Class 1 truck driver and turning right onto one way road two lane

[theman2224]

Hi when exiting from a parking lot, onto a two lane road going southbound, with a southbound arrow in circle indicating you can only go right. In class one Tractor Trailer, if you drive to the outside lane with tractor, with part of your trailer still in the inside lane, and you swing back to complete turn into the inside lane and a car exiting from far right over 1/1/2 foot snowbank ends up on your back passenger side trailer and bumper who is to blame? where is this info in alberta traffic law? Thank You

[brslk]

Depends on if you get the ticket in french or English.

[leeaspell]

A traffic lawyer is probably the best place to ask, not on here.

But I guess it depends on whether he/she was French, a homosexual, a visible minority, or if it was against there religious beliefs. Or all the above

[ali#1]

A traffic lawyer is probably the best place to ask, not on here.

But I guess it depends on whether he/she was French, a homosexual, a visible minority, or if it was against there religious beliefs. Or all the above

Lol

[KegRiver]

The trucker is at fault. That is rule number one of trucking, the trucker is always at fault.

No matter which way the trucker was turning, and no matter if it was legal or not, what made you think it would be okay to occupy the outside lane beside him while he was turning?

Unfortunately, you entered his blind spot, there is no way he could know you were there. If you have a driver license you ought to know that he is supposed to turn into the outside lane. Simple math should tell you that he can't do that without first pulling out into the center of the street or possibly beyond.

I gather that is what the police told you, which is why you came here looking for support. Well they are right.
Trucks have as much right to use the roads as you do.

You have as much responsibility to drive safely as they do.

His turning the wrong way would not have caused this accident if you had waited for him to complete his turn. So it's your haste that cause the problem, not his wrong turn. Besides, had he been turning the right way and you came out beside him the results would have been the same.

[Chewbacca]

The way I understand this from the info in your post is that you would be at fault. The error that you made was not by taking your tractor into the other lane to cut wide enough to keep from dragging your trailer over the curb onto a side walk, it was not judging the turn well enough to keep your trailer fully in the outside lane to keep anybody from getting past the back end of the trailer and getting up along side causing you to run over them when you completed your turn. This maneuver takes practice and once learned is a snap to do. I ran over a few curbs and had to back up to keep from rubbing a light standard or power pole a couple of times. Keeping the back of the trailer fully in the lane is the tricky part. It has to be done to keep John Q Public who doesn't really understand what a signal light means from getting run over.

[leeaspell]

So the car came out over a foot and a half snow bank and got into your bumper?

[pickrel pat]

weird first post.

[Roughneck12]

I need a picture.
Someone turned inside your turn and got smooshed?

[Lefty-Canuck]

If you are driving a car it's your fault...if you are driving a black dodge dually lifted with HIDs and truck nuts, it is anybody but your fault.

LC

[u_cant_rope_the_wind]

because you have to be in yer left lane wth yer tractor,
and part of yer trailer in the rt lane
and when you make the turn yer tractor into the left lane ,and swing back to rt lane, law states from when making a rt turn rt lane into rt lane,
for truckers its impossible, so basically everything you do is wrong, the way its written in the driving and law books
common sense prevails to wait till the truck has made its turn, but some idiots don't have common sense and cant wait and try to sneak in between the trailer and the curb, that's when dodo happens

[Ebrand]

Tractor Semi trailer needs to use two lanes to negotiate the turn ( impossible to make the turn while staying in the "proper" lane ). Car was going straight in the same direction that that tractor semi trailer was turning to go?

Tractor trailer driver is allowed to use the two lanes to make the turn ( no geometrically possible way to do it in one lane ). But he must do it safely ( does not seem to be the case here. Sounds like tractor trailer cut the car off. Easiest charge to prove is section 9 Use of Highways Rules of the Road reg. Fail to ensure sufficient space for movement. The driver entering an intersecting road ( except when merging) has to give right if way to the vehicle that is on the roadway he is entering.

If the tractor trailer driver had a stop sign. 38 UHROR fail to enter intersection safely after stopping at stop sign offence fairly easy to prove. If it was a yield sign there is a section for not yielding properly I don't know what the section # is for that off the top of my head. These are easy to prove as well.

I suspect the driver of the car tried to avoid the crash and ended up in the snow bank as a result of not being able to maintain control while trying to avoid crashing in to the truck that cut him off. With out hearing the car driver's story I can't be certain of that.

Even if the car was speeding the truck has no business turning in front of it unless the turn can be made safely.

What did you get charged with?

[Dozer31]

Sorry dude, your trailer shouldn't have been in the left hand lane if you wanted to end up in the right hand lane, basically you cut the car off. FYI I have a class 1

[KegRiver]

Tractor Semi trailer needs to use two lanes to negotiate the turn ( impossible to make the turn while staying in the "proper" lane ). Car was going straight in the same direction that that tractor semi trailer was turning to go?

Tractor trailer driver is allowed to use the two lanes to make the turn ( no geometrically possible way to do it in one lane ). But he must do it safely ( does not seem to be the case here. Sounds like tractor trailer cut the car off. Easiest charge to prove is section 9 Use of Highways Rules of the Road reg. Fail to ensure sufficient space for movement. The driver entering an intersecting road ( except when merging) has to give right if way to the vehicle that is on the roadway he is entering.

If the tractor trailer driver had a stop sign. 38 UHROR fail to enter intersection safely after stopping at stop sign offence fairly easy to prove. If it was a yield sign there is a section for not yielding properly I don't know what the section # is for that off the top of my head. These are easy to prove as well.

I suspect the driver of the car tried to avoid the crash and ended up in the snow bank as a result of not being able to maintain control while trying to avoid crashing in to the truck that cut him off. With out hearing the car driver's story I can't be certain of that.

Even if the car was speeding the truck has no business turning in front of it unless the turn can be made safely.

What did you get charged with?

I believe you are correct about the truck using both lanes to make the turn. And he did indicate that there was no intersection but there was a no left turns sign. However, he does not say whether the truck was turning to the right or to the left.
But I don't think it would matter either way. He would have to occupy more then one lane to make the turn in either case.

What I can't figure out is what was the car doing exactly.

He said the car was exiting, but not from where. I gather it was exiting from the same parking lot. It seems to me that it would be impossible for the car to be going straight or turning off the street unless it was sitting there waiting to turn off the street, given where he said it wound up..




FWIW I've was a class 1 driver for over thirty years.

[pickrel pat]

FWIW I've was a class 1 driver for over thirty years.

and a hell of a log hauler!!!!!!! Actually was a pretty good run of log haulers in the late 90s early 2000's...... pretty good bunch.

[sakogreywolf]

I will probably be tarred and feathered for this, but here goes........when I was being trained for my class 1, my instructor told me that when preparing for turning on a two lane street, to (when clear) move over to take up enough of each lane so that it was not possible for anyone to come in beside me to prevent such incidents. This has served me well as I have never had an incident or even a close call in such situations. :scared0018:

[Ebrand]

If the car ended up on the inside of wide turn made by the tractor semi trailer and was turning in the same direction the truck either made the turn from too far out ( improper lane selection for the turn ) and/or did not signal properly for the turn. OR the car driver was driving like an idiot and followed the truck too closely into the turn and tried to pass it on be right/shoulder. So either fail to ascertain sufficient space or pass on shoulder (unless they are travelling on multi lane road).

Would need to hear both side of the story and would help to view the scene.

Too many "what if's" when we only get one side of the story ( not calling op a liar ). Hearing both sides would add clarity.

Op what (or) did you get charged with?

[Redfrog]

"a car exiting from far right over 1/1/2 foot snowbank ends up on your back passenger side trailer and bumper who is to blame? "

Was it safe to proceed? Apparently not or this post wouldn't be here.

a stop sign, doesn't mean stop then go., it means stop and then proceed when it is safe to do so. same thing coming from a lot into a street.

[KegRiver]

and a hell of a log hauler!!!!!!! Actually was a pretty good run of log haulers in the late 90s early 2000's...... pretty good bunch.


LOL They called me high chair. But how did you know I hauled logs?

I miss those guys, they were a great bunch to work with.
Brent, Brice, Mike, Conrad, Larry, Chopper. Some of the best drivers in the north. I didn't even mind old Henry although he could get under a guys skin at times. Still, you couldn't fault his driving and he had more years of driving under his butt then the rest of us combined.

[KegRiver]

I will probably be tarred and feathered for this, but here goes........when I was being trained for my class 1, my instructor told me that when preparing for turning on a two lane street, to (when clear) move over to take up enough of each lane so that it was not possible for anyone to come in beside me to prevent such incidents. This has served me well as I have never had an incident or even a close call in such situations. :scared0018:

My instructor advised me to do the same thing, back in 1972, when four lane roads were rare. Back then it was a class A license, but it was the same license.

[KegRiver]

"a car exiting from far right over 1/1/2 foot snowbank ends up on your back passenger side trailer and bumper who is to blame? "

Was it safe to proceed? Apparently not or this post wouldn't be here.

a stop sign, doesn't mean stop then go., it means stop and then proceed when it is safe to do so. same thing coming from a lot into a street.


I'm having trouble with this car exiting statement.

Was it exiting the street or the same parking lot? It would make a big difference.

I think he is saying that they both exited from the same parking lot and that the truck was the first to exit, but the snowbank is confusing, how does it play into the situation.

I'm guessing that he is saying that he couldn't see the car entering the lane beside him because of that snowbank. Otherwise, what role would the snowbank play?

And if I am reading it right, then the trucker did absolutely nothing wrong, but I think he will get blamed non-the-less. Which is what my first post was all about.

[Mekanik]

Hi when exiting from a parking lot, onto a two lane road going southbound, with a southbound arrow in circle indicating you can only go right. In class one Tractor Trailer, if you drive to the outside lane with tractor, with part of your trailer still in the inside lane, and you swing back to complete turn into the inside lane and a car exiting from far right over 1/1/2 foot snowbank ends up on your back passenger side trailer and bumper who is to blame? where is this info in alberta traffic law? Thank You

Mekanik's wife says, " first off I have been a professional class 1 driver for 20 years. From the story I got that the truck was making a right hand turn out of a parking lot and onto a roadway. The light vehicle would have come from the same parking lot and was attempting a right turn as well. Because the truck has to make such a wide turn in order to negotiate the turn completely (they don't bend in the middle) the car went into the inside of the truck while the truck was making the turn and found out the hard way that wasn't a good idea. Now if the only direction you can go is to the right (no left turn indicated by sign) I would think that it's pretty obvious that the truck pulling out would have to go right. The car should not have tried to go past the truck on the inside while he was making that turn. (This would be why you see all those stickers on the back of trailers say "caution, vehicle makes wide right turns".) Once the truck had started the turn the snow bank would have become a factor and it sounds like the car was trying to squeeze by. My only question is whether the truck had his signal light on indicating the turn and his intentions. That might be the deciding factor of who is at fault. "

[elkhunter11]

According to our traffic laws, you are not to enter a lane of traffic, until it is safe to do so, if you need two lanes, to make the turn, then you need to make sure that it is safe to enter both of those lanes, before proceeding.

[KegRiver]

Mekanik's wife says, " first off I have been a professional class 1 driver for 20 years. From the story I got that the truck was making a right hand turn out of a parking lot and onto a roadway. The light vehicle would have come from the same parking lot and was attempting a right turn as well. Because the truck has to make such a wide turn in order to negotiate the turn completely (they don't bend in the middle) the car went into the inside of the truck while the truck was making the turn and found out the hard way that wasn't a good idea. Now if the only direction you can go is to the right (no left turn indicated by sign) I would think that it's pretty obvious that the truck pulling out would have to go right. The car should not have tried to go past the truck on the inside while he was making that turn. (This would be why you see all those stickers on the back of trailers say "caution, vehicle makes wide right turns".) Once the truck had started the turn the snow bank would have become a factor and it sounds like the car was trying to squeeze by. My only question is whether the truck had his signal light on indicating the turn and his intentions. That might be the deciding factor of who is at fault. "


Thanks. That is what I thought happened and as I said, if so, the trucker was in the right.

I figured that when he started onto the street both lanes were empty, or else he would have waited.

He could not have anticipated that a car would try to move into the lane beside him, and he more then likely couldn't see it once one did just that.

It would be on his blind side and since he was turning his mirror on that side would be pointed at the front of his trailer, not back at the previously empty lane.

And I suspect that the trucker will be blamed for this situation by most who have never driven a tractor trailer combination.

I doubt that a signal light would have played a role, it should have been more then obvious what his intentions were long before any contact was made. But it could well be considered THE factor in a court of law.

[Gunfighter]

The trucker is at fault. That is rule number one of trucking, the trucker is always at fault.

No matter which way the trucker was turning, and no matter if it was legal or not, what made you think it would be okay to occupy the outside lane beside him while he was turning?

Unfortunately, you entered his blind spot, there is no way he could know you were there. If you have a driver license you ought to know that he is supposed to turn into the outside lane. Simple math should tell you that he can't do that without first pulling out into the center of the street or possibly beyond.

I gather that is what the police told you, which is why you came here looking for support. Well they are right.
Trucks have as much right to use the roads as you do.

You have as much responsibility to drive safely as they do.

His turning the wrong way would not have caused this accident if you had waited for him to complete his turn. So it's your haste that cause the problem, not his wrong turn. Besides, had he been turning the right way and you came out beside him the results would have been the same.

Nailed it

[nekred]

There is no cut and dried answer.....

Right of way is only part of the consideration in determination of fault....

The other consideration is who had the ability to prevent the accident and who failed the most in taking preventive action.....

In the end it comes down to whoever has the best story/lawyer/case...

Case in point is laft hand turns in an intersection..... if person coming through runs the yellow and hits the vehicle turning left....that was already in the intersection...when the vehicle going straight through had opportunity to stop before entering intersection... if the person argues they were unable to stop then it could be argued that they were travelling too fast for conditions or speeding....

However most good truck drivers set themselves up so they don't have to do a california lane change to make a corner....

[Gunfighter]

Nope, cut and dried light vehicle tries to cut between truck and curb to get to inside lane and gets forced to the shoulder. Wait for it....................... because it was not safe to proceed. Light vehicle at fault

Right away has nothing to do with this, truck turning right , light vehicle turning right inside path of trailer .... Mr impatient is forced into the snow bank.