I am stopped at a redlight, it turns green. I look briefly to left and right and start to proceed. I was traveling no faster than 7mph at the point of impact. I was heading south, and the other vehicle west. My street has four lanes, two in each direction, and I was in the far right lane, giving the other vehicle more than 40 feet to avoid the accident. Thier street has two lanes, one in each direction, giving me 3 feet to stop before the crash. The only way I could avoid the crash would be to reverse, which there is obviously not enough time to do in this situation.
The intersection in question is listed by Greater City: Providence as the most dangerous intersection in the city with 83 crashes in three years. 47% of these crashes are T-Bone collisions. I T-Boned them, or so the police report says. I have damage at 11 o'clock which proves I was moving forward before they were in front of me in my lane...however the police report says my damage is all at 12 o'clock...it also says I was traveling south on the other road, which there is no south on the other road...it also has the owner of the other vehicle at 7 years old...and has a driver listed, that wasn't even in the cars at all...the report did not include any statements from either side, and has a witness listed with no witness statement or contact information for that witness...
The first argument they would make is that I ran a redlight, my rebut would be "who runs a redlight at five mph?"
Traveling at 7 mph entering the intersection without looking would have me to the point of impact at .68 seconds after the green light. If they entered the intersection on green, they would have to have been going 7 mph using the time/distance physics calculations to make it to the impact point at the same time as I did. The yellow light runs for 2.5 seconds. If they entered the intersection at the moment thier light turned from yellow to red, they would reach the impact point at the same time if they were traveling 24 mph. Which is much more feasible considering the speed limit is 25. However, if I did look from left to right before going, which I maintain, I would have seen them coming with this scenario.
Now, there are trees, a parking lane, and a building on the left corner of the intersection between me and the other vehicle. With the visibility the way it was they could have been only ten feet from entering my line of sight when my light turned green and met me at the impact point if they were going 35 mph. In other words, if the light was yellow and they sped up to beat the redlight, they would have been out of my line of sight.
The insurance companies are saying it is a he said she said case and that without witness statements nobody can prove anything and therefore I will be found partly negligent. Now my argument is that for what "they said" me running a redlight at six miles per hour, what judge is going to go along with that scenario? Or, if they say I just went while they were in the intersection, how feasible is that? How common is it that someone will just go on green with cars still in the intersection? Is it common enough for the judge to say that is what I did?
80 percent of drivers polled admit they speed up on yellow, considering the feasibility of that argument, coupled with the intersection in questions history with TBone accidents due to visibility problems...is my case strong enough to go to court to fight it out?
The intersection in question is listed by Greater City: Providence as the most dangerous intersection in the city with 83 crashes in three years. 47% of these crashes are T-Bone collisions. I T-Boned them, or so the police report says. I have damage at 11 o'clock which proves I was moving forward before they were in front of me in my lane...however the police report says my damage is all at 12 o'clock...it also says I was traveling south on the other road, which there is no south on the other road...it also has the owner of the other vehicle at 7 years old...and has a driver listed, that wasn't even in the cars at all...the report did not include any statements from either side, and has a witness listed with no witness statement or contact information for that witness...
The first argument they would make is that I ran a redlight, my rebut would be "who runs a redlight at five mph?"
Traveling at 7 mph entering the intersection without looking would have me to the point of impact at .68 seconds after the green light. If they entered the intersection on green, they would have to have been going 7 mph using the time/distance physics calculations to make it to the impact point at the same time as I did. The yellow light runs for 2.5 seconds. If they entered the intersection at the moment thier light turned from yellow to red, they would reach the impact point at the same time if they were traveling 24 mph. Which is much more feasible considering the speed limit is 25. However, if I did look from left to right before going, which I maintain, I would have seen them coming with this scenario.
Now, there are trees, a parking lane, and a building on the left corner of the intersection between me and the other vehicle. With the visibility the way it was they could have been only ten feet from entering my line of sight when my light turned green and met me at the impact point if they were going 35 mph. In other words, if the light was yellow and they sped up to beat the redlight, they would have been out of my line of sight.
The insurance companies are saying it is a he said she said case and that without witness statements nobody can prove anything and therefore I will be found partly negligent. Now my argument is that for what "they said" me running a redlight at six miles per hour, what judge is going to go along with that scenario? Or, if they say I just went while they were in the intersection, how feasible is that? How common is it that someone will just go on green with cars still in the intersection? Is it common enough for the judge to say that is what I did?
80 percent of drivers polled admit they speed up on yellow, considering the feasibility of that argument, coupled with the intersection in questions history with TBone accidents due to visibility problems...is my case strong enough to go to court to fight it out?