How to Determine Who Has the Right of Way in Vehicle Accidents and Mishaps

Accidents can happen anytime, anywhere and to anyone, even to the most careful drivers. The most important thing here is to make sure no one's hurt and if there are, they should be tended to first. After that, the next most important task is to determine who is responsible for the accident. Who will be liable to the damages incurred and responsible for the injuries? I've been into a few accidents myself where I am involved and I've seen so many mishaps on the road that I can't count them anymore. The best way to determine who is liable is to find out who had the right of way at the time of accident.

It sounds complicated but it is simple actually. To have the right of way means that you have the right to be in that location at that moment while driving. You should be in a position where others must yield to you. For example, green light, whoever is on the right on a right-hand drive lane and vice versa, pedestrian lane, hospital zone, one-way street and so on. Just remember that not all roads are the same and the right of way will depend on road conditions.

So when it comes to accidents, it is simply to determine who made the mistake. I asked a couple of traffic enforcers and police officers who is usually at fault when a mishap occurs and they said the vehicle who hit from behind is usually at fault especially if they are driving towards the same direction. The same thing can be said about who hit the side. A head-on collision, on the other hand, most likely means that one of them was going the wrong way.

Come to think of it, there are countless possibilities and the samples I gave above are just a really small fraction of them. Who followed the rules? Who was driving on the right lane? At an intersection, who was driving on a green light? Who should have stopped? It's always best to go back to the basics. Road rules, local regulations and national traffic guidelines will be very helpful. Other causes will be considered as well such as drunk drivers and mechanical problems.

There are cases wherein none or both of them are liable. These types of accidents may be caused by natural disasters or anything that the drivers do not have control of such as falling debris from a construction site. These cases usually end up wherein each party takes care of their own damages and expenses.

If it cannot be determined based on the position of the vehicles, initial inspection and if it is really unclear who had the right of way, further investigation could be needed. We'll not delve into that anymore though. Determining who has the right of way immediately on the scene of the accident based on the positions of the cars and the initial testimonies of the drivers and their passengers, as well as witnesses, will prevent further confusion as to who is responsible in an accident.

Source:
Traffic (right of way) - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-of-way_%28traffic%29#Priority_.28right_of_way.29