Right-of-Way Laws and Accident Liability in PA

When car accidents occur, police officers and insurance companies use a wide range of evidence to determine who is at fault and responsible for paying for damages. Right-of-way laws play an important role, providing guidance regarding the flow of traffic and how drivers are expected to act. Drivers who violate right-of-way laws often force other drivers to take evasive action and cause entirely preventable collisions.

If another driver’s unsafe and illegal maneuvers left you injured in a car crash, make sure you have the legal representation you need to start your claim. Call Carmody and Ging, Injury & Accident Lawyers to set up a time to talk to our team.

What Pennsylvania law says about right-of-way

Pennsylvania law dictates who must yield at an intersection. However, other drivers are expected to take action as necessary. If one driver is legally required to yield the right-of-way but they fail to do so, other drivers should act appropriately to avoid a collision. This may involve stopping or slowing down.

First, pedestrians have right-of-way when they are crossing at an intersection, walking in a marked crosswalk, crossing a driveway or an alley on a sidewalk, and when they are crossing with the light and a driver is attempting to turn the corner. If a pedestrian is blind and is using a white cane or service dog, drivers must always yield right-of-way.

When a driver is turning left at an intersection, they are required to yield to those who are going straight while coming from the opposite direction. Roundabouts are a common location for accidents, particularly for those who come from areas where roundabouts are rarely seen. A driver attempting to enter a roundabout must always yield to a driver who is already in the roundabout. This goes against the usual rules of right-of-way, as traffic in roundabouts comes from the left.

At an intersection with a four-way stop, the driver who arrives first has right-of-way over those who arrive at the intersection later. When two or more vehicles approach an intersection at the same time and reach the stop sign at approximately the same time, a driver approaching from the left should yield to the driver on the right.

Right-of-way scenarios

You can look at any accident report to see a variety of right-of-way scenarios. Examples include:

• A driver waits to turn left at an intersection with a green light. They see a car coming from the opposite direction but believe they have time to cross. They misjudge the other driver’s speed and hit the front of their car by turning left. The driver turning left should have yielded right-of-way but did not.
• A pedestrian has a “walk” signal. A driver approaches from their left and waits to turn right. The driver checks left but does not check to their right. As the pedestrian begins to cross, the driver turns and strikes the pedestrian. Because they did not yield right-of-way when they should have, they caused a pedestrian collision.
• A driver waits to turn right on a red light. Traffic coming from the opposite direction has both a green light and green left arrow. The driver waiting to turn right makes their turn, ignoring or not realizing that a driver was turning left at the same time. The driver turning right should have yielded the right-of-way.

How right-of-way can affect accident liability

Right-of-way laws are often cited and referenced when it’s time to determine liability and figure out whose error led to an intersection accident. Insurance companies and police officers may use a variety of evidence points to figure out what happened. For example, the location of the damage on both vehicles may show who made contact first and whether or not either vehicle attempted to mitigate the damage. Surveillance footage and dashcam footage can both provide valuable insight. For example, a surveillance camera at a four-way stop may show one driver safely and correctly entering the intersection, only to be hit by a driver who stops for a millisecond and then attempts to speed through the intersection moments later. This would obviously show the second driver ignoring right-of-way rules.

Failure to yield right-of-way is one of the top causes of collisions across the country. Certain groups are affected more than others—the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that failure to yield right-of-way is the most common error by senior drivers involved in collisions.

When it’s time to get an attorney involved

If liability is in dispute and you are struggling to prove that you followed right-of-way laws in Pennsylvania, it is absolutely time to get a car accident lawyer involved in your claim. In Pennsylvania, your ability to recover compensation depends on a wide range of factors, including whether you have full tort or limited tort coverage. Limited tort may restrict your ability to recover compensation for pain and suffering unless your injuries qualify under one of the legal exceptions, such as serious injury, drunk driving, or being hit by an out-of-state vehicle. Even if you have full tort coverage, you may still struggle to secure fair compensation from the other driver’s insurance company. Insurance companies will do whatever they legally can to avoid paying fair compensation in a crash in an effort to protect their profit margins. If it’s unclear whether or not a driver actually observed right-of-way laws, that gives them the perfect way to dispute liability and limit their own financial losses.

When you reach out to a car accident attorney, they will dig into the evidence available to look for conclusive proof of the other party’s error. This puts their insurance company in a position where it is much harder for them to deny liability and deprive you of a fair settlement.

Ready to start your accident claim? Call Carmody and Ging, Injury & Accident Attorneys

At Carmody and Ging, Injury & Accident Lawyers, we are passionate about helping car accident victims demand fair compensation and hold negligent drivers accountable. Let’s get started on your claim now. Call us or fill out our contact form.