Failure to Yield Car Accidents

One of the most important rules of the road is properly yielding the right-of-way to other drivers. This can be a difficult concept for new drivers to learn, but yielding is necessary to prevent collisions and injuries.

When motorists fail to yield the right-of-way as required by law, they make our roads more dangerous, and which can lead to serious car accidents involving catastrophic personal injury or wrongful death. Sometimes, drivers fail to yield due to a mistake, while others might intentionally fail to yield due to aggressive driving. In either case, such drivers should be liable if they cause a car accident and injuries.

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If you or someone you care about has suffered a serious personal injury or was killed by a negligent motorist’s failure to yield the right-of-way, it’s time to seek the skilled legal representation of an experienced car accident attorney at Miller Weisbrod Olesky. They can assess liability for your losses and seek compensation from the proper insurance companies on your behalf.

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Our client was riding with a group of motorcyclists on a service road in Texas. A landscaping company truck and trailer failed to notice the group heading towards him. The truck pulled into the service road failing to yield causing our client to have to lay down his bike causing a traumatic brain injury.

The insurance company tried to blame our motorcycle client for the wreck claiming he was going too fast, but we proved through expert reconstruction and cross examination of the responsible driver that our client was fault-free. After an extensive fight, we recovered a $3,000,000 settlement to help with lifetime expenses and impairment.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) reports that failure to yield was among the top 12 contributing factors in fatal crashes from 2014 to 2023. They categorize accidents involving failure to yield into groups, including the following:

• Failure to yield the right-of-way when turning left, which was a top contributing factor in fatal accidents from 2019 to 2023
• Failure to yield the right-of-way at yield signs
• Failure to yield the right-of-way to emergency vehicles
• Failure to yield the right-of-way in open intersections
• Failure to yield the right-of-way at stop signs
• Failure to yield the right-of-way in private driveways
• Failure to yield the right-of-way when turning right on red
• Failure to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shares the following failure to yield statistics for a recent year nationwide:

• Failure to yield the right-of-way was a factor in 7 percent of all fatal traffic accidents.
• Failure to yield accidents was the fourth-leading cause of fatalities on our roads. Excess speed, impairment, and carelessness came in first, second, and third, respectively.
• 4,239 people lost their lives in failure to yield accidents.

Failure to yield is a major safety concern throughout the State of Texas and the nation at large. If a driver violated traffic rules and crashed into you, never delay in learning about and exercising your rights.

Texas has a wide range of traffic yield laws in place that are designed to help keep traffic moving safely. Some examples include:

• Motorists who are turning right must yield to through traffic and pedestrians.
• Motorists who are turning left must yield to through traffic and pedestrians.
• Motorists must yield to all emergency vehicles that have their lights or sirens activated.
• Motorists must yield to through traffic at all four-way and three-way intersections.
• Trains are always afforded the right-of-way.
• When merging from an unpaved road to a paved one, motorists must yield the right-of-way to traffic that is already on the paved road.
• When an intersection has no traffic signs or signals, motorists are required to yield the right-of-way to motorists on their right and to vehicles that are already passing through the intersection.
• When approaching main roads from smaller roads, alleys, or private drives, motorists must yield to the traffic already on the main road.
• When entering a highway from an exit, motorists are required to yield the right-of-way to the traffic that is already there.

Motorists must also yield the right-of-way when changing lanes, which includes:

• Using turn signals to indicate the intent to change lanes
• Checking blind spots and traffic to ensure that it’s safe to enter the adjacent lane
• Proceeding with caution

Many of these yield behaviors come naturally to motorists with experience. However, when a driver is in a rush, inexperienced, or distracted, they can easily fail to yield properly, resulting in serious collisions.

When a driver has the right-of-way, they have the right to proceed. For example, when you have a green light at an intersection, you have the right-of-way. This means that it’s your turn to drive through the intersection. Motorists fail to yield when they don’t allow those who have the right-of-way to proceed, and very dangerous accidents can happen as a result.

Intersections help keep traffic flowing and are hubs involving motorists traveling in all directions and pedestrians attempting to cross the street. While intersections serve a critical purpose, the Federal Highway Administration reports that they are the site of about 25 percent of all traffic fatalities and of about 50 percent of all injury-causing traffic accidents. Failure to yield is often a contributing factor in accidents in intersections.

Requirements related to yielding the right-of-way are more complex in intersections because traffic moving in several different directions needs to be considered. Impaired, excessive speed, distracted driving, aggressive, and drowsy drivers are all less likely to safely yield the right-of-way in intersections, which increases the risk that accidents will happen.

Often, liability can be complicated in intersection accidents, as each driver might blame the other. A car accident attorney can investigate and gather evidence to prove another driver’s negligence in your intersection accident whenever possible. Never accept wrongful blame from other drivers or insurance companies. Instead, have a lawyer assess liability for your injuries.

While a motorist who fails to yield appropriately can cause many types of collisions, though some of the most common include:

• Sideswipe car wrecks that can send the struck motorist into another lane of traffic, which can lead to a pileup
• Rear-end car accidents, which are not always minor “fender benders” and can cause surprisingly severe personal injuries
• T-bone accidents, which generally happen in intersections and are especially dangerous for occupants on the struck side of the vehicle
• Head-on car accidents when a driver heads into the wrong lane of traffic when making a left turn at an intersection

All failure to yield car accidents have the potential to be costly and disrupt your life. Ensure you take steps to seek the financial recovery you need to cover your losses.

Car accident claims involving failure to yield are often legally challenging. Proving the other driver’s negligence is necessary to recover for your physical, financial, and emotional losses, and obtaining sufficient proof can be difficult.

For this, you can turn to your car accident attorney, who will skillfully gather and compile the evidence necessary to build a strong claim, including:

• The testimony of eyewitnesses
• Footage from dashcams, security cameras, and traffic cameras in the area of the accident
• Pictures and videos captured by other motorists and bystanders
• Accident reconstruction models
• The testimony of expert witnesses in related fields
• Physical evidence from the scene of the accident and damage to vehicles
• The police report and any tickets or arrests
• Your own testimony about how the accident happened

Your dedicated car accident attorney has the experience, resources, and knowledge to demonstrate the other driver’s failure to yield the right-of-way in your car accident claim. This is the first necessary step toward your financial recovery.

After proving failure to yield, your attorney will then prove how much compensation you deserve. The losses you experience as a result of another driver’s failure to yield the right-of-way can be immense, and you must account for all past and future damages in your claim.

Your medical expenses are the first consideration, and your attorney will calculate all your bills and out-of-pocket costs for emergency care, hospitalization, specialists, medications, medical equipment, physical therapy, and more. Further, any future medical procedures and care that you’re likely to require in the future must be carefully assessed. Estimating your future expenses often requires the assessment of medical experts.

If your injuries keep you off the job, your car accident attorney can seek compensation for your lost income. If your ability to return to your job in the future is affected, your earning potential can be diminished, and your lawyer can calculate the value of your future lost earnings. This also might require the evaluation of economic and occupational experts.

In addition to your economic damages, you can seek compensation for non-economic damages, which address intangible losses not directly tied to bills or expenses. Such non-economic losses often include:

• Physical pain and suffering
• Mental and emotional trauma and distress
• Physical impairments or disabilities (i.e. traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries)
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of consortium

Your car accident attorney will take your losses very seriously, ensuring they calculate the full value of what you deserve. Never rely on an insurance company’s assessment of your claim’s value, as these companies want to settle claims for as little as possible. Instead, hire a lawyer to advocate for everything you deserve.

When a motorist fails to yield, they greatly increase the chances that an accident will result and injure others. Some injuries that commonly result include:

• Broken bones, which can require surgery and take a long time to heal
• Spinal cord injuries (SCI), which can cause permanent paralysis in some situations
• Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), which can cause life-altering impairments
• Internal injuries, which can quickly escalate to life-threatening conditions
• Burns, which are extremely painful, very susceptible to infection, and can permanently disfigure victims

Always get medical attention following a crash, as a quick diagnosis of all injuries means you can begin the right treatment immediately. It also creates a timely record of your injuries that your car accident lawyer can use as key evidence in your insurance claim.

In order to stay safe on the road, it’s important to drive defensively, which involves anticipating the actions of other motorists. While you may have the right-of-way in the eyes of the law, you shouldn’t assume that the other driver is going to yield.

It’s always in your best interest to be safe rather than sorry, which makes it a good idea to take the following precautions when you’re behind the wheel:

• Take the speed limit seriously and adjust your speed downward in relation to the road’s condition, which helps to ensure you’ll have the time you need to avoid a driver who fails or refuses to yield the right-of-way.
• Don’t speed through intersections before assessing what’s going on and determining that it’s safe to do so.
• Remain alert to the traffic all around you and pay attention to motorists who are clearly more intent on making good time than on making good decisions.
• Assess every situation in relation to your safety and make your decisions accordingly.

No matter how safe you are, other drivers can still make mistakes and cause you injuries.

Your car accident claim will be unique based on your situation, but there are always several steps that everyone is advised to take after a crash, including:

• Seek the immediate medical attention that you need.
• Follow your doctor’s instructions, guidance, and advice carefully.
• Consult with a car accident attorney as soon after the accident as you’re able to do so.
• Keep in mind that the insurance company is invested in settling your claim for less, and don’t accept an early settlement offer before discussing the matter with your seasoned car accident attorney.
• Allow your car accident attorney to speak to the insurance company on your behalf. Insurance reps are very good at obtaining statements from claimants that end up damaging their claims.
• Stay off social media, as information can damage your claim.

The Texas car accident attorneys at Miller Weisbrod Olesky dedicate our practice to advocating for the legal rights of clients who’ve been harmed by others, including motorists who failed to yield. Our legal team takes on tough cases, and we can assess your situation and options for free.

We welcome the opportunity to also help you, so please don’t delay in reaching out and contacting us online or call us at 888-987-0005 for more information today. Consultations are always free.

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Clay is regularly invited to speak to Trial Lawyer Groups around Houston and across the state of Texas on the topics of motor vehicle accident laws, trial tactics and techniques, and how to prepare evidence and a winning legal strategy in Car Accident Cases throughout Texas. Clay was the featured speaker for the Texas Trial Lawyers Association on the new changes to trucking laws passed by the state of Texas.

Our car accident legal team includes Josh Birmingham, who is currently on the Dallas Trial Lawyers Board of Directors and served as the president of the Mesquite Bar Association for four years. Josh was named Thomson Reuters | Texas Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2016 and 2017.

We also have on our team Michael Orth, a board certified personal injury trial lawyer who has spent the last decade representing injured Texans and their families. Michael’s success in scores of personal injury cases across federal and state courtrooms has earned him the coveted Board Certification in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

Led by a formidable legal team with an extraordinary record of court verdicts and settlements in car accident cases, Miller Weisbrod Olesky is regularly recognized by the US News and World Report as one of the top injury law firms in the United States.