Georgia Failure to Yield Car Accident Compensation Questions and Facts
Key Points:
- Failure-to-yield vehicle accidents happen in and around Atlanta, Georgia every day. Often these accidents happen at intersections with flashing yellow lights or when a driver enters a road in front of oncoming traffic, or turns into a pedestrian or bicycle rider.
- Evidence that can help you or a personal injury car accident lawyer prove and win a failure to yield car accident case can be often be found using police reports, body cams, patrol car cameras, witness statements, and electronic data from the vehicles.
- When you are injured in a Georgia failure-to-yield accident, you may be entitled to bring a claim or file a lawsuit seeking compensation for injuries, mental and physical pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost pay if the other driver is at fault in a failure-to-yield crash.
This Georgia legal guide will help you understand how attorneys investigate and prove “failure to yield the right of way” cases, and how personal injury law firms prove economic claims for medical bills and lost income and non-economic damages for pain and suffering and permanent injury. We hope this article may also help you decide whether to handle your own injury case hire a Georgia car accident injury lawyer.
Table of Contents
Where And Why Do Failure to Yield Accidents Happen in Georgia?
All drivers must obey the rules and traffic laws of the State of Georgia and have the duty to avoid negligently harming others. In Atlanta and across the State of Georgia, many car accidents occur at intersections controlled by traffic lights or are caused by improper turns or aggressive or distracted driving.
Under Georgia law, a driver about to enter or cross a roadway or another lane of traffic must yield the right of way to other or oncoming vehicles. Essentially, this means all drivers – even those on motorcycles and bicycles – who are crossing intersections, merging into another lane, or making a left turn must wait for other vehicles to pass safely before proceeding.
What Types of Compensation Might You Be Entitled to Recieve or Recover?
In the State of Georgia, damages are paid as compensation for injuries that have been caused by a negligent driver. The types of compensatory damages, known as economic and non-economic damages, that you may be able to receive after a failure-to-yield collision may depend on the extent of your injuries and the damage to the involved vehicles, but can include:
Medical bills and expenses, past and future: Medical costs or expenses that you may be able to recover can include emergency room and hospital fees, doctor (physician) bills, surgical or procedure costs, ambulance bills, X-Ray and CT and MRI charges, laboratory and diagnostic tests, and physical therapy and chiropractic fees.
Lost income and lost wages: When you are not able to return to work, or when you must miss work while recovering from an injury or a medical procedure, lost pay in the form of hourly or salaried earnings may be recovered based on the time missed from work in the past, or based on future projections. If you are permanently injured you may be entitled to recover the estimated amount of future lost income.
Pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment or quality of life: Georgia Courts recognize that monetary damages may be paid for past, present and future physical and mental pain and suffering. This includes not only the actual pain you suffered, but compensation for disfigurement, scars and any limitations on your physical abilities or activities.
Property damage to your vehicle and its contents: Under Georgia law, when the crash is caused by another driver, the negligent operator or his or her company may be responsible for paying for the repair or replacement of your car, truck or motorcycle. Personal property that was damaged in the collision is usually a compensable item of damages as well.
Other compensation or damages you may recover under Georgia law: In some cases, other damages you may be able to recover after a failure to yield accident can include rental car costs, loss of household services, hiring help around the house, inconvenience, loss of companionship (a/k/a “loss of consortium”), vocational retraining or rehabilitation, and wrongful death. To assess what is fair compensation, personal injury attorneys and their law firm will consider all of these factors when evaluating your case.
Who is Your Claim Against in a Failure to Yield Accident?
By definition, a failure to yield accident is when a driver fails to yield to you when you have the right of way. In the State of Georgia, automobile accident claims are made against the “at-fault” driver, however, the damages (expenses and pain and suffering) are generally paid by an insurace company.
What to Expect and How Will The Claims Process Work After My Motor Vehicle Accident?
Generally speaking, you and your car accident lawyer will focus on making a claim through the insurance company’s claim process. This may mean sending what is known as a notice of claim to the insurance carrier to have the claim established. If the at-fault driver or company is not insured, or if the value of your claim is fairly large, your own motor-vehicle accident insurance company should most likely be put on notice using your uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, also known as Georgia UIM or UM coverage.
UM coverage is optional and not required in the State of Georgia. If you do not know whether you have UIM coverage, a competent personal injury lawyer can usually quickly find out for you.
How Long Do I Have to Bring an Injury Case or Claim After a Failure to Yield Crash?
Georgia has a two-year time limit, known as a statute of limitations, to file a lawsuit for personal injury. This does not mean your claim must be settled or that a trial must take place within two years, but it does mean that if you do not resolve the case on or before the two year anniversary, a lawsuit must be filed in Court or the claim may be dismissed or prohibited from going forward.
There are some exceptions to the two-year statute of limitation, but they are technical and fact-specific. It is not advisable to wait until near or after the expiration of the two year anniversary of an injury or death to hire a lawyer or to try to handle the claim on your own. It takes time and careful planning and investigation to pursue a successful lawsuit.
Common Failure to Yield Accident Scenarios:
A common location for these types of accidents is when a driver is exiting a parking area or cross-street. This includes entering a highway or street from a parking lot, driveway, or another roadway.
Failure-to-yield accidents also occur in construction zones. Some drivers can be confused or distracted by altered traffic patterns and additional signs.
Unfortunately, you can also be injured by a distracted driver while you are walking across a road as a pedestrian. If a driver is on their cell phone or looking away, they may not see you in the crosswalk.
There have also been many incidents where a driver failed to yield around a school bus stop. Either they don’t know they are required to stop when a bus is picking up or dropping off students, or they aren’t paying attention.
However, the most common place for failure-to-yield accidents is at intersections. Accidents often occur because a driver either doesn’t come to a complete stop or runs a stop sign or red light. Distracted drivers may also rear-end your car while you are legally stopped or not yield to oncoming traffic or pedestrians.
What are the Primary Causes of Georgia Failure to Yield Car Accidents?
Negligent driving is the primary cause of failure-to-yield accidents, with the at-fault driver often being distracted and not focused on the road. Typically, these accidents result from:
- Using Hand-held Devices: This includes talking on a cell phone, texting, or operating other hand-held electronics while driving.
- Impaired Driving: Driving under the influence of alcohol or medications, even at low levels, significantly increases the risk of accidents.
- Speeding: Exceeding the speed limit reduces a driver’s ability to react to traffic changes and yield appropriately.
- Traffic Complications: Bottlenecks and delays that may lead to frustration and rash driving decisions.
- Aggressive Driving: Frustration can escalate to aggressive driving behaviors and drivers ignoring yielding rules.
- Mechanical Failures: Such as tire or brake malfunctions, which can prevent a vehicle from stopping in time.
- Adverse Weather Conditions: Wet or icy conditions can impair vehicle control, making it harder to yield effectively.
These factors highlight how important it is for you to traffic laws when driving to prevent accidents and ensure road safety.
How Can You or an Attorney Prove a Failure to Yield Car Accident Case?
While you have the option to handle the case yourself, you’ll have to deal with insurance adjusters and defense attorneys who may attempt to blame you for the crash. An Atlanta attorney specializing in failure to yield accidents can improve your chances of winning your injury case.
If you’re interested in learning how to effectively investigate and resolve your case, the following information may help.
Failures to yield often stem from distractions such as using a cell phone, eating, adjusting the radio, or conversing with passengers. After an accident, the opposing driver and their insurance company may attempt to dodge responsibility by claiming poor visibility or trying to shift blame to you.
To counter these claims, it’s crucial for you to start gathering evidence immediately to prove the other driver caused the accident. While the police report is a valuable resource, other types of evidence are also valuable.
Here are some items you should consider collecting:
- Police incident reports, body camera recordings and 911 audio: The official law enforcement investigation will be evidence in your case.
- Mobile Phone Call Logs: These records may reveal the other driver was on the phone just before the crash, indicating distraction.
- Cell Phone Data Use Records: These can show whether the other driver was watching videos, reading emails, or gaming at the time of the accident.
- On-Board Electronic Data: Similar to an aircraft’s black box, this data can disclose the vehicle’s speed before the crash, when brakes were applied, the moment airbags deployed, and seatbelt usage.
- Post-Collision Inspection: Inspecting a vehicle after an accident can identify if poor maintenance, like faulty brakes or tires, contributed to the incident, supporting claims of negligence.
- Pictures/Video: Capturing images or video of the accident scene, vehicle damage, and any injuries helps preserve critical evidence. Photos can also assist in analyzing the other driver’s reaction time and speed.
- Weather Records: Weather conditions play a crucial role in accidents, especially in claims involving poor visibility or slippery roads.
What Evidence Will You Need to Prove Your Failure to Yield Case?
If you’re in a right-of-way-related accident, you may need some of the following information or tools to get the evidence you need to prove your injury claim.
Eyewitnesses to your failure to yield accident may have crucial details you missed. Collect contact information from all passengers in the involved vehicles and any bystanders.
Ambulance and EMT reports are also key as they often include firsthand accounts of the accident scene, providing strong evidence of the events.
Security and intersection cameras in locations like mall parking lots or crosswalks may have recorded the incident. Securing this footage can help prove your claim.
Can I Collect the Police Reports and 911 Audio?
In Georgia, you may obtain these reports and records through the Georgia Open Records Act. Using this law, you can obtain documentation and evidence from the police report, police dispatch records, and body-cam footage. You may also find witness statements in the 911 audio recordings.
Can I Subpoena Cell Phone Records and Data Plan Information?
When you file a civil suit against the at-fault driver, the court can supply you with a blank subpoena form that can compel the defendant to turn these important records over to you.
Where Can I Find Information on the Weather at the Time of the Accident?
If road conditions or poor visibility caused by weather could have been a factor in the failure to yield that led to your accident, you should get the local weather report for that day. You can request it from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through their website.
Can Vehicle Electronic Data and Accident Reconstruction Help My Case?
Police officers and state troopers don’t always download the electronic data from crashed cars and trucks. However, you or a car accident lawyer may hire an accident reconstruction expert to download data from a vehicle’s electronic control module.
If you can prove the other car did not hit its brakes or was moving or turning at the time of the collision, this may help you win your accident case and receive a fair injury settlement.
Proving your Injuries When Another Driver Has Failed to Yield:
The types and severity of injuries you may receive in a failure-to-yield accident can vary, and how you can prove you were injured can depend on a number of factors: The severity of impact, the size and weight of the vehicles, and the speeds at which they are moving when the collision happens are all considerations. Additionally, the type of injury and known causes of such injuries are considerations to the medical, legal and insurance communities:
Here are a few examples:
Whiplash
When your car is hit, the energy from the moving other car is transferred to your car. This can cause your head to be violently thrust forward and backward in a whip-like motion. Victims could have lasting pain and discomfort in their neck, shoulders, and upper body.
Whiplash can also lead to other soft-tissue injuries, as well as fractures and spinal cord damage. Some of these injuries will rely upon your doctor’s examination and treatment records.
Spinal Disc Damage
In a violent collision, you and your passengers can be tossed around inside the cab of your vehicle like rag dolls. This can inflict serious damage to spinal discs and vertebra and result in a ruptured or herniated disc.
Wrist, Shoulder, Hands, and Arms Injuries
If your hands are holding the steering wheel at the moment of the collision, sprains and fractures to the bones in your wrist, hands, or arms can occur. You could also have rotator cuff or other injuries to your shoulders as a result of the impact.
Knee and Ankle Injuries
Collisions can cause your knees to hit the dashboard or an ankle to strike or be jammed into the pedals or floorboard, resulting in sprains, broken bones, and torn ligaments.
Traumatic Brain Injury
In a failure-to-yield accident, your head could forcibly hit the steering wheel, the dashboard, the windshield, door posts, or side windows in a violent impact. This can result in concussions and/or serious brain trauma that could be significant enough to cause permanent disability.
Receiving Treatment after an Accident caused by Another Driver’s Failure to Yield
After you’ve been in a failure-to-yield collision, if you are feeling any discomfort or phyiscal pain or symptoms, it is generally advisable to seek medical care as soon as possible. In our opinion, it is better to get checked out than to risk an untreated injury, or to delay – which can make proving the cause of your injury more difficult. If there is a long delay between the collision and the time you receive a medical exam, motor vehicle accident insurance adjusters may argue that the accident did not cause the condition you are seeking treatment for.
If you do not have medical or health insurance, some personal injury law firms may know of doctors or clinics that may treat your injuries and wait to be paid for their medical services until after your case has concluded.
We believe it is important for you to speak with a personal injury lawyer as soon as you are able to after beinng injured in a crash anywhere in the State of Georgia.
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