Dealing with accident if I entered intersection on yelow light and the other party says lit was green for it?

Question

I entered the intersection on a yellow light and got into an
accident with another car coming from the right. The other person is claiming that light was green for him.
He has a witness who was in another car coming from his side, supporting his claim.
Will I be held responsible for this accident. Do I have a chance of
proving my innocence. If so how?
Thanks.

Answer 1

If there is an independent witness and a disputed accident, the scales will tip favorably to the driver of the car the witness supports. You could check the light sequence at the intersection to see if the light goes green early before the light you had goes red, then submit proof of that.

Unfortunately at this point you admit to at least a yellow. If that witness is credible and says that the other driver had a green, the insurance company will probably conclude that it was yellow as you approached but red when you entered. Unfortunate, but true.

Answer 2

well, if you entered the interseciton on a yellow light and was out of the intersection b4 it was red, then you are in the clear....

at the same time, if it turned red while u were in the intersection, then the fault is on you bcuz u shouldn't have been in the street... thats a given!

However, it shouldn't have been green one second and the other car coming at the next second. Becuase ALL lights have at least a three second "give" time in between red and green. In other words, you can call it a safety mechanisms to reduce the amount of accidents.

Now, since there is a witness that says it was red, there may be an unknown malfunction w/ the lights. If so, what you should do is test the lights. You can do this by parking nearby where you can see both lights and record the time inbetween the red and green lights. (the street that u were on and the street that the car came from) after doing so, make sure that there was no way that you could have been caught in a RED LIGHT!

If there is some kind of malfunction, bring this as evidence to court and have it written / tryped in an affidavit, which must be notarized by a bank, or whomever.... this should cause your case to be kicked out, and you could counter-sue for damges regarding the accident.

Hope all works out well.

Answer 3

Technically If your light was yellow when you entered the intersection then the other parties light could not have been green unless the lights had malfunctioned. However if your enter the intersection with a yellow and still inside when it turns red. Then your at fault since your in the intersection illegally. but you best check with the driver's handbook on that. Also you might want to check out the intersection for any faulty light changes.

Answer 4

He's got a disinterested witness. You lose! The fact that it was yellow when you entered doesn't help you either. If it turned red while you were still in the intersection, you ran the light. You've admitted this so you have NO leg to stand on now.

Your only hope is that it should have been obvious that you were already in the intersection and he could have avoided the accident by not accelerating into you. Good luck on that angle; it's the only one you have.

Answer 5

As there is an independent witness, I don't think that you can win this one. HOWEVER, where on your car is the damage? Where is his damage? If yours is towards the center/rear, you can argue that you entered on a yellow light and that he did not make sure that it was safe to enter the intersection before he proceeded once the light changed. If it is more front to front -- This argument will not work.

Answer 6

If he was making a RIGHT hand turn, essentially merging into the lane you were in, HE is at fault !! He probably looked up at the light and saw yours turn yellow and ASSUMED he could go. (If this is the case, I wouldn't say ANYTHING until it went to court, and then blindside him with it, so he doesn't have time to make up a story) If he was going THROUGH the intersection, it'll be your word against his and probably go NO FAULT! It depends on which way he was heading. Was there a citation written, and if so, it has a lot of weight.

Answer 7

Well, do you have a witness? If an objective (unknown to him) second witness says the light was green, you'll probably be held at fault for this. Not much you can do . . . after all, you should be stopping on the yellow!!

Answer 8

If you have an eyewitness and the other party does not, you WIN!!!!!

Its your word against hers...