Who is at fault

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mraccident

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Just had an accident earlier today. I was pulling out of my private driveway and going across a main road to get to a side road. The side road is nearly directly across from my driveway and it has a stop sign. The car that hit me was turning left from the side road onto the main road. He hit me on my drivers side tire. When he hit me I was nearly on the other side of the road. The cop said he wasn't sure who was at fault. I know the other guy probably had right of way but since I was nearly on the other side of the main road it seems to me that he didn't even stop at the sign and he clearly should have seen me coming across. Please take a look at the image I created which explains it better.
 
Were you backing?

You don't indicate the direction of travel for either vehicle.

If I were you, I'd be thankful I didn't get cited.

I suggest you let your insurance carrier assist you with this.
 
We were both going forward. My insurance company said I need to get the police report. They said if the other driver is at fault then I need to contact his insurance. They said if I am at fault then I need to call them back. The cop didn't seem to know who was at fault and said our insurance companies would decide. I'm kind of confused about what to do. I guess I'll just wait until I get the police report. I think the image I created shows everything that happened.
 
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If you were entering the roadway from a driveway and the other driver was at a stop sign, then the other driver likely had the right of way. That said, it is still difficult to determine who is at fault because it really depends on where you were in the intersection.
The cop was right- your insurance will figure it out. It is possible that nobody will be found at fault.
 
I was almost all the way across the main road when he hit me. Exactly where the image shows my vehicle. The cop did say the insurance companies might find nobody at fault. If nobody is at fault I guess my car will not get fixed because I only have liability. The other guy had full coverage so does that mean his insurance would pay for his repairs if nobody is at fault? I assume if that is the case then this will not cause my rates to go up. At least I hope so. He said he just hit a bear three weeks ago. Poor guy has had some bad luck. This is my first wreck in about 15 years and it happened so fast I don't really know what happened. I really appreciate your replies and welcome more if anyone else has any thoughts.
 
Given the placement of the vehicles, and the fact he had a stop sign, I would have to say that he had the obligation to yield as you had apparent control of the lane.

From appearances, I would assign the fault to the other driver.

An exception might be if you were speeding, and/or had started to zip across the roadway as he began a slow turn.

Did the other driver arrive at the stop sign before or after you had exited your driveway?

This may be made more difficult by the placement of your driveway vis-a-vis the side road. It might be reasonable to assume you would be making a right or left turn from the driveway onto the main road as opposed to making a dash kinda to the left and straight across from the driveway to the side street.

To make a full evaluation one would need to see the damage and to hear what the other driver had to say as well. But, I still lean towards the other driver being assigned the primary collision factor.
 
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To be honest I don't really remember much of what happened. I was not speeding though. That main road has a decent amount of traffic so we always stop and look both ways, and look at the side road, before pulling out. I just know that he couldn't have stopped at the sign because I was almost all the way across the road when he hit me. If he had stopped at the sign he would have seen that I had already started across the road before he accelerated.
 
If one were to do a break down of time based upon speed, I imagine you will have been well into the roadway/intersection as he began his turn. Often it comes down to an evaluation of feet-per-second in such matters. But, in your state they may have a different set of guidelines than we do.

Ultimately, the insurance companies are not bound by the police assignation of fault and they may assign fault as they see fit.
 
I don't think court will help in this case. nothing seems very conclusive. Regardless of how far you were in to the intersection, there is no way to determine who did or did not stop, or who entered the intersection first.
The other driver will say you suddenly darted across which accounts for your location. Your best option is to try to let the insurance companies sort it out.
 
Actually, with the proper analysis, an excellent estimate of who was in the intersection first could be determined with some accuracy. Based solely on a diagram without measurements, I couldn't say with certainty. But, with measurements, it would be easy. Assuming that the diagram is roughly proportional to the scene, and assuming a lack of centrifugal skid in the turn of the other car (indicating no stopping for the stop sign and excessive speed for the turn) or acceleration skid on the part of the OP's vehicle I'd feel comfortable saying that the OP was well into the road before the other vehicle began his turn.

But, it is doubtful that the insurance companies will spend the money for such an analysis and will likely just act on face value - possibly assigning fault 50/50 or nearly so.
 
Sorry to bring this back up but I have one more question. I finally got the police report and nowhere in the report does it mention fault but I am listed as driver 1. I have been told that the person listed as driver 1 is considered the at fault driver. Is this correct? I searched the internet and some sites suggest that police do not determine who is at fault. I would just like to know before I call my insurance company.
 
mraccident said:
Sorry to bring this back up but I have one more question. I finally got the police report and nowhere in the report does it mention fault but I am listed as driver 1. I have been told that the person listed as driver 1 is considered the at fault driver. Is this correct? I searched the internet and some sites suggest that police do not determine who is at fault. I would just like to know before I call my insurance company.
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If no fault is listed, then no fault is listed. While it might be common practice in your state to indicate the at-fault driver as Party 1, I doubt that is codified anywhere. And, it may be possible that in KY the police do not assign fault in a collision. That would seem odd, but I suppose it is possible. Your insurer should know.
 
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