Car accident? Whos at fault?

[Maxch97]

There are many accidents that I've avoided by choosing to be cautious rather than "right". A little defensive driving goes a long way to keeping the car out of the shop.

While it sounds like she made an improper lane change, the other driver was not cited for that. Nor was OP cited for excess speed in a work zone. "Reduced speed, fines doubled", after all.

My gripe is that OP, by their own admission, carried on as though they weren't in a work zone.

But There was a construction worker in the middle lane holding a "slow" sign and the lady in the middle lane stopped her car in front of him.

OP knew something unusual was up, but was determined to blaze through.

While I was waiting for the police to come, I noticed that the construction worker did not stay in the middle lane directing traffic with his sign. He just popped in and out of the middle lane whenever he was told to. I was already going roughly 15 mph when she merged into my lane. Everything happened consecutively which caused the accident to occur. I really feel like I shouldve installed my dash cam now that i see all the problems that is created by the "he said, she said"

 

[justalayman]

There are many accidents that I've avoided by choosing to be cautious rather than "right". A little defensive driving goes a long way to keeping the car out of the shop.

While it sounds like she made an improper lane change, the other driver was not cited for that. Nor was OP cited for excess speed in a work zone. "Reduced speed, fines doubled", after all.

My gripe is that OP, by their own admission, carried on as though they weren't in a work zone.

But There was a construction worker in the middle lane holding a "slow" sign and the lady in the middle lane stopped her car in front of him.

OP knew something unusual was up, but was determined to blaze through.

Not arguing one needs to use caution especially when driving in a work zone but that still doesn’t mean a driver gets to blindly follow directions from a road worker and not be liable if that gets them into an accident.


Given the description of the accident it appears that the other driver is 100% at fault. She simply did not yield to traffic that was already in the lane she was moving to.

 

[not2cleverRed]

While I was waiting for the police to come, I noticed that the construction worker did not stay in the middle lane directing traffic with his sign. He just popped in and out of the middle lane whenever he was told to. I was already going roughly 15 mph when she merged into my lane. Everything happened consecutively which caused the accident to occur. I really feel like I shouldve installed my dash cam now that i see all the problems that is created by the "he said, she said"

Pretty sure, even with reduced speed limits for work zones that you were well below the speed limit at 15 mph!
You should by fine if you follow adjusterjack's advice to a T.

In a he said/she said, they're going to go by who's cited (if anyone) and the type of damage to the cars. The damage you describe sounds like she made an unsafe lane change.