Car Accident Caused by Failure to Yield

During his 25 years of investigating car accident cases throughout Indiana, attorney Matt Boulton has handled several claims in which one or more drivers failed to properly yield to his client’s vehicle.

Failure to Yield is a ‘Driver Contributing Circumstance’ listed on Indiana’s Official Accident Report. It is one of several factors an officer may check as the official cause of a car accident between two or more vehicles.

A number of Failure to Yield cases occur after a driver disregards a traffic light, or attempts to make an illegal turn, however, intersections controlled by stop signs are also the site of these accidents.

In this blog, we take a closer look at a case Matt handled in which his client was struck by a driver who failed to yield at a stop sign.

Failure to Yield Injures Both Drivers

The first step in Matt’s investigation of a car accident claim is to secure a copy of the accident report. The report helps to establish his client’s version of events and also allows him to look for any inadvertent errors.

In this case, a report was filed by the Brownsburg, Indiana Police Department and contained a summary that confirmed our client’s recollection of the accident:

D1 stated she was stopped at the stop sign on Maplehurst Drive waiting to turn left (north) onto SR 267. D1 stated when she proceeded into the roadway she was struck by V2 traveling south on SR 287. DI stated she didn’t see V2.

D2 (Boulton Law Group’s client) stated he was traveling south on SR 267 when VI pulled out in front of him and he was unable to avoid the collision.

The accident report noted weather conditions were daylight and cloudy; dry roadways; on a straight and level section of road; not in a construction zone; and a stop sign was the only traffic control device.

Unfortunately, the force of the collision injured both drivers, requiring emergency rescue to provide treatment at the scene. Additionally, the damage disabled both vehicles, requiring tow services.

Failure to Yield Car Accident Claim

The Driver of Vehicle 2 eventually contacted Boulton Law Group for help with his personal injury claim against the defendant’s insurance company.

After reviewing the facts of the case, Matt believed that he could help the client obtain a larger amount of compensation versus him trying to settle the case on his own.

It is not uncommon for Failure to Yield cases to have contested liability, meaning the insurance company may try to assign some or all of the fault on the claimant. In the state of Indiana, you may recover compensation for a car accident if you are not more than 50% at fault for the collision.

In this case, the insurance company admitted liability and met Matt’s compensation requests.

Types of Failure to Yield Car Accidents

As mentioned above, Failure to Yield accidents are a common cause of crashes between drivers at:

• Light-controlled intersections
• 4-Way Stop Signs
• 2-Way Stop Signs
• Parking Lots
• Driveways, e.g., a driver backing out of their drive way fails to yield to roadway traffic.

Failure to Yield car accidents have the potential to cause injury due to factors of speed and crash type, such as side-impacts or head-on collisions.

Indiana Personal Injury Attorney

If you have a question about a car accident that occurred as a result of a Failure to Yield, you can receive a free case evaluation by sending your story to Boulton Law Group.

The firm offers a Zero Fee Guarantee, meaning you owe us nothing unless a recovery is made on your behalf.

Before hiring an Indiana personal injury attorney, be sure you feel comfortable with your choice, and be leery of a firm that aggressively pursues you or makes promises about the value of your case.