I had just dropped my girlfriend off at work and was on my way home with my 4 month old son. We are both okay, he was startled at first and I am a little sore where the seat belt crossed my collar bone.

The weather conditions were not very favorable. We had about an inch of snow this morning, then it warmed above freezing and it has rained off and on lightly and was not raining at the time of the accident, but the streets were wet from the rain and melted snow.
I was heading east approaching a stop light for on/off ramps of I65. I had the green light for right of way, there was a car ahead of me about 150-200 yards. After that car ahead of me went through the intersection a car waiting in the westbound turn lane went ahead and turned, I was just about to go through the intersection when the next truck in line began to turn as the light had just turned yellow....I tried to avoid the accident by swerving to the open right lane but we collided, t-boned kind of, but the bed of his truck was pretty much untouched, so the impact was concentrated from the cab forward more of an "L" kind of impact I guess you could say. The light turned yellow just before impact, and I don't think there are many cars that could have stopped at the white line before the light turned red, I had plenty of time to go through before the light turned to red. After impact, my truck spun around and slid off the south side of the road and took out a "one way" road sign....it appears the sign slid down the driver's side of the truck peeling off the door trim and denting/scratching the door, then it went between the cab and bed and as the sign post bent over the sign itself hacked up the bottom parts of the back of the cab and front of the bed, right where my fass system sits...the fass system is all messed up, both filters are all dented up and my buddy said when I turned the key to on that it was squirting fuel. The front end took the most damage, looks like right in the middle of the truck it's all pushed inward in kind of a v-shape. The engine shut off, but I don't know if it's because I never took it out of gear or if stuff was shoved into the pulleys and belt drive causing it to die. I didn't try to restart it because of the fass leak. Interestingly my airbag did not deploy, whereas the airbags in the other truck did. The top of my steering wheel was bent forward slightly, as I braced myself for the impact. It was put on a flatbed and taken to a local towing yard. I don't know if it is bad enough to be totaled, it appears that it's going to need pretty much a whole front end, and possibly two driver's side doors, and I don't know if the damage to the bed is repairable or if they replace the entire bed. I will try to get pictures tomorrow, but we're supposed to get anywhere from 6 to 10 or more inches of snow so I'm not sure if I'll be able to get any real definitive pictures or not.
The other guys truck is totaled for sure, the whole cab was nearly pushed off the frame, his front right tire was sitting at about a 45* angle. I am fully insured, and I was given his insurance information at the site. I'm waiting on my insurance company to call me to make the claim.

I do not know for sure what traffic laws state as far as yellow lights. As I stated, the light turned yellow, changing about a very short time before I would have passed through. I estimate I would have been well beyond the intersection upon the light changing to red. Has anyone else been through this type of accident or situation before? Thanks in advance....
Adam

 

Good to hear you and your son are ok. Doesn't sound like you had much choice and what you did helped things from getting worse. Hope all things work out ok for you and you can get back on the road quickly.

 

EDIT Adam that sucks big time,but glad you and your son are OK.

 

Sounds like he crossed your lane while you still had the right of way. Even if he claims the light was red he was still in the intersection on a red light. Washington law states that a turning vehicle not even enter the intersection until it can complete the turn. I don't know what the law says where you live. Most importantly, you and your boy are ok! Kurt

 

Thanks guys, yeah my boy was my first priority, man I think sometimes what I would do if I lost him or he was hurt....I can't even explain how horrible my initial feeling was when he cried out, but once I looked at him and he saw me he stopped and was fine.

A few of my friends came by here and we've been talking about it. We think that you're not supposed to even be in the intersection and remain behind the white line until it is clear enough that you can complete your turn, just as you said. I guess I'll find out......let the war begin....

 

I thought that turning on a red light was illegal in Indiana, correct me if I am wrong but that is what I have always been told.

 

You can turn right on red as long as it isn't posted otherwise in Indiana. I can't say for 100% if this scenario is legal or not but one place I drive, there is a one way street that meets another one way street. I and thousands of other cars have turned left on red. It isn't posted, and seems logical that is is acceptable given the situation and positioning of the roads. I was given a ticket for running a yellow light though. It was explained to me you are not to enter an intersection if the light is yellow. If you are unable to come to a complete stop when the light turns yellow, they can also give you a ticket for driving too fast for conditions. This particular officer did seem to have a slight attitude and a severe case of short man's syndrome too though! NOTE* The ticket was thrown out because the officer did not appear in court for my hearing so I never got a change to plead my case in front of a judge. Can;t say whether he was right or wrong in my case, but you can be dang sure I was gonna find out that day in court!

 

My buddy's mom called, apparently it was bad enough to make the local news.

That's the kind of stuff that is crap, "not supposed to be in the intersection when it is yellow" so basically 100% of the people driving in this country are breaking the law every time they drive?

 

I'm with ya 100% ! Just letting you know what happened to me once. I think the officer knew he was wrong and thats why he didn't show to court that day.

 

Sorry to hear about your accident. Good part is that you and son are OK. Did you call the police to the scene to investigate? Do you have the names of any witness? Did you have a camera with you to take pictures of the scene? If not it might become a big mess for the insurance companies to figgure out. Good luck.

 

Improper look-out on the part of the vehicle turning.

 

Police came and took information, but I don't know about the report. I'm sure they'll have to file one though. There were no witnesses that stuck around, just a few people that heard the sound of the collision, then came to the scene to help. As far as I know there is nobody that actually saw the accident happen to verify anything, just those that heard the sound and then came to the scene. I took a couple of pictures with my phone, as I did not have my digital cam. The pictures are not the best, but they show a general idea of the amount of damage done to both trucks. It had snowed earlier in the day, and you could see plainly in the snow where the tires had skidded after we went off the road. It is too late to go back and take any pictures of it right now, as it has snowed another 2-3 inches over the area with another 3-4 coming before it ends. I intend to go to the towing yard to get pictures of my truck and see if I can find the other truck too since the same company towed both vehicles. It should not be much of a fiasco, from what I have gathered by searching online and from other forums and people's replies I had the right of way. Of course insurance companies primary objective is to find any reason they can to not pay on a claim.......so we'll see....I'm ready with my flame thrower.

 

Got the pictures off my phone......

 

Whoa, that chevy is toast.

 

glad your ok that could have been bad