A Houston motorcyclist was killed on September 12, 2024, shortly before 9:00 p.m. when a driver of a Subaru Outback made a left turn across traffic in front of the motorcycle with too little space for the biker to lay the bike down or otherwise avoid the collision. The motorcycle struck the front right of the vehicle. She did not survive her injuries.
The Accident Scene
The motorcycle accident was reported as a westbound driver on Memorial Drive making a left turn onto South Piney Point Road. However, as the Google Maps image below indicates, North Piney Point Road comes in from the North and the road turns into Radney Road to the south, not South Piney Point Road. So it appears the driver was turning left from Memorial to Radney Rd. Turning left onto Radney Road from the westbound lanes of Memorial in the evening here can be tricky. It is a poorly lighted area with trees in the median that can partially obscure the view. If you are not paying attention and being cautious, you can misjudge your space.
Wrecks Turning Across Traffic Due to Misjudging the Distance and Speed and Fatalities
The Subaru driver told investigators that he saw her coming but he thought he had enough time to turn. Thus, appears to be an error of inaccurately judging the distance and speed of an approaching vehicle before turning across traffic. Anytime we see “failure to yield the right of way” either noted as grounds for a ticket or just noted as a contributing factor on a police report, the question turns to why the driver turned when he did. Some common factors that can explain the misjudging of distance and speed include the accident scene, lighting, driver distraction, driver inexperience, or emergency.
How Do You Judge Whether You Have Enough Tike to Turn Across Traffic?
When you are turning across traffic, one way that people use to judge the time is to pick a landmark and count how many seconds it takes a vehicle to get from there to the intersection. You want to have a good 10 seconds to clear the intersection before you turn. When there are no vehicles between you and the point, this may be an indicator. The problem with this method is that it requires there be sufficient traffic to judge and it presumes that all approaching traffic is moving at the same speed. In the evening, there is not likely to be sufficient traffic to use such a method. Regardless of what way you choose to judge when to turn, always err on the side of waiting if there is any doubt. Trying to dash across at the last second can have deadly consequences.
Beware of Insurance Denials After Fatal Accidents
Sometimes, when a negligent driver causes a wreck that takes the life of the innocent party such as this wreck, the negligent driver’s insurance will deny the claim and fight liability by alleging the victim did something wrong. They claim the deceased victim “should have seen the car and stopped” or “they were speeding.” When this happens, it often becomes necessary for the victim’s family to file a lawsuit against the negligent party to prove that he was in the wrong. An experienced Houston wrongful death lawyer can file a lawsuit, subpoena cell phone records, and take the driver’s deposition to investigate the cause of the driver’s inability to correctly judge the distance. If you find yourself in this position, getting advice from a lawyer sooner than later is wise to allow give you the best opportunity to learn what happened.
Author
