Traffic Q&A: Judge Judy gets law right
Even though a surveillance camera showed the backing car was over halfway out of the space and the other car was going much too fast -- as the driver admitted --
What does
-- Art K., Allyn
Answer: Your transportation columnist tried to track down this "Judge Judy" episode to verify the details -- and definitely not to squander valuable company time and resources on guilty-pleasure television -- but we were stymied.
The episode ran in mid-November, but channels both official and sketchy (who are you, people who upload random courtroom TV episodes onto personal
So we can provide no further context or, regrettably, witticisms from the millionaire
We can, however, report that two
Start the reasoning with the big picture: A store parking lot is, technically, private property, but as it's generally open to all comers, laws of vehicular behavior and liability largely work the same there as on a city street.
Attorney
This means the same rules of right of way that apply elsewhere come into play out front of the Safeway or around the
After we establish that a parking lot isn't a lawless land, parsing the rest gets mildly tricky.
Although a person admittedly speeding through the lot, and caught on camera doing it, would seem to be negligent, the law gives that person right of way while he's traveling the main corridor, even if he's doing it irresponsibly.
The state statute on the other guy is terse enough to be nice and clear: "The driver of a vehicle shall not back the same unless such movement can be made with safety and without interfering with other traffic."
So the speeding person gets off clean as a hound's tooth when it comes to liability? If that's what
He wasn't happy about it, though.
"It doesn't make sense," he said, his voice rising. "It shouldn't be that way. If somebody's going 60 in a Target parking lot, chances are he would get cited with negligent driving if he gets the guy pulling out. However, the law is the guy pulling out really has to be watching it."
Attorney
"Of course, if the passing car is going too fast for safe passage of a parking lot, he'll share some blame," Landry wrote in an email. "Insurance companies will fight on this, but it is fairly well settled that the backing driver must wait until the coast is clear, and emerge slowly."
So proceed cautiously out there, especially in busy parking lots during this holiday shopping season. Drive at safe speeds, yield when backing up and never fight over a parking place. It's rare that either party comes out of that blameless, or even particularly happy about humanity.
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