What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? California
I was involved in an accident and was cited with a "failure to yield" on a left turn. The car that hit me was speeding but the cop just showed up in the aftermath and gave me the blame. I was going north on a 4 lane boulevard to make a left turn into a 2 lane side-street in a "T" intersection. No traffic controls in the boulevard. A group of cars were coming south with enough room to turn - I started to turn left and as I was coming out of the center-opposite lane, a car appeared suddenly barreling in at great speed. I didn't have a chance to accelerate out, the incoming car didn't touch the brakes or swerve and hit me in the rear part of the cargo door of my VW van at about 30 deg. angle. The impact spun the van 180 deg. and rolled it on its side. The other car was a compact car, it didn't even ricocheted but plowed straight ahead and came to a stop still pointing forward in his lane quite a ways down. The other driver told the police he was going 25-30 mph. Speed limit is 30mph. The cop interviewed a witness in the line of cars from the side- street (about 2 cars back from the intersection) and she said I cut in front of the car. I didn't see him till the last seconds - it could be because he might have been passing but I can't be sure. I tried to tell the cop the guy was speeding and he responded that it's hard to prove. But I contend that he was speeding based on what happened to my van. Simple physics: a smaller car doen't do that to a heavier van at 25-30 mph.? Question: is this case something that I can contest in traffic court? If so, will I need lawyer representation? I've made some diagrams reconstructing the accident.
I was involved in an accident and was cited with a "failure to yield" on a left turn. The car that hit me was speeding but the cop just showed up in the aftermath and gave me the blame. I was going north on a 4 lane boulevard to make a left turn into a 2 lane side-street in a "T" intersection. No traffic controls in the boulevard. A group of cars were coming south with enough room to turn - I started to turn left and as I was coming out of the center-opposite lane, a car appeared suddenly barreling in at great speed. I didn't have a chance to accelerate out, the incoming car didn't touch the brakes or swerve and hit me in the rear part of the cargo door of my VW van at about 30 deg. angle. The impact spun the van 180 deg. and rolled it on its side. The other car was a compact car, it didn't even ricocheted but plowed straight ahead and came to a stop still pointing forward in his lane quite a ways down. The other driver told the police he was going 25-30 mph. Speed limit is 30mph. The cop interviewed a witness in the line of cars from the side- street (about 2 cars back from the intersection) and she said I cut in front of the car. I didn't see him till the last seconds - it could be because he might have been passing but I can't be sure. I tried to tell the cop the guy was speeding and he responded that it's hard to prove. But I contend that he was speeding based on what happened to my van. Simple physics: a smaller car doen't do that to a heavier van at 25-30 mph.? Question: is this case something that I can contest in traffic court? If so, will I need lawyer representation? I've made some diagrams reconstructing the accident.