I passed a stopped vehicle that then turned left into me and rolled my truck — is that my fault for passing or theirs for not signaling?

Attorney Answer

Neither of the two answers you offered is automatically the right one. New York does not award fault to one driver by rule in a situation like this; it compares what each driver actually did against the duty each of them owed, and both a driver who passes and a driver who turns left across a lane of travel have duties. Before this page can say what a share of fault would mean for you, though, one fact your message does not state has to be settled: whether anyone was hurt.

That is not a formality. New York handles a claim about a wrecked truck and a claim about an injured person under different rules, with different requirements and different consequences for a driver who shares part of the blame. Your message describes a rollover and asks only about fault, so no one reading it can classify the claim, and this page will not guess at it. Getting that classified — and only then applying any rule about shared fault — is the first thing to put to a New York attorney.

What can be said is where the argument actually lives. The Vehicle and Traffic Law sets rules for overtaking and passing, for giving a turn signal, and for turning across a lane of travel; which of them applies depends on the road, the markings and the positions of the two vehicles, so the duties are described here in general terms rather than set out section by section. The practical point is that your facts contain a duty on each side. A driver who begins a pass takes on responsibility for doing it where passing is permitted and for completing it safely. A driver who leaves a stopped position and turns across the lane takes on responsibility for looking, and for signalling in time to be of any use to a driver already alongside.

The detail you gave — that your truck was three-quarters of the way past theirs when their signal came on — is the fact most likely to matter, because a signal given after another vehicle is already alongside communicates nothing the other driver can act on. It is also the detail most likely to be disputed, which is why the physical evidence is worth preserving.

If a ticket was issued to you out of this collision, treat it as a separate matter. How a traffic charge is resolved can affect a civil claim, and neither the charge nor any plea should be handled on the strength of a web page — speak to a New York attorney before you answer it.

What you can do

1. Get the police accident report and read what each driver is recorded as having said at the scene.

2. Photograph both vehicles' damage, and note where on your bumper and where on their vehicle the contact occurred — the contact points are what show relative position.

3. Photograph the road itself: the center line markings where you passed, the driveway, sight lines and any obstruction.

4. Identify anyone who saw the pass or heard it, and any nearby camera, in the first days rather than later.

5. If anyone in either vehicle felt anything at all, get examined promptly and have the visit tied to the date of the collision in the record.

6. Take all of it to a New York attorney, and ask them to classify the claim before any rule about shared fault is applied to you.

⏱ Time limits apply. If the claim is one for personal injury, CPLR 214(5) allows three years for "an action to recover damages for a personal injury except as provided in sections 214-b, 214-c, 214-i and 215". If it is a claim for the truck, CPLR 214(4) allows three years for "an action to recover damages for an injury to property except as provided in section 214-c". Both run from the date of the collision, and shorter deadlines apply where a public corporation or its vehicle is involved. Which applies to you depends on facts this page does not have, so have a New York attorney review the dates on your own facts — this page does not calculate them.