Personal Injury Law

Pulling out from a stop sign, t-boned, trucks speed is very important

By Steve Lombardi

Question: If the driver of a car stops at a stop sign, looks both ways, then pulls out is a truck driver at fault if fog is thick and he's prohibited from seeing the car t-bones the car resulting in serious injury and death?

Answer: It all depends on the speed of the truck, and his lookout. How much attention is the driver paying to the weather and road conditions? I'll assume the fog is the same for both drivers, a pretty safe assumption, and that the truck driver was watching where he was going; it's no excuse that the driver pulls out if the collision could have been avoided if the truck's speed was slower. Many intersection wrecks would not happen if the speed of the oncoming vehicle were slower. Slower speeds allow intersections to clear or drivers have more time to slow and allow the intersection to clear. The stop sign driver probably has some degree of fault but so may the truck driver. This case would be a difficult one to put together, but not impossible. So long as the Iowa State Patrol did a thorough investigation with taking good photographs of the truck and car damage; and measured skid marks and other markers the speed of the truck could be determined and that is the key to evaluating each driver's fault.

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).