On February 7, 2012, I was involved in an auto accident in which my 2009 Ford F-150 XLT pickup (vehicle 1) was struck on the side of my right front fender when a 2010 GMC 2500 pickup (vehicle 2) ran a red light as I was making a left hand turn across his path.
I was sitting in the left hand turn lane facing North, waiting for the light to change so I could turn left (West) and when I got the left green arrow, I turned left going about 10 mph. About 3/4 of the way through the turn, I was suddenly struck on my right front fender by a speeding Southbound truck that ran a red light. The impact totalled my truck and forced it 10 ft. to the left (south) while I stayed put, forcing the center console into my right thigh, breaking it in two places. The other driver claims he was stopped at the red light and advanced when he got the green light, but that is impossible since he could not have accelerated to the speed he was going when he hit me, in the 50 feet distance from the stop line to the point of impact. I contend that he ran the red light in excess of the 35 mph speed limit and smashed into me at full speed without ever attempting to apply his brakes.
Problem to be solved: With a curb weight of 5,577 lbs., how fast would southbound, vehicle 2, (the vehicle that hit me) have to be going, to strike me with enough force to total my truck and push my truck, with a curb weight of 5,186 lbs, 10 feet to the south?
Thank you for your help.
Jim Patrick
Not a good math man,but I would say he was doing greater than 35.
Also,if you had the green arrow,He 99% had a red light.BUT if he had a green solid light,he coulda had right of way.I seriously doubt this is the case unless the signal tech screwed up during maintance.Check the signal setup at that intersection sometime.Also check with the local DOT to see if it had been changed in some way as a green arrow at a turn is a improvement they make sometimes.It coulda been his regular route and he was not used to the change.Not a reason to hit you but his defense would bring it up in the suit.
The yellow caution comes on first,for your green arrow,last about 3 to ? seconds then you get red.Then after a short delay he would get green.If the setup was him red,you green arrow.It does not matter what speed.He would be at fault.
Here would be the best theory I would have as to what happened.He was on the dang phone.
Second best theory,he was on the phone,but saw the green arrow for the lane beside of him and never slowed down.This happens alot.I have allmost ran red lights myself because I would just see a flash of green and movement and think "GO!".
my best educated estimate would be 55 to 65 km/h, you boys south of the border will have to do the conversion on that one
About 34-40 mph...