dibbons
Well-Known Member
This goes back to circa 1983 when I am running a little late for a class at community college in Los Angeles. I was 27 years old and had ten years driving experience. I am driving the 1970 Porsche 914 I purchased three years before and stopped in the right hand lane at a red light, waiting for traffic to clear so I could safely make a right turn.
The last car coming from my left on the cross street passes me by, so I go ahead and make my right turn. No sooner had I made the right turn (I took off fairly quickly) when I smashed into a vehicle. Where did this vehicle come from, I asked myself? Did it drop out of the sky?
Well, the last vehicle that I had waited for to pass by me (the one coming down the street from my left) had turned into the driveway of a service station right there on the corner. The lady driver had not signaled her intentions to turn, so when I made my right turn I just took off, expecting her to have continued down the street. But she had slowed down almost to a stop to enter the driveway of the gas station and I banged into her.
Court day, the lady driver testified first and surprised me when she told the judge I had run a red light. When it came time for me to testify, the judge declared me guilty and gave me no opportunity to explain the circumstances of the collision.
I find that many, if not most collisions, occur when both drivers make an error of some kind at the same time. In my case, I believe if the other driver had signaled, I would have been warned of her impending turning movement. As far as her "sworn" testimony, she could have been lying, or she could have believed what she said. It's hard to serve justice properly when you only hear one side of the story. The End.
The last car coming from my left on the cross street passes me by, so I go ahead and make my right turn. No sooner had I made the right turn (I took off fairly quickly) when I smashed into a vehicle. Where did this vehicle come from, I asked myself? Did it drop out of the sky?
Well, the last vehicle that I had waited for to pass by me (the one coming down the street from my left) had turned into the driveway of a service station right there on the corner. The lady driver had not signaled her intentions to turn, so when I made my right turn I just took off, expecting her to have continued down the street. But she had slowed down almost to a stop to enter the driveway of the gas station and I banged into her.
Court day, the lady driver testified first and surprised me when she told the judge I had run a red light. When it came time for me to testify, the judge declared me guilty and gave me no opportunity to explain the circumstances of the collision.
I find that many, if not most collisions, occur when both drivers make an error of some kind at the same time. In my case, I believe if the other driver had signaled, I would have been warned of her impending turning movement. As far as her "sworn" testimony, she could have been lying, or she could have believed what she said. It's hard to serve justice properly when you only hear one side of the story. The End.
..lol..
