Legal Question in Criminal Law in Illinois

Are there any circumstances which negate a failure to yield?

I was recently involved in a two car collision on private property. I pulled out onto a frontage road from the parking lot.I did not come to a complete stop but there was no stop sign.I was struck by another vehicle.When the officer arrived he assigned me blame based on the fact that she had the right of way.The reason i ask is construction of a new building had many tall cranes and dump trucks blocking my vision around the corner..and the other driver admitted driving 25-30 miles per hour on a 15 mile per hour frontage road.He still issued me a citation saying i failed to yield but i did yield ..i thought she whipped around the corner and i looked first..do i have any recourse about this citation ?


Asked on 11/13/97, 1:20 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Patrick A. T. West Ohio Ticket Defense Patrick A. T. West, Attorney at Law

Right of Way on Private Property

I don't know about Illinois, but in Ohio, "right of way" means the right to proceed in a lawful manner upon a public road or highway.

Many police officers do not know what "right of way" means. Some think it is an absolute right - it doesn't matter if you are going 90 miles per hour through a school zone - if someone pulls from a driveway and hits you, that driver is wrong because the car going straight had the right of way.

To have the right of way, the other driver had to be right in what (s)he was doing.

Right of way rules do not apply on private property because a "way" is a public road"way" or high"way" - if no "way" is involved, there can be no right of way.

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Answered on 11/14/97, 2:17 pm


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