Motorcycle Traffic Accidents: Failure to Yield

Motorcycle accidents happen very often nowadays, especially since this new decade has offered us plenty of innovative distractions. A person can be distracted by the music, by his/her phone, or may even be intoxicated. In fact, sometimes by merely overlooking things, you may find yourself in a sudden vehicular accident. Whatever circumstance you may be in, it is safe to say that somehow most of us have gotten ourselves a ticket for failure to yield.

We understand how confusing it can sometimes be to know when to yield and our dedicated lawyers want you to be familiarized with the instances of when you should yield to avoid any unnecessary accidents or collisions.

Current Crash Statistics in Michigan

According to the Michigan Department of State Police, there have been a total of 534,295 car accidents which have led to fatal and non-fatal injuries, as well as property damage within the last year. The failure to yield is the third among the highest causes of accidents well behind normal driving occurrences, and being unable to stop. The failure to yield accounts for 46,846 accidents in 2018, with a hundred of these crashes being fatal.

Motorcycle riders are of no exception to these failure to yield accidents either. In 2018, there have been 483 incidents of motorcycles failing to yield with fatal injuries amounting to 24 and non-fatal injuries at 378.

Failure to yield is also high in cases of distracted drivers (1,734) and drivers under the influence, with drunk drivers and drivers driving under the influence of drugs having 564 and 153 incidents respectively in the last year.

Failure to Yield under Michigan Laws

Traffic laws can be a little tricky, but we are here to explain the law for you. Under Michigan Law there are two instances where vehicles and motorcycle riders are required to yield, namely:

  1. Yield at the Right of Way, and;
  2. Yield Left at Intersection;

According to Michigan Legislature (MCL), namely Section 257.649, the driver of a vehicle must yield the right-of-way when:

  1. A vehicle has entered the intersection from a different highway;
  2. Two vehicles enter an intersection from different highways at approximately the same time;
  3. There is a yield or stop sign at the intersection;
  4. The driver is ordered by a police officer, and;
  5. There is an emergency vehicle sounding its sirens and flashing their lights;

Section 257.650 is a little confusing and simply refers to vehicles at an intersection turning planning to turn left.

This simply means that if the driver is making a left turn:

  1. he/she shall first let the vehicles passing the opposite direction within the intersection or close to it to cause an immediate hazard to pass through before he/she may make a turn when given the signal to do so;
  2. vehicles coming from the opposite direction must likewise yield if after the driver making a left turn and upon having been given a signal, yields and makes the turn; and
  3. in case there are traffic signals at the intersection, the driver shall only make a turn when permitted by vehicles in the opposite direction, and such vehicles were waiting for the go signal to pass through the intersection

The Essence of Failing to Yield in Traffic Violations

In Michigan, traffic violations vary depending on the situation.  They can result in head-on collisions along with other common causes of motorcycle accidents.  There are times when the infraction results in the payment of fines, sometimes the driver is required to enroll in special programs. For each violation, Michigan adopts a point system that is placed on driver record that the driver gets only when he/she is convicted for that violation. Points remain in the record for a period of two years and cannot be simply set aside.

For failing to yield, such violation is already equivalent to four points – points that you can only clear up after incurring no traffic violations for two years. That is why it is essential to know when and when not to yield in Michigan.

In a Failure to Yield Motorcycle Accident? Get Help Now!

In some cases, accidents resulting from failure to yield truly cannot be helped as there can always be driving mishaps, failure to take notice of the traffic signs and the like, but you don’t always have to carry these problems alone. Contact The Clark Law Office. We make sure that our clients are given the right protection you deserve from deceitful insurance companies.

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