Willie Scott Floyd planned to leave New Haven Monday with a truck load of paper products. Instead he left with a $138 ticket after his Panther truck collided with a 75-year-old woman’s Volkswagen Rabbit.
The collision occurred around 1 p.m. at the intersection of Orange and Grove Streets.
Floyd, who is from New Jersey, turned right onto Grove from the left of two southbound lanes.
The 75-year-old woman in the Rabbit turned right from the right of the two lanes.
Smash!
Despite the mangling of her car, the woman appeared unhurt, according to police and to witnesses. She got out of the car, was walking fine, though she did have broken glass in her hair. But friends convinced her to go to the hospital to be checked.
Meanwhile, Floyd pressed his case with Officer Ben Hines, who issued him a $138 ticket for failure to maintain the proper lane.
Floyd wasn’t pleased. He was already out $1,600, which he would have been paid to pick up the paper products, he said. He owns the cab, rents the truck from Panther. Because of the collision, somebody else would get the pick-up, while Floyd’s truck would be repaired. He worried about being on the hook for repairs if found at fault.
Hines told Floyd he was issuing the ticket because Floyd apparently took the turn the same time as the 75-year-old woman, thereby smashing her car.
Floyd insisted he had already started making the turn, that he didn’t even see the woman coming. She came up behind him out of nowhere, he claimed.
“Listen,” Floyd responded, ” if we were both turning at the same time, she would have made her turn first.”
Floyd persisted. Hines listened patiently. Though Floyd spoke passionately, both men kept their cool.
“Everybody that saw it,” Floyd said, faulted the woman.
Where is “everybody”? Hines asked.
“They were walking by,” Floyd said. “I didn’t have time to get witness statements.”
Hines reported that the woman said she and Floyd took the turn at the same time. Hines added that he spoke to three witnesses. “Separately— now this is separately I talked to them — their stories all match up with what I’m telling you.”
Floyd asked if that means he has to pay the $138. Hines showed him the back of the ticket, where Floyd can mark off a “not guilty” box and appear in court to contest it. Then the two shook hands.
Hines returned to his squad car. Floyd told his story again. He said on narrow roads like Orange, a truck driver needs to “control” both lanes, which he said he did. His truck can’t make the turn from the right lane.
“She came up too fast, he insisted. “Not only that — she came up behind me. I was in mid-turn.
“If we started at the same time, her car beats me.”
He plans to tell that to the judge, too.
there's a sign on the back of the truck, right side—CAUTION—wide right turns—that also shows a truck making a wide turn, a car on its right, and an imminent collision. as the truck driver said, he can't make a right turn from the right lane. hence the sign on the rear of the truck warning drivers. i don't know what the law is in cases like these, but i always pay attention to that sign when i see it on a large truck, and i wait until the truck has made its turn before proceeding. the driver of the car apparently wasn't aware of the truck's intentions to turn (was its turn signal on?) and also was not driving defensively. regardless of who turns out to be "right" in this case, the driver of the car made a foolish move!!