New York Car Accidents Involving Stop Signs By New York Car Accident Lawyers
New York car accident lawyers often handle cases invovling car and truck accidents which involve stop signs. Car accidents often involve serious personal injuries and even death when pedestrians and cars are struck at intersections with stop signs.
In New York, lawyers and attorneys who handle personal injury cases involving car accidents at intersections must be familiar with the responsiblities of motorists at intersections. New York Vehicle and Traffic law 1142(a) requires every driver of a vehicle including a car and truck approaching a stop sign tol stop. The law also requires that cars and trucks after stopping to yield the right of way to any vehicle, car, motorcycle or truck which has entered the intersection from another highway or which is approaching so closely on said highway as to constitute an immediate hazard during the time when such driver is moving across or within the intersection.
New York car accident lawyers must also be familiar with the car driver’s responsibilites towards pedestrians crossing the street. New York Vehicle and Traffic law 1142(b) requires drivers of vehicles, including cars and trucks, approaching a yield sign to slow down to a speed reasonable for existing conditions, or stop if necessary. The law also requires that motorists yield the right of way to any pedestrian legally crossing the roadway on which he is driving, and to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching on another highway so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard during the time such driver is moving across or within the intersection.
The law provides a powerful weapon for New York car accident lawyers who represent injured pedestrians. The law states that if a driver is involved in a collision with a pedestrian in a crosswalk or a vehicle in the intersection after driving past a yield sign without stopping, such collision shall be deemed prima facie evidence of his failure to yield the right of way.
The Courts in New York have repeatedly recognized that where a driver has violated a traffic law designed to ensure the safety of others, and this violation causes another’s injury, the court may find judgment in favor of the injured plaintiff so long as no comparative negligence has been established. Courts have reasoned that a driver of a car or truck who fails to yield the right of way after stopping at a stop sign is in violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law 1142(a) and is negligent as a matter of law. A driver is required to see that which through proper use of his or her senses he or she should have seen,” and the driver with the right of way “is entitled to anticipate that the other motorist will obey the traffic law requiring him or her to yield.
Under New York Vehicle and Traffic Law, 1111(a)(1) car and truck drivers are legally obligated to yield the right of way to pedestrians in the crosswalk who are crossing when the “Walk” signal is in their favor, and a driver’s failure to do so establishes prima facie negligence as a matter of law. An injured pedestrian is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, where plaintiff was in the crosswalk with the light in their favor, and the car strikes them while making a left turn. A motor vehicle driver has an obligation to observe and watch for pedestrians, and is negligent where he has failed to see what through the proper use of his senses he should have seen.
New York car accident lawyers should always use these firm statutes to represent their clients who sustain serious personal injuries in car accidents involving intersections with stop signs.