Left turns seem like a simple maneuver, but they can result in collisions with cars, motorcyclists, bicyclists, or pedestrians. A driver must look in several directions, including at all crosswalks and behind any approaching vehicles, to determine whether they can execute the turn safely. Any mistake can lead to a car accident.
When a driver hits someone while making a left turn, liability for any resulting injuries often falls on the turning driver. But they may also have defenses available to shift at least some of the blame to other road users. Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers uses our experience from countless cases involving left-turn accidents in St. Petersburg, FL, to help you.
Contact our experienced attorneys today to get started with a free initial consultation at (727) 314-5988.
How Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After a Left-Turn Accident in St. Petersburg, FL
Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers, also known as “The Aggressive Attorneys,” was founded in 2001 to represent clients in St. Petersburg, Florida, and throughout Tampa Bay. Our attorneys have over 119 years of combined experience and have recovered tens of millions of dollars for accident victims like you.
Our St. Petersburg car accident lawyers provide the following services after you suffer an injury due to someone else’s negligent or wrongful conduct:
- Listening to your story and advising you about your legal options
- Gathering information about your crash and injuries to support your case
- Aggressively negotiating with the insurer to settle your insurance claim
- Litigating against the at-fault driver and the insurer if settlement talks fail
A car accident can put both your health and finances at risk. Contact Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss your injuries and the compensation you can pursue from the responsible party.
How Many Left-Turn Accidents Happen in Florida?
Florida’s Crash Facts report from 2022 did not specify how many accidents occurred during left turns. However, it did provide some data points that can be used to infer the scope of the problem.
The collision statistics used to compile the crash facts report can include multiple contributing factors for each accident. The Crash Facts book identified two contributing elements that could apply to left-turn crashes.
First, an improper turn can indicate right, left, or U-turns that result in a crash. In other words, in these instances, the officers placed the blame on the driver for making an unskilled or illegal turning maneuver. The Crash Facts report blamed the following collisions on improper turns:
- 38 fatal crashes
- 311 serious injury crashes
- 1,482 minor injury crashes
- 3,254 possible injury crashes
The report did not identify how many of these 5,085 crashes resulted from improper left turns.
Second, The Crash Facts report highlighted a failure to yield the right of way. It identified this violation as the cause of:
- 453 fatal accidents
- 3,162 serious injury accidents
- 16,550 minor injury accidents
- 32,678 possible injury accidents
Once again, the available statistics did not stipulate how many of these 52,843 accidents happened during left turns rather than other moves, such as an illegal right turn or merge maneuver.
Causes and Consequences of Left-Turn Accidents
Although left-turn crashes seem like a single crash type, they happen in many ways and circumstances. Some scenarios that lead to collisions during left turns include the following:
- Turning left from a center turn lane in mid-block
- Turning left when exiting a driveway or parking lot
- Making a left turn at an intersection
In any of these situations, the driver can make a mistake when navigating the turn. That error can put the car in the path of an oncoming or crossing vehicle. The following errors can lead to left-turn crashes:
- Misjudging the distance or speed of an approaching vehicle
- Misjudging the size of the gap
- Failing to see a pedestrian in the crosswalk
- Failing to spot an approaching cyclist or motorcyclist
- Failing to yield, typically by trying to beat oncoming traffic through the intersection
The errors that result in left-turn crashes can have many underlying causes. These causes often provide the grounds for suing for negligence. For example, suppose that a driver suffers a sudden, unexpected medical event and unintentionally rolls into an intersection. The driver might not have acted negligently, but the following causes might support a negligence claim:
- Intoxication by alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescription medication
- Fatigue
- Distractions
- Improper lookout
- Carelessness
The liability for a left-turn crash usually depends on negligence. This doctrine indicates that the driver did not mean to cause the crash. Instead, they failed to exercise reasonable care while driving. You can prove their failure by showing that the driver committed a traffic violation or did something unreasonably dangerous.
The liable driver and their insurer must compensate accident victims for their economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses include medical expenses and lost wages. Non-economic losses encompass the pain, suffering, and disabilities the crash caused.
Schedule a Free Consultation With Our St. Petersburg Left-Turn Accident Lawyers
A left-turn accident can result in serious or even fatal injuries. Contact Winters & Yonker Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation to discuss the crash that injured you or your loved one and the compensation that we can recover. Our experienced St. Petersburg car accident attorneys work on contingency; you only pay us attorney’s fees if we win money for you.
