“Unsafe Lane Change?? Who's At Fault And How Do I Report?”

My apologies if this has been posted in the wrong area.

Yesterday I was involved in a small collision where my front wheel well / tire / rim was struck by another driver.

In the image attached you can see three lanes.

The numbers will correspond with the sequence which the events happened.

1. I signaled and made a right hand turn from the parking lot onto the road.

2. I turned my left hand signal on, performed a shoulder check, and made a safe lane change 1 lane to the left. I pulled into this lane in between other vehicles as it was rush hour.

3. My vehicle is now in position 3 as per the image. Again I turned my left signal on, performed a shoulder check and started to pull into the turning lane. There were no other vehicles in the lane, the light ahead was red, and my shoulder check led me to believe there were no vehicles coming thus it was safe to move into the lane.

4. Seemingly from no where I heard tires screech and another vehicle collided with the front driver side wheel well. The person driving said they were trying to catch the advance green. There was no damage to my car. The individual asked for $500.00 bucks and I said no. He then reported the accident and I received a call from the police today.

I really don't feel I was at fault although before I report I want to ensure I don't screw myself and end up with some crazy ticket or a bunch of demerit points.

Any insight please?

nozmirk wrote:I really don't feel I was at fault although before I report I want to ensure I don't screw myself and end up with some crazy ticket or a bunch of demerit points.

I'm not sure how you plan on changing anything so you don't "screw yourself over". The accident happened however it happened. I'd suggest you probably don't try to avoid the officers contacting you (if you didn't speak to them personally). If you want to report the accident, you can find a reporting centre on most police websites (Toronto for example)

Good luck.

Essentially I"m just looking to see if I'm at fault or not. I'm going to the reporting center tomorrow.

There has been no avoidance. When someone offers me money to not report it already puts me on edge.

When there are no witnesses and there are 2 separate reports, the accident never "happens how it happens" and somewhere in the middle the police will determine the fault. Not always correctly or fairly, but based on the 2 reports and the state of the vehicles.

Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know you or your intentions. When someone says they don't want to screw themselves over before they decide to give their statement to a reporting centre, it's a big red flag.

You're at fault. I'm not sure how you claim you're not at fault. You changed lanes when it was occupied by another vehicle.

If you checked the left lane and no one was there yet you caused an accident, you didn't check hard enough.

@bend is correct; based on your diagram and what you described, the ON Fault Determination Rules places you 100% at-fault for the collision.

It's up to you whether you want to deal directly with the other driver or go through an insurance claim. Speaking to the police will result in charges laid against you; and they have a number of charges to choose from including:

HTA S142(1) Change lane — not in safety

HTA S130 - Careless Driving

Rules for Automobiles Travelling in the Same Direction in Adjacent Lane

(4) If the incident occurs when automobile "B" is changing lanes, the driver of automobile "A" is not at fault and the driver of automobile "B" is 100 per cent at fault for the incident.