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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   3383 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for July 25, 2025

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Court opinion:

  • Russell, driving a work van on a road with posted speed of 55 mi/h (90 km/h), approaches a green traffic light from the southwest. The light turns yellow, but Russell thinks he can get past it before it turns red, so he does not stop. Christopher, sitting in a work truck at the same intersection's northwest traffic light, sees the lights starting to change and decides to enter the intersection early, while he still has a red light. Russell attempts to swerve his van around Christopher's truck (without braking), but the van collides with the truck anyway (hard enough to spin the truck around by 180 degrees) and thence careens into Jasmine's car, which is in the process of stopping at the northeast traffic light. Three of Jasmine's limbs are broken in the crash. Accordingly, she sues Russell and Christopher for causing her injuries through negligence. The jury decides that (1) the injuries are worth 3.5 M$ and (2) Russell bears 60 percent of the fault (2.1 M$) and Christopher 40 percent (1.4 M$).

  • Russell argues that the jury's decision to assign more fault to him than to Christopher is unsupportable by the evidence presented at trial, since Christopher broke the law (by running the red light) and Russell did not (by attempting to get through the intersection on a yellow light). But the trial judge rejects this argument, and the appeals panel affirms. Under state law as distilled in the charge issued by the trial judge to the jury, a driver approaching a yellow light "is obligated to exercise reasonable care, which includes making reasonable observations for traffic traveling on an intersecting street".* Therefore, the jury was perfectly entitled to conclude that a non-negligent driver (1) would have stopped at the yellow light rather than trying to get through it or (2) would have tried to avoid hitting Christopher by braking rather than by swerving without braking.

*See also the following model jury charges, which unlike this case-specific charge have been approved by a statewide committee: general duty of motorist; duty of motorist to make observations; and duty of motorist proceeding past stop sign.

That’s insane.

I’m always going on yellow. On an incredibly rare occasion the light turns red exactly as I head into the intersection.

This is perfectly logical and I assumed legal.

It’s either go on yellow or slam my brakes.

"is obligated to exercise reasonable care, which includes making reasonable observations for traffic traveling on an intersecting street".

That makes zero sense. Unless you’re literally running the red light - short of slamming your brakes so hard that you’re burning rubber, this doesn’t make sense.

It's illegal to be in the intersection when the light is red.

Incorrect (in this state).

NJ Statutes tit. 39 ch. 4 § 105:

Amber, or yellow, when shown alone following green[,] means traffic[ is] to stop before entering the intersection or nearest crosswalk, unless when the amber appears the vehicle or street car is so close to the intersection that with suitable brakes it cannot be stopped in safety.

Nothing is said about exiting the intersection before the light turns red.

§ 67:

No vehicle or street car shall be permitted by the owner or driver thereof to so occupy a street as to interfere with or interrupt the passage of other street cars or vehicles, nor shall the driver of a vehicle or street car drive such vehicle or street car into an intersection if preceding traffic prevents immediate clearance of the intersection.

That means a motorist must exit the intersection before any other light turns green, not before his light turns red. A traffic signal normally will have an all-red clearance interval of two or three seconds, so the difference between these two definitions is far from negligible.

You're right, and I was mistaken about my state too.

The jury was perfectly entitled to conclude that a non-negligent driver (1) would have stopped at the yellow light rather than trying to get through it or (2) would have tried to avoid hitting Christopher by braking rather than by swerving without braking.

Entering an intersection on a yellow light is legal (in this state). But failing to brake when you have a yellow light and someone else illegally runs a red light in front of you may count as negligence.

Also, in this case, Russell specifically admitted that he didn't even consider whether he could safely stop at the yellow light.

Also, in this case, Russell specifically admitted that he didn't even consider whether he could safely stop at the yellow light.

Yeah it's more a case for "don't talk to cops" or at least "know what the law really says and don't openly admit to breaking it" which sometimes works OK for traffic cops.

"I was really close to the intersection as the light changed and didn't think I could safely stop in time, so I proceeded into the intersection at my current legal speed" is all you should ever say about entering an intersection on a yellow; "IDK IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST OMG I CAN'T EVEN" would possibly be even better if you think you can pull it off.

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