Have You Been Injured by a Driver That Failed to Yield?
Our Chicago failure to yield accident lawyers often handle these cases. Often the collisions involve a driver failing to yield:
- Turning left at a stop light, or
- While coming out of a stop sign
The right-of-way is a priority given to one driver over another. For example, a driver at a stop sign must yield to vehicles on the through street with no stop sign. This is commonly known as yielding the right of way.
A driver must also yield the right of way to pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles when emerging from a stop or yield sign, an alley or parking lot. Further, we yield the right of way to emergency vehicles.
What it literally means is we wait. We wait while someone else takes a turn driving where we want to be.
It sounds like common sense. But a failure to yield collision attorney in Chicago often encounters drivers that ignore the law. They roll through stop signs or rush to beat oncoming traffic while turning left.
I myself often fear the bad driving habits of others. Traffic signals direct who has the right of way and in a perfect world we should all be able to travel safely to our destinations. However, there were 319,146 traffic accidents in Illinois in the year 2018 and over 70,000 of those crashes were at locations with traffic signals.
What Are Common Causes of Failure to Yield Accidents?
So, what causes all of these accidents? These collisions occur due to a variety of reasons, such as:
- Drivers in a hurry
- Talking on a cell phone
- Texting
- Putting on makeup
- Impaired drivers
- Weather conditions
The above can all be factors contributing to collisions where drivers fail to yield the right of way.
It could be argued that a driver’s level of patience or aggressiveness can affect the chances of being involved in an accident. When a driver fails to yield the right of way, he or she increases the odds of a crash.
Turning at an intersection can be dangerous. There were 49,985 crashes in Illinois in 2018 with vehicles attempting to turn. This type of collision was second only to read-end collisions where there were 91,936 accidents.
Motorcyclists Are at Greater Risk
Motorcyclists are put at extreme risk by drivers who fail to yield. For obvious reasons, motorcycle riders are at a much higher risk of serious injury in a collision. While less than one percent of all Illinois collisions in 2018 were motorcycle accidents, the number of fatalities involving motorcycles was a staggering 12.1 percent.
Our failure to yield crash attorneys in Chicago represent motorcyclists that suffer injuries at intersections.
- In 2012, a policy limits settlement where for a motorcyclist fatality. A driver failed to yield while turning left at a green light.
- In 2018, a $3 Million settlement for the family of a motorcyclist. The rider was killed by a driver who failed to yield making a U-turn.
Who is at Fault in an Auto Accident?
Liability in accidents involving a failure to yield is not always clear. Sometimes, it can be difficult to determine who was at fault.
It is common for a driver to be negligent for failing to yield the right of way. However, sometimes another driver is also at fault to some degree.
For example, proceeding through an intersection late on a yellow light. Unfortunately, those in an accident and witnesses often tell conflicting stories to police. Some intersection collisions become a matter of “he said/she said”. This makes it easy for insurance companies to cast the blame away from their policy holder and deny a claim.
What Should I do After a Failure to Yield Accident?
In cases involving serious injuries, it is imperative that there is a thorough liability investigation. This requires investigation at the time of the incident and afterwards as well. It is a good idea to:
- Call police and make a report
- Exchange information with the other driver(s)
- Take photographs of the property damage and scene
- Obtain independent witness information
- Seek medical attention when needed
There is sometimes other information to look into. When liability is in dispute, current technology allows for review of intersection photography & video, and any video footage from local security cameras. Further, actual interviews by investigators with witnesses can yield more information than is generally in the standard accident report.
The above facts are good reasons as to why it is important to start working with a failure to yield collision attorney in Chicago ASAP. Often, video is only preserved by municipalities and local businesses for a short period of time. Also, witnesses tend to change addresses and phone numbers. The sooner you retain counsel, the better job they can do at protecting evidence and your rights.
Contact a Failure to Yield Accident Attorney in Chicago
The facts of the occurrence are not the only things that need to be considered in resolving an accident claim. The nature and extent of your injuries, pain and suffering, loss of earnings and loss of a normal life should be factored in before a settlement is reached.
The process can be stressful and confusing, as if being in an accident were not bad enough. We often tell our clients to let the attorneys worry about their case. All they have to do is concentrate on recovering from their injuries.
The Chicago accident attorneys at Abels & Annes, P.C. have experience investigating collision cases and handling negotiations to obtain the best possible outcome. We only represent those who suffer injury in collisions and we never represent insurance companies. This way our clients know that we always put their interests first, regardless of the type of accident.
Contact us for a free consultation if you or a loved one has been injured in a failure to yield accident in Illinois. There is no fee unless you win, so give us a call at (855) LAW-CHICAGO (529-2442) or locally at (312) 924-7575.
If a collision has left with injuries, call a Chicago Failure to Yield Accident Lawyer at Abels & Annes, P.C. and let us provide you with a free case consultation.