident Attorneys

Damages In Failure To Yield Accidents

The damages that may be available for victims may be different. The damages will vary based on who is involved in your failure-to-yield accident and the extent of your injuries. Imagine that you and another vehicle come to the intersection at the same time.

You are on the right. The other driver is unaware that there is a rule giving you the right of way and proceeds to enter the intersection when you rightfully do so; the other car T-bones your vehicle, causing you to sustain catastrophic injuries. Your California failure to yield collision attorney can help you assess your losses after the accident, which includes things you used to do and enjoy but can no longer do after your injuries.

Maybe you played in a softball league, went ice skating with your children every weekend, or worked at a landscaping company doing physically demanding work. Now you cannot participate in these activities because the T-bone accident caused you to break your leg and pelvis. In such cases, non-economic damages, such as loss of enjoyment of life, may be available.

The Right Of Way As Defined By California Law

There are several codes and statutes that address California’s right-of-way laws. For example, California Civil Jury Instruction 701 states that “When the law requires a [driver/pedestrian] to ‘yield the right-of-way’ to [another/a] [vehicle/pedestrian], this means that the [driver/pedestrian] must let the [other] [vehicle/pedestrian] go first.” However, it goes on to say that “Even if someone has the right-of-way, that person must use reasonable care to avoid an accident.”

These jury instructions are used in combination with the following vehicle codes to determine the right-of-way in specific circumstances:

California Vehicle Code 21800: This is the primary statute that applies to the conduct of drivers in and around intersections that aren’t controlled by traffic lights, stop, or yield signs in California. Under the following circumstances, drivers must yield the right-of-way:

• Motor vehicles approaching an intersection must yield to cars that have already entered the intersection from another way.
• If two vehicles arrive at the intersection simultaneously, coming from different directions, the driver on the left should yield to the driver on the right except where roadways dead-end into another. If so, the driver on the ending highway must yield to the driver on the ongoing highway.
• Intersections that are controlled by stop signs in every direction, or if the intersection has malfunctioning or dead traffic lights, the driver on the left should yield to the driver to their immediate right.

California Vehicle Code 21801: (a) a driver who wants to either turn left or make a legal U-turn needs to yield to all traffic traveling in the opposite direction and not begin or continue to turn until such traffic is a safe enough distance away to do so; alternatively, subsection (b) states that if a motorist is making a left or U-turn and has appropriately yielded, turned on their signal, and initiated their turn, the forthcoming traffic must yield the right of way to the motorist who is turning.

According to California Vehicle Code 21802: “The driver of any vehicle approaching a stop sign at the entrance to, or within, an intersection shall stop as required by Section 22450. The driver shall then yield the right-of-way to any vehicles which have approached from another highway, or which are approaching so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard, and shall continue to yield the right-of-way to those vehicles until they can proceed with reasonable safety.

(b) “A driver having yielded as prescribed in subdivision (a) may proceed to enter the intersection, and the drivers of all other approaching vehicles shall yield the right-of-way to the vehicle entering or crossing the intersection.”

California Vehicle Code 21804: Requires all vehicles about to enter a roadway from a side street, parking lot, or alleyway to stop for traffic already on the roadway and not move on to the road until safe to do so. It also requires vehicles to yield to cars that have lawfully entered the roadway and allow them to move safely onto the roadway.

California Vehicle Code 21805: Mandates that motorists yield for horses at publicly designated equestrian crossings.

California Vehicle Code 21806: Drivers must yield the right of way to all emergency vehicles, like police cars or ambulances with sirens going and at least one emergency light lit for a distance of 1,000 feet from the front of the approaching vehicle. Additionally, they must maneuver to the right-hand curb and allow those vehicles to pass.

California Vehicle Code 21807: The rule states the following: “The provisions of Section 21806 shall not operate to relieve the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons and property.”

California Vehicle Code 21950: Describes the duty of a driver to yield to a pedestrian crossing a road either “lawfully within a crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection.”