Who is at Fault in a Car Accident When Changing Lanes?

• January 14, 2025
• Attorney David Mann
• Car Accidents

There are two reasons why many car accident legal cases involve changing lanes. First, cars changing lanes creates a naturally higher risk of collision than cars driving straight down the road. Second, it can be difficult to prove what happened and who is at fault for the accident. Here are some ways to determine who is at fault in a lane-change accident.

Who is at Fault in a Lane-Changing Accident?

A lane-change accident follows the same law as other car accident cases. Fault in a car accident is determined by negligence. Negligence is when someone has a duty to someone else and injures them by not meeting that duty. For example, drivers have a duty to drive safely, and causing an accident by failing to drive safely is considered negligence.

Fault in a lane-change accident does not depend on whether or not a driver got a ticket. The standards for a traffic ticket are different from the standards for a car accident lawsuit. A traffic ticket requires a breach of a specific traffic statute. It can also be hard for an officer to have enough proof to write a ticket without having directly seen the incident.

If an officer does write a traffic ticket, it will often be useful evidence in proving negligence. However, the ticket must be related to the cause of an accident. For example, even if the driver that caused the accident had an expired license plate and got a ticket for it, having an expired license plate didn’t cause the accident. A ticket for something like an improper lane change or speeding would usually help show that the driver caused the accident.

Who is at Fault in a Car Accident When Changing Lanes?

The person who was changing lanes will usually be at fault in a car accident involving lane changing. The car staying in the same lane generally has a right to continue in that lane. It’s similar to how a driver at a yield sign or stop sign needs to wait to have a clear path before they can proceed. Like any general rule, there can be exceptions.

• If a car speeds up to block another from changing lanes, that driver might have fault for a subsequent accident.
• If two cars are changing lanes at the same time, they might both have a duty to avoid the other. Fault may not be clear, or it might be shared between the two drivers.
• The car changing lanes may not be at fault if the other car did something else unsafe that led to the crash. For example, the driver who was changing lanes may have prudently checked to see that the lane was clear but not have been able to see a car approaching through traffic at more than twice the posted speed limit. In that situation, the speeding driver might be liable for the accident even if they never changed lanes.

Who is at Fault in a Blind Spot Accident?

Blind spots are areas around the vehicle that the driver can’t see unless they move their head in the direction of the spot.  Drivers must remember to check their blind spots before changing lanes or they are at risk of getting into an accident.  Many newer cars have sensors on the side that will beep inside the car if there is another driver within the blind spot area.

Blind spot accidents occur frequently when one or both vehicles are changing lanes, but they can also occur when:

• Drivers are merging onto or off of a highway
• Drivers are backing up in parking lots or driveways
• Drivers make sudden or unexpected movements with their vehicle and don’t see other cars in their blind spots.

Determining fault in blind spot accidents can be complex.  In some cases, both vehicles may not have checked their blind spots and the sides of their vehicles hit into one another.  If it is determined that more than one driver is at fault in a blind spot accident, a judge or jury can assign blame to both parties.

Georgia is a modified comparative negligence state, which means that the amount of compensation is based on the percentage of fault.  The more one driver is at fault in the blind spot accident, the less their compensation will probably be.

Fault in an Improper Lane-Change Accident

Georgia has two main traffic laws regarding improper lane changes. If a driver violates one of these laws, they will usually be responsible for the accident.

Georgia Code Section 40-6-123 requires that a driver:

• Only change lanes when it is safe to do so
• Use their turn signal before changing lanes
• Not suddenly stop or decrease their speed after changing lanes.

Georgia Code Section 40-6-48 requires that drivers use traffic lanes as they are marked. It also requires that “a vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and shall not be moved from such lane until the driver has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety.”

Other types of traffic violations that might be considered lane-change accidents include improper passing, improper use of turn lanes or emergency lanes, or otherwise changing lanes when not permitted to do so. Since these types of laws are usually intended to prevent accidents, it can be hard for a driver cited for a violation to try to argue that they weren’t at fault for the accident. Distracted driving accidents is also a common factor in lane-change accidents since the distraction can make the driver less observant when changing lanes.

Fault For Unsafe Lane-Change Accidents

There is not really a difference between an improper lane change and an unsafe lane change. Instead, these words might be used interchangeably. Unsafe lane change can also sometimes be more specific than improper lane change.

For example, it might be an improper lane change to change lanes before a no-passing zone turns into a passing zone. However, if a driver does so only a few feet from the end of the no-passing zone and has full visibility, this might not be unsafe in the eyes of most people.

On the other hand, there can be an unsafe lane change even where lane changes are technically allowed. For example, drivers can normally change lanes when there are dotted white lines. However, they still have to make sure it is safe to do so by checking for other cars before changing lanes. Whether you call a lane change improper, unsafe, or both, a bad lane change will often mean that the driver is at fault for the accident.

If you are involved in a lane-change accident, you should move the car to the side of the road and call the police.  You should also take pictures and videos of both cars and get the names of any eyewitnesses to the accident.

Get Help From an Experienced Accident Lawyer

Lane-change accidents can be hard to prove because it’s often one driver’s word against the other’s. Unlike a stop sign accident, the damage to the cars may not clearly show who was changing lanes and who had the right of way. The experienced trial attorneys at Mann Law Firm can help you prove your claim and get the compensation you deserve. Call (478) 742-3381 to schedule a consultation.