In Texas, it is a driver’s legal responsibility to yield the right-of-way to others whenever this rule applies. Yielding means to stop or slow down and give another road user the right to proceed. If a driver fails to yield, he or she could cause a serious motor vehicle accident by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you are involved in a car accident, speak with an accident lawyer in San Antonio for legal guidance and support.
Texas Right-of-Way Laws
A failure to yield accident can occur when one driver negligently or deliberately does not yield the right-of-way to a driver, bicyclist or pedestrian. These collisions can occur carelessly if a driver does not understand Texas’s right-of-way rules, or intentionally if a driver knowingly violates the law.
Several laws determine who has the right to proceed when different lanes of traffic merge or intersect in Texas:
- The driver who approaches an intersection first has the right to proceed.
- If multiple drivers approach simultaneously, the driver to the right has the right-of-way.
- Pedestrians always have the right-of-way at crosswalks.
- At marked and unmarked intersections, drivers must yield to pedestrians when turning left or right.
- Pedestrians must yield to drivers at intersections if they are faced with a red light or “Don’t Walk” pedestrian crosswalk signal.
- No pedestrian may leave a curb or place of safety and enter the direct path of a vehicle that is approaching too quickly to stop.
- All traffic must yield to trains, school buses, and emergency vehicles with their lights or sirens on.
If a driver or another road user violates these right-of-way laws, he or she can disrupt traffic patterns and cause a car accident. A driver who carelessly or recklessly fails to yield, such as by running a red light or rolling through a stop sign, can be held accountable for any related injuries or deaths.
Common Injuries in Failure to Yield Accidents
Failure to yield accidents can be catastrophic, meaning they can inflict a large amount of damage or harm on those involved. Intersection collisions can occur at high speeds, such as head-on collisions or T-bone accidents.
These crashes can result in significant injuries, such as:
- Broken bones
- Head and brain injuries
- Neck injuries and whiplash
- Spinal cord injuries
- Lacerations
- Burn injuries
- Internal injuries
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Losses of limb
If a failure to yield car accident involves a bicyclist or pedestrian, the injuries suffered by the vulnerable road user could prove fatal. Make sure to speak with a pedestrian accident lawyer or a bicycle accident lawyer in San Antonio. After sustaining any type of injury due to a driver failing to yield, a victim can seek financial compensation through a fault-based car accident claim in San Antonio.
How an Attorney Can Help With a Failure to Yield Accident Case
To recover compensation for an accident involving one driver’s failure to obey Texas’s right-of-way laws, an injured victim must prove that the other driver is more likely to be at fault than not under the state’s fault insurance law. Proving a case may involve evidence such as a police accident report, eyewitness statements, photographs and video footage, and crash reconstruction.
If you were recently injured in a failure to yield accident in San Antonio, consult with an attorney about your case and legal rights. A lawyer can take over the claims process for you, investigate your crash, collect evidence of another driver’s fault, and negotiate for a fair settlement or judgment award on your behalf. Contact a lawyer today.