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There are two lanes of traffic traveling south. A driver stopped in the outside lane waves through a car coming out of a gas station. The car coming out of the gas station attempts to cross both lanes and is hit by a vehicle traveling in the inside lane.
Who is at fault?
Without a doubt, the driver coming out of the gas station is at fault for failing to yield the right of way to the car that hit him.
Is the driver that waved him through liable in any way?
The answer is that she or he may be held partially liable.
Apparently, there are two major positions taken by courts in the United States. The first position is that by waving someone through, you are simply allowing the other drive to pass in front of you without making any representations of the safety of doing so. The second position is that waving someone in front of you may be more than mere courtesy and may involve liability, a determination that can, and should, be made by a jury.
In one example I found on a law office website:
Pennsylvania courts will look at the full circumstances of the incident to determine whether or not the waving driver can be held liable.
The factors to be considered are
- the type of signal given;
- the reasonable interpretation of the signal given;
- whether or not giving the signal was negligent; and
- whether the negligent signaling was a cause of the accident in question. See Askew by Askew v. Zeller, 521 A.2d 459 (PA Super, 1987)
It’s nice to be courteous to others when driving. However, if the courtesy results in an accident, you may be liable.
On the day after Christmas, we were involved in a car accident very similar to what I described above. Karen ended up in the emergency room and our car was ruled by the insurance company a total loss. The person who waved the other car through drove away after the other car was backed up into the gas station.
After being in this accident, I’ve been less inclined to be courteous in these situations – and I won’t pull out across traffic when others wave me through unless I am sure it’s totally safe.
Now that I know I may be liable if there is an accident, being Mr. Nice Guy in this kind of situation just ain’t going to happen.
What about you?
Does knowing that you might be held liable change anything?
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{ 8 comments }
Hi Mike,
I’ve heard this, but there are instances where I still wave people to go. However, like you, if someone waves me to go, I’m very cautious.
It’s kinda sad how being nice can cost us. *sigh*
I wouldn’t have thought there would have been any liability, but I learned differently. And, of course, it’s going to depend on the state and the court.
I would still show the courtesy Mike. I would however ensure that by doing it, some other development like what you described, does not happen.
I probably will, too. In fact, I did today — without thinking — in North Little Rock, without looking to see if the lane on my left was clear…. and thought about it just as the lady was pulling in front of me. My thought was that she was wanting to get into my lane. But, no, she was wanting cross over two lanes, even though she was turning right out of a shopping center. Fortunately, she crept out into the other lane slow enough she could make sure it was safe.
I’ve always gotten annoyed when people in front of you stop short to let someone out – especially when the person wouldn’t even had to have waited long to get out of a parking lot. Oftentimes, they do it by interrupting the traffic flow and cause dangerous situations. Most drivers (where I am, anyway) lack the common sense to determine the actions which their actions set into effect.
George Carlin used to have a bit about people always waving people through. How he can’t even pull out of his driveway without someone waiting there to wave him by. His response was something along the lines of, “No, F-You! YOU Go!”
I hope that you are both okay and that everything is sorted out quickly.
Well….! — I just found your comment in the spam folder.
We are both OK. Karen does still have some pain after a long day or if she reaches the wrong way.
We ended up having to file under our insurance. If the insurance company gets anything out of the other party, we’ll be reimbursed for our deductible before anything goes to restitution to the insurance company for what they’ve paid out to us.
We did get a good settlement for our totaled car, especially considering it’s age and mileage, and now have a new car — and a car payment that we didn’t have, though it’s fairly low after the down payment.
I just ran across your article because I was curious to know who would be at fault in this type of accident. My niece just got into an accident while leaving a parking lot, was waved through into traffic and got T-boned. Thankfully she is ok, just a minor leg injury, but the car is totaled. I was always under the impression that the waver through-er could be held responsible. Although, she should have MADE SURE it was safe to cross instead of relying on someone else to tell her it was. Lesson learned for her and thankfully she is ok.
Melissa — Thanks for commenting. I’m glad your niece is okay and I hope that everything works out well with the insurance company. We’re very satisfied with how we’ve been treated on our accident by State Farm.
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