Intersection Crashes: Proving Who Had the Green Light

Published April 26, 2013 · Injury Law Basics

Two cars meet in the middle of the intersection at Dorothy Lane and Far Hills. Both drivers are hurt. Both tell the officer the same thing: "I had the green." No one was cited, the report lists the cause as "unknown," and two weeks later the other driver's insurance company denies your claim because, as the adjuster puts it, "it's your word against his."

Intersection collisions produce some of the most serious injuries we see, because the impact is often to the side of the vehicle, where there is the least protection. They are also the cases where fault is most often disputed. After nineteen years as a Dayton police officer and sergeant and more than two decades of handling these claims, I can tell you that "he said, she said" is usually not the end of the story. It is the beginning of the investigation.

What the law requires at a signal

Ohio's traffic code is specific. Under R.C. 4511.13, a driver facing a steady green may proceed but must yield to vehicles lawfully within the intersection; a driver facing a steady yellow is warned that the green is ending; and a driver facing a steady red must stop and remain stopped until a signal to proceed is displayed. A driver turning left on a green, under R.C. 4511.42(A), must yield to oncoming traffic close enough to be an immediate hazard. At a stop sign, R.C. 4511.43(A) requires a full stop and a yield to any vehicle approaching closely enough to be a hazard.

Those rules mean that in most intersection crashes, one driver violated a specific statute. The question is proving which one.

The evidence that decides it

Independent witnesses. The single most valuable piece of evidence in a signal dispute is a person with no stake in the outcome who saw the light. Pedestrians, drivers stopped at the cross street, a bus driver, a delivery driver. Officers at the scene take names when they can, but witnesses leave, and the names on the report are sometimes incomplete. Canvassing the intersection, the businesses on each corner, and nearby bus routes in the first days often turns up people the report missed.

The crash report and any citation. The officer's diagram, the narrative, the assigned "unit at fault," and any citation issued are not binding on a civil jury, but they carry weight with adjusters and they fix the physical facts: where the cars came to rest, the weather, the lighting, and what each driver said at the scene. A statement to the officer that "I thought I could make it" is a confession that the light was yellow or red.

Vehicle damage and resting positions. Where each car was hit and where the cars ended up tell a story that does not depend on anyone's memory. A vehicle struck squarely in the driver's door by a car that was going straight was almost certainly in the intersection first. A left-turning car hit on its front passenger corner was still turning when the oncoming car arrived. Photographs of both vehicles, before they are repaired or scrapped, are essential.

Skid marks and debris. Pre-impact braking marks show who saw the collision coming and when. The absence of any braking by one driver is itself evidence of inattention, as I discussed in the recent post on texting enforcement. The location of the debris field marks the point of impact, which can be compared against each driver's claimed path.

Business and traffic cameras. Many gas stations, banks, drive-throughs, and parking lots have cameras that happen to face the street. Most systems overwrite their recordings within days. A letter requesting preservation, sent immediately, is the difference between a video that proves the case and a video that no longer exists.

Signal-timing records. This is the evidence most people do not know about. The city or county traffic engineering department keeps timing plans for every signal: how long each phase lasts, how long the yellow is, and the "all-red" clearance interval. Timing records can show whether it was physically possible for both drivers to have had a green (it almost never is), how long the yellow lasted, and whether the intersection had a known malfunction. They can also establish, with the help of a reconstructionist, the speed a driver would have needed to clear the intersection before the light changed.

The vehicles' own data. Many newer vehicles record speed and braking for a few seconds before a crash in an airbag control module. Retrieving that data requires preserving the vehicle and getting access before it is sold for salvage.

Why the first days matter

Almost everything on that list has a shelf life. Witnesses move or forget. Cameras overwrite. Cars are totaled and crushed. Skid marks fade in a week of traffic and rain. Signal timing is changed. An insurance company that denies a claim as "disputed liability" is often betting that the injured driver will not do this work, and that by the time a lawyer is hired the evidence will be gone.

That is why our intersection collision practice begins with an evidence plan on the first call, not after the demand letter. It is also why I tell clients not to give the other driver's insurer a recorded statement before we have the facts, for the reasons explained in this earlier post. A statement given from memory, in pain, before you have seen the photographs is the easiest thing for an adjuster to use against you.

When fault is shared

Sometimes the honest answer is that both drivers made mistakes: one ran a late yellow, the other was speeding. Ohio's comparative-negligence rule does not end your claim. You can recover as long as your share of the fault is not greater than the other driver's, with your damages reduced by your percentage, as I explained in Partly at Fault? How Ohio's Comparative Negligence Rule Works. The insurance company will try to push your percentage as high as it can. The evidence described above is what keeps it honest.

What this means for you

If you were hurt in an intersection crash and the other driver is claiming the green, do not accept "disputed liability" as the final word. Photograph both cars and the intersection, write down the names of anyone who stopped, note every business with a camera on the corners, and call a lawyer before the evidence disappears. Side-impact collisions cause serious injuries, and serious injuries deserve a real investigation.

Our Dayton car accident clients work directly with their lawyers, and I bring a police officer's approach to every intersection case: find the physical evidence, find the witnesses, and let the facts decide who had the light.