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Insurance claims failure to yield

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jljmce

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

Was involved in an accident where a minor road intersects a 4 lane divided highway. Stopped at stop sign, there were no cars for the visible 0.46 mile clearance, so proceeded to enter highway in right lane. Driving a loaded truck so acceleration is similar to semis or when pulling an rv. Accelerated and drove 600 feet when a camero rear ended me going 75 mph. They did not attempt to decelerate or change lanes. Due to the distance and the amount of time I was on the highway, they had a sight distance of 3,000 feet before ever hitting me. Hearsay is that the unbuckled passenger was actively interfering with the drivers ability to concentrate on the road, if you catch my meaning. Police report cites contributing factor as the other driver failing to control speed. It does not list me as failing to yield because he said I was long past the intersection after speaking with the officer. Now insurance is claiming 50/50 and that I failed to yield to the right of way. I've been researching highway design guidelines and, for a semi truck, 1158 feet is needed for line of sight to safely turn onto the highway in question. 875 feet was need for their vehicle to come to a full stop, so to decelerate to 45+ mph would require much less. I am still arguing with the insurance company but I had no injuries so no law firm is interested in my case and would probably take more money than it's worth, but I may be able to do this myself. Clearly I was not in the intersection. Should I accept 50/50? If it was actually 50/50, why haven't they filed on my insurance? I only had liability so my insurance won't fight it for me.
 


jljmce

Junior Member
From my understanding, if we go to court, the decision will be based on what a reasonable driver would do. So from that POV, the available line of sight was 2428 feet from the stop sign. That's twice the TX roadway manual distance for semis. Calculations indicate the car was just beyond that point if he was traveling 75 mph. Further if he was driving over 75. So if I didn't yield the right of way, when would a "prudent" person ever get on the highway? It seems like a tactic to me not to pay out.
 

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