Answer provided by Rex Bush, webmaster of this blog’s affiliated website:  Utah-Personal-Injury-Attorney.com.  Click here Utah Injury Attorney to visit our home page and access other relevant articles on Utah injury law.

Q.  Someone speeding down the turning lane, to avoid stopped traffic hit me and took off the whole front end of my car as I was pulling out into a space a driver

had left me. we were stopped to look with just our nose out and he hit us. the officer said it was my fault.   But he was speeding and not paying attention. and don’t you have to be within a certain footage of your turn to be driving in that lane anyway? and isn’t there something along the lines of driving for the conditions of the road?..there was heavy traffic and he was speeding past all the stopped vehicles very far from his turn.

A.  Drivers are not supposed to travel in the “median” (or the “parking strip”) but anyone who has been driving for more than a week knows that they do. So when you failed to look before pulling into the path of the other driver, you were negligent and, according to the investigating officer, guilty of a traffic offense. The other driver should have been cited also. But since you were both negligent it will be difficult for you to get the other driver’s insurance to fix your car.

Commentary to the article was provided by Rex Bush, webmaster of this blog’s affiliated website: Utah-Personal-Injury-Attorney.com. Click here Utah Injury Attorney to visit our home page and access other relevant articles on Utah injury law.

A nod of acknowledgement to the Los Angeles Personal Injury Law Blog and the Massachusetts Personal Injury Blog for pointing out a great article by Bankrate.com regarding traffic ticket myths.  Here they are:

8 common ticket myths

1. If the officer makes a single mistake on your ticket, the case is dropped.
2. If the officer doesn’t show up in court, you automatically win.
3. Red cars get more tickets.
4. You need a lawyer to beat a ticket.
5. If you get a ticket in another state, your home state won’t find out about it.
6. You can make up an excuse to get out of the ticket.
7. A radar detector will ensure that you never get pulled over.
8. If you don’t sign the ticket, it will be dismissed.