Rear ended. Is anyone more at fault ?

[LisaV]

Jurisdiction

New York

Is either drive more at fault in this situation ?
Car A broke down in the middle lane of the expressway ( speed limit 55mph) and could not move and had emergency lights on. It was early evening daylight. No hills or visual obstructions. No cars were between Car A and Car B. Car B ran into Car A at full speed. Car B was not looking at the road. There was no braking or slowing down, no skid marks. Car B hit car A directly in the middle of Car A's vehicle.

Thank you,
Lisa

 

[zddoodah]

Is either drive more at fault in this situation ?

Before I read the rest of your post, let me suggest to you that opinions based on a few sentences in a short paragraph provided by only one party involved will be inherently unreliable.

That said, any allocation of fault other than 100% to the driver of Car B would probably depend on how long Car A had been stalled on the road at the time of the collision and what efforts the driver of Car A made to get the car off the road and call emergency services.

Assuming you're one or the other of the drivers, I certainly hope this has been reported to your auto insurer.

 

[LisaV]

Before I read the rest of your post, let me suggest to you that opinions based on a few sentences in a short paragraph provided by only one party involved will be inherently unreliable.

That said, any allocation of fault other than 100% to the driver of Car B would probably depend on how long Car A had been stalled on the road at the time of the collision and what efforts the driver of Car A made to get the car off the road and call emergency services.

Assuming you're one or the other of the drivers, I certainly hope this has been reported to your auto insurer.

Thank you for the reply !
Car A says they were there for maybe 2-3 minutes with emergency lights on and were in the process of calling with phone in hand and then was hit from behind. Driver of Car A said that Car A could not move at all. Not sure of it was a driveshaft, transmission or other problem. An officer found the phone of Car A on the road.

 

[army judge]

Is either drive more at fault in this situation ?

Fault can ONLY be adjudicated in a court of law upon the conclusion of a trial.

Any other comments are merely speculative, including the comments made by a police officer after investigating the collision.

 

[mightymoose]

I would tend to fault the driver of car A more for stopping in the roadway, likely a violation that can be cited). The car should have been moved to the shoulder before coming to a stop.
The driver of B may have some shared responsibility if conditions were such that the stalled vehicle could have been seen and avoided. Inattentive driving.
The situation you describe is not likely one which fault will be assigned to a single driver- it is only my intent to point out the situation could have been avoided if the first car had not stopped in the roadway.

 

[zddoodah]

Car A says they were there for maybe 2-3 minutes with emergency lights on and were in the process of calling with phone in hand and then was hit from behind. Driver of Car A said that Car A could not move at all. Not sure of it was a driveshaft, transmission or other problem. An officer found the phone of Car A on the road.

Assuming there's no evidence to rebut this, I can't see how fault could be assessed other than 100% to the driver of Car B (unless the circumstances of Car A breaking down were such that, before the vehicle was stopped, it could have been driven to the side)..