“I thought he was going to stop.”
Drivers often use this expression to explain collisions with oncoming vehicles while taking left turns, especially at an intersection on a yellow light. However, under Arizona law, whether this argument is effective in establishing a personal injury lawsuit in Arizona can be problematic.
Here, we cover the Arizona left turn statute and how it might work if you get into a left turn accident. If this has happened to you, and you have been injured, the Stone Rose Law firm has highly experienced traffic accident attorneys who can help you understand your legal rights and who will represent you in court or an insurance arbitration.
Call us at (480) 498-8998 to speak with one of our Arizona traffic lawyers and set up a free initial consultation.
Fortunately, left-turn accidents do not often occur in Arizona. According to 2023 data from the Arizona Department of Transportation, improper turns generally made up less than 2% of driver violations that year.
Left-turn accidents can have life-changing, even fatal, consequences. They can result in significant costs, including medical bills for treatment, legal expenses from a lawsuit, and potentially criminal fines or jail time if you’re prosecuted for a traffic violation.
Making a left turn requires splitting your attention multiple ways at the same time. Drivers must be on the lookout for oncoming traffic, cross traffic, pedestrians crossing the road, and bicyclists, all of whom may or may not be following the rules of the road themselves. And, of course, drivers must be aware of the time they have versus the time it takes to make the turn, especially if the light is about to change from green to yellow to red.
Turning can be more challenging in bad weather, low-light conditions, or when distractions in or around your vehicle divert your attention at critical moments.
Any one or a combination of these factors can cause you to get into an accident while turning left. If this happens to you, the next question becomes, “Now, what do I do?”
One of the first things to remember after any accident in Arizona is to avoid making the situation worse. This means stopping at the accident scene, rendering medical assistance to anyone injured, exchanging information with the other parties involved, and calling the police to report the accident.
Ideally, your vehicle should not be in the intersection or blocking any traffic. If possible, move your vehicle as close to the accident scene as possible while you wait for the police to arrive.
If witnesses are present, get their identities and contact information. This is also a good time to take photos of the accident scene and the vehicles involved. You can also take notes about what happened (you can use these to refresh your memory later on).
There are two things you do not want to do right after the collision: leave before Arizona law allows you to and admit fault. The first of these can lead to a possible hit-and-run charge. The second can make it more difficult for your insurance company and attorney to best represent your interests in settlement negotiations or in a legal proceeding.
According to ARS left-turn intersection rules, the question of fault in a left-turn accident depends largely on how Arizona’s applicable statute applies to your situation. This law is ARS 28-772, “Vehicle Turning Left at an Intersection.” Here is how it reads in full:
“The driver of a vehicle within an intersection intending to turn to the left shall yield the right-of-way to a vehicle that is approaching from the opposite direction and that is within the intersection or so close to the intersection as to constitute an immediate hazard.” (Emphasis added)
This law is based on common sense and what you learned about right-of-way rules when you were getting your learner’s permit to drive: an oncoming vehicle has the right-of-way when you are making a left turn.
It can be a bit harder to determine if turning is appropriate if you’re at an intersection with a traffic signal that is turning yellow and a car is coming from the opposite direction. In some cases, the other driver may slow to a stop. Others may try to make the light and speed up at the last second.
How should you read the intention of the oncoming driver? Is it safe to make any assumptions about what they will do?
Arizona traffic liability includes some basic general assumptions. For example, the following driver is usually assumed to be at fault in rear-end accidents. Similarly, the default assumption in most left-turn accidents at intersections is that the driver making the left turn is the one at-fault.
ARS 28-772 does not require the oncoming driver to obey Arizona traffic laws. Some drivers might think that if the oncoming driver runs a red light during a left-turn collision, it completely absolves them of liability. While this belief is understandable at first glance, it isn’t always accurate. After all, a yellow light means that a driver should stop at the intersection if it is safe instead of speeding up to beat the red.
There is also an Arizona statute, ARS 28-695, that prohibits “aggressive driving,” and one definition it gives of aggressive driving is, “The person’s driving is an immediate hazard to another person or vehicle.”
It is tempting to think that the other driver’s attempt to run a yellow light when you are executing your turn is aggressive driving, thereby absolving you from legal liability if you hit them. After all, they broke the law, didn’t they? Doesn’t that make the accident their fault?
Unfortunately, this is not the case. If fact, when you read ARS 28-772 carefully, it says the opposite of the thinking above: if the other driver is coming at you so close to the intersection that he either can’t safely stop, or a reasonable person would conclude that he isn’t going to stop, the law puts the burden on you, the left-turn driver, to take that into account when yielding right of way. Under Arizona law, the other driver being an aggressive driver does not keep you from liability when failing to yield in a left-turn collision.
Arizona jury instructions reinforce this interpretation of how the law works. According to the Revised Arizona Jury Instructions, 7th Edition:
“A driver is entitled to assume that another motorist will proceed in a lawful manner and obey the laws of the road—unless it should become apparent to that driver, acting as a reasonably careful person, that the other motorist is not going to obey the laws of the road. All drivers have a continuing duty to make that degree of observation that a reasonably careful person would make under similar circumstances.” (Emphasis added)
In other words, if you can’t be certain the oncoming driver will stop at the intersection or try to go through it, practice defensive driving and assume that he or she will not stop. If you guess wrong and an accident results, both Arizona law and Arizona jury instructions will make it hard to claim, “But I thought he was going to stop” if you get sued by the other driver.
In fact, this situation could be seen as “negligence per se” under Arizona law. This means that the occurrence of the left-turn accident itself is usually enough to prove negligence unless you provide a strong counter-argument as a defense.
Playing it safe is always best when unsure about the oncoming driver’s intentions. If they manage to stop before entering the intersection, your surprise will be pleasant.
As you can see, Arizona law will not be sympathetic to drivers who collide with others while making a left turn at an intersection, even one who was speeding to run a yellow light. How this may affect you in a lawsuit will depend on who is suing whom and how Arizona’s legal system of comparative negligence might apply.
In most cases, the oncoming driver is going to be the plaintiff in any personal injury lawsuit, relying on ARS 28-772 to argue that you, the left-turning driver, were the at-fault driver. This is also likely if the other driver is making an insurance claim against your auto insurance policy.
This does not necessarily mean that you have no legal arguments to make on your own behalf or cannot make any legal claims against the other driver. As the lawsuit develops before trial, you and the other driver may have claims and counter-claims against each other that a court or an arbitrator must sort out. The result will ultimately be a percentage-based split of who was ultimately responsible for the accident.
Because Arizona is a comparative fault state, as a defendant in a negligence-based lawsuit, you are only liable for the portion of the plaintiff’s damages you caused. Although you may not be able to escape all liability, you might have defenses to raise (counterclaims) to make sure that the other driver shares his or her just amount of blame for what happened.
For example, in our turning-on-a-yellow collision example, we know a driver speeding through a yellow light is committing a legal violation and can be deemed partially at fault for the incident.
Other possible defenses could be that the oncoming driver was engaged in distracted driving or was even driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the accident happened.
All claims and counterclaims must be proven with evidence. Ultimately, a jury, judge, or arbitrator will decide whom to believe and to what extent.
This process of weighing the evidence can be complicated. Both parties to the lawsuit will often try to reconstruct how the accident happened by gathering evidence of relative speeds, distances involved, weather and lighting conditions at the time of the accident, eyewitness testimony, the conditions of the vehicles involved before the accident, and the conditions of the drivers involved.
In some cases, expert testimony from an accident reconstructionist can be used.
If you are involved in a legal claim arising from a left-turn accident, there are many reasons why hiring legal counsel to represent you is in your best interest. This includes the likelihood that the other driver or their insurance company will hire an attorney experienced in Arizona traffic accident law.
If you lack similar experience, you could be severely disadvantaged in settlement negotiations, an arbitration proceeding, or in court.
Even if your auto insurer retains an attorney for you, this attorney’s allegiance is split between you and the insurance company. Although the insurance company lawyer must represent you, they also have a duty to the insurance company. This includes keeping costs down when it comes to paying out claims.
You can be completely confident in receiving the best legal representation when you have a traffic accident lawyer.
Cases that seem simple, such as those involving left-turn accidents, can quickly become complex. Do not go it alone. Call Stone Rose Law at (480) 498-8998 for a FREE consultation.
Our car accident lawyers in Scottsdale have the experience and know-how you need to defend you and raise every legal argument available on your behalf so you can minimize any legal liability you may have and maximize your chances of financial recovery from the other driver.
