40 THE QUEENS COURIER • QUEENS BUSINESS • DECEMBER 13, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
LEFT TURN
Q: I had been driving my minivan westbound on the turnpike and was
turning left to exit, at an intersection without a traffic light. When I was 10
feet into my turn, a red convertible on the eastbound side struck me. My
daughter says that the convertible had proceeded through a red light at an
intersection ahead of me. The other driver says that, no, she had passed while
the light was green.
A: Pursuant to Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1141, you were required to
yield the right-of-way to any oncoming vehicle which is within your intersection
or so close to it as to constitute an immediate hazard. A violation of this
statute constitutes ‘negligence per se’.
Nevertheless, a driver traveling with the right-of-way may be found
to have contributed to the happening of a collision if he did not use reasonable
care to avoid the accident. The convertible’s driver is negligent if she failed to
see that which, through proper use of her senses, she should have seen.
Your attorney will seek to ascertain the visibility and road conditions,
and look for evidence to supplement the testimony of your daughter, e.g.
as to the speed of the convertible and its driver’s possible intoxication or
violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1225-c. With some very important
exceptions, that statute prohibits the operation of “a motor vehicle upon a
public highway while using a mobile telephone to engage in a call while such
vehicle is in motion”.
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