Everyone who drives a motor vehicle in Arizona is expected to follow all the rules of the road established under state law, especially those pertaining to who has the right-of-way in different situations. A failure to yield properly can lead to an expensive ticket and a mandatory appearance in traffic court, as well as a serious traffic collision with devastating consequences for everyone involved.
Sorting out all the legal complexities and getting the favorable result you want from your claim for a failure to yield car accident in Mesa is much easier if you seek help from the experienced auto accident lawyers at Phillips Law Group, rather than trying to handle your legal proceedings on your own.
When Can Someone Be Ticketed for Failure to Yield?
Anyone who advances past a posted YIELD sign without stopping to check for oncoming traffic in the road they are entering has committed a failure to yield offense, which could justify a lawsuit if it leads to a car crash in Mesa. However, drivers are also expected to yield the right-of-way to all the following people with or without a posted YIELD sign:
- Drivers already in an intersection
- Drivers who arrived at a four-way stop intersection before them, or the driver to their right if everyone arrives simultaneously
- Any car already in a roadway they are entering from a side street, driveway, or alleyway
- Pedestrians in a marked or unmarked crosswalk
- Approaching traffic, when turning left across active traffic lanes at an intersection
Failing to yield properly under any of these circumstances constitutes a violation of the duty of care all drivers have to act responsibly and lawfully behind the wheel. Proving that such a breach of duty was the main and direct cause of an accident resulting in physical injury is what every personal injury claim is centered around.
Holding Someone Else Liable for a Failure to Yield Crash
Ideally, someone who causes a car accident in Mesa by failing to yield properly will be cited for their violation of traffic law by a police officer who responds to the scene of the wreck. However, with or without a police accident report including such a citation, it can be important to have evidence from other sources showing that a specific person is at fault for causing this type of wreck. This commonly includes witness testimony, crash scene photos, traffic or dashboard camera footage, and even input from accident reconstructionists.
Among other things, this additional evidence can be crucial to proving that the injured person filing suit over their injuries caused by a failure to yield wreck was not partially at fault for the accident because of their own negligence. Otherwise, a court could reduce the total compensation available to them based on their assigned percentage of comparative fault for the incident, even if the driver who failed to yield was still mostly to blame.
Get Help From a Mesa Attorney With a Failure to Yield Car Accident Claim
Getting into a wreck solely because someone else on the road with you was irresponsible behind the wheel can be frustrating under any circumstances. However, failure to yield car accidents in Mesa can be particularly aggravating, in no small part because of how easy they are to prevent if everyone waits their turn and obeys the law like they are supposed to.
If you have been hurt recently in a wreck like this, you have support available from a firm that has been locally owned and operated in the Phoenix metro area for more than 30 years. Call today to speak with a member of the Phillips Law Group team about your recovery options.
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