How to prove a stopped car really didn’t stop?
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How to prove a stopped car really didn’t stop?
I was making a left hand turn in a residential area.There were 2 trucks blocking the view going into the lane.The front truck was illegally parked and had a expired tag. Right as I turned there was a car there and we collided.That car was at least a foot/foot and a half in the right lane where I was turning about two feet from the intersection.The driver of the other car didn’t honk, blink his lights or anything. He testified to the reporting officer that he had completely stopped, though I doubt it. The other eye witness was the owner of the illegally parked truck with the expired tag also testified that he stopped. So as the one who didn’t I got the citation. We’re going to court in a few days. Is there anyway to prove he didn’t stop or if he did stop that he didn’t make the effort to warn me of any impending danger (which is required in the drivers handbook) or that the owner of the truck was to blame for obstructing traffic? I know that if you hit a stopped car you are libeled but with the other circumstance is there anyway to prove I wasn’t driving carelessly?
Asked on August 13, 2012 under Accident Law, Arkansas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
Basically, there are three ways to try to prove this:
1) Witness testimony, including your own--though from what you write, most of the witness testimony is against you.
2) Photographic or video evidence, if any exists (i.e. did anyone film or photograph the location of the cars at the time of the accident?).
3) Expert testimony--sometimes an accident reconstruction specialist can determine who was where, doing what, after the fact, based on things like skid marks, the final resting places of the vehicles, etc. However, it may be too late if no one looked at the accident or preserved photographs, measurements, etc.--that is, there may be no evidence for the expert to work on--and these experts are very, very expensive anyway.
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