Hi CFrances: a vehicle has the obligation to stay a safe distance from the vehicle in front of him/her. If some one is making a left hand turn then the vehicle in the back has the onus of responsibility. I recall as a kid investigating an accident wherein our insured rear ended a car. I visited with her to estimate the damage on her vehicle and she couldn't get her mind around the fact that she was at fault. she kept saying but he stopped right in front of me. Yes he did there was a stop light.

In my case we are not talking about a left turn but a merger. I did what the law required and I made it to the driving lane when the driver behind me pulled to the left into the oncoming lane to pass. We have two vehicles moving at the same time so if I had allowed sufficient time to reach my destination it begs the question what was this other driver doing? was this other driver distracted going too fast, etc

What I found with this post is that ugly term confirmation bias that I admonished many employee to take out of their equation when investigating

I pray not another resident viewing this thread is faced with the same sort of circumstance that prompted me to share

Personal Best Regards:

Looks like the key here is that Rubicon was already out of the diamond lane and merged in with the left turn traffic. This driver was definitely at fault for several reasons, as has been pointed out. A couple of other factors come into play: #1) Speed of the driver even prior to accelerating and #2) IF the driver was paying attention, it is POSTED at a reasonable distance back that carts are to merge with traffic. Car drivers should be expecting them to do exactly that. Merge does not mean to stop and wait for all traffic to pass; it means the same on the highways and drivers are expected to move over when possible to allow for merging or to even slow their speed.

Thank you dillywho,

There are an appreciable number of hanging judges on this thread.:D


Re your edit signature....your Dad was a very wise man.

I have little doubt that the auto driver is at fault. For one thing because I trust Rubicon and his take on the situation.

But there is plenty of talk here that sounds like no matter what, if the car is any distance behind the cart traveling at any speed, then the cart has the right-of-way. That is simply not the case.

Yes, there are signs showing the merge is approaching. But just like on a highway, the primary (not full) responsibility is on the driver in the lane that is being terminated to adjust speed and find an appropriate gap for a merge...not to just signal and move left.

It's somewhat similar to a right turn on red. Just because a vehicle approaching your intersection is to your left does not automatically mean you have the right to turn in front of it. The gap must be enough to allow you to enter the lane and reach a reasonable speed without requiring the approaching vehicle to make any extreme or evasive maneuvers.

You're correct..."merge does not mean to stop and wait for all traffic to pass". But it's just as true that merge does not mean you can just signal and go.

Polar Bear

what you share "depends" On any road in any city or state the vehicle overtaking another vehicle on the left has the primary responsibility. A second situation is when a driver is backing up.
I believe you will find that most cops will tell you with both situations the drive over taking and /or backing has the greater share of responsibility.

In The Villages our streets are designed with additional lanes called diamond lanes and used primarily by golf carts. Everyone of these diamond lanes has markings to indicate merging with auto traffic at stop lights and at village gates.

Now we come to the "depends"as expressed above. the depends , depends on the position of the vehicles involved. In my situation I was the lead vehicle and properly signaled looked merged and completed my merge when overtaken. Contrast that to the poster who stated he was side by side with a golf cart when the driver of the cart began to merge from the diamond lane.

when it comes to fault most accidents involve contributory negligence, less so with backing and overtaking which are about absolute

I have certainly been guilty of some mistakes while driving and when I have motioned to the opposing driver my mea culpa.

I have zero doubt, rubicon, that you encountered a driver behaving poorly in the scenario you described. But...

Sorry...we're not talking about vehicles overtaking other vehicles on a highway or backing. (I'm not even sure what you're referring to when you speak about "backing".) We're talking about a vehicle merging when that vehicle's lane is being terminated. Two totally different situations.

In a lane-termination merge situation, the primary responsibility will always be with the vehicle who needs to merge. Of course all vehicles in the vicinity are responsible to acknowledge and reasonably accommodate the merging vehicle. But that merging vehicle has the primary responsibility to merge safely, no matter where you are or what type of vehicle you are driving. There is no "depends".

Just to be on the safe side, my cart has two driver side mirrors. The wide angle parabolic mirror lets me know that someone is coming up on my left. The flat mirror lets me know how close he really is. That one helps me judge whether or not the gap is sufficient for coming out of the diamond lane at that moment.

I truly believe that cars don't realize that the yellow 20mph sign applies to them when merging with golf carts! Let the race to the gate begin.

Exactly that has been my point. some auto drivers have a need to speed ahead of a merging golf cart, despite the fact that the golf cart has properly executed its merge. It happens too frequently. Its like those line jumpers in grocery stores, you just got to try

And a part of the problem is that some auto drivers are as confused regarding the rules of the road as to round-a-abouts as they are about diamond lanes