My question involves a traffic ticket from the state of: Utah
I was in a turning lane trying to make a left turn, traffic was backed up on the oncoming traffic, the vehicles in the 2 lanes of the oncoming traffic left a gap for me to make my turn. they were both actually semis. For the safety of the oncoming traffic that wanted to use the same turning lane as me, I decided to make the turn. As I turned left, a car in the shoulder of the road going fast hit my right front of the car. No witnesses stopped so I just told the officer what happened, and got a failure to yield citation. But now looking at this, I dont believe its legal to pass cars by driving in the shoulder of the road to pass them so thats why I decided to proceed, not assuming there would be a car driving fast in the shoulder passing all other traffic. Maybe if it went into the shoulder to turn right but if that were the case, we wouldnt have crashed and i wouldnt have been in the direction of travel. Also considering that the road shoulder according to the Utah definition is:
(56)"Shoulder area" means:
(a)that area of the hard-surfaced highway separated from the roadway by a pavement edge line as established in the current approved "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices"; or
(b)that portion of the road contiguous to the roadway for accommodation of stopped vehicles, for emergency use, and for lateral support.
So I dont think this area is used for passing and travel, so in order to avoid hazards in the turning lane I was in, i concluded it would be safer to make the turn. Any thoughts on this?
Do I have a point that the judge will see? What could I do to get out of this? I believe the judge will just read the notes that the officer took. I have a court date for tomorrow so any last minute advice would be appreciated.
I was in a turning lane trying to make a left turn, traffic was backed up on the oncoming traffic, the vehicles in the 2 lanes of the oncoming traffic left a gap for me to make my turn. they were both actually semis. For the safety of the oncoming traffic that wanted to use the same turning lane as me, I decided to make the turn. As I turned left, a car in the shoulder of the road going fast hit my right front of the car. No witnesses stopped so I just told the officer what happened, and got a failure to yield citation. But now looking at this, I dont believe its legal to pass cars by driving in the shoulder of the road to pass them so thats why I decided to proceed, not assuming there would be a car driving fast in the shoulder passing all other traffic. Maybe if it went into the shoulder to turn right but if that were the case, we wouldnt have crashed and i wouldnt have been in the direction of travel. Also considering that the road shoulder according to the Utah definition is:
(56)"Shoulder area" means:
(a)that area of the hard-surfaced highway separated from the roadway by a pavement edge line as established in the current approved "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices"; or
(b)that portion of the road contiguous to the roadway for accommodation of stopped vehicles, for emergency use, and for lateral support.
So I dont think this area is used for passing and travel, so in order to avoid hazards in the turning lane I was in, i concluded it would be safer to make the turn. Any thoughts on this?
Do I have a point that the judge will see? What could I do to get out of this? I believe the judge will just read the notes that the officer took. I have a court date for tomorrow so any last minute advice would be appreciated.
Failure to Yield: Hit by Car Driving in Shoulder
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