Getting A Ticket
Doesn't Necessarily Mean
It Was Your Fault

By David Fonvielle, Partner

Our client initially was not going to contact an attorney after receiving a ticket in an auto accident and being told by police it was her fault. Annette Cary had run into the side of a tanker trailer in the dark as it backed across her lane of traffic on Woodville Highway. The investigating Highway Patrol trooper thought she should have seen the trailer in time to avoid hitting it.

It was early and still dark the morning of the accident when Mrs. Carey drove to work from her home in St. Marks. She knew the Tallahassee route well since she had traveled it for the past several years. All she remembers about the accident is that someone suddenly ran in front of her, and then seeing something else in the road. Her next memory was of being attended to in her wrecked car.

Knowing she was a cautious and careful driver, her friend suggested she talk to us about the accident. There didn’t seem to be a question about her falling asleep at the wheel since she saw the person run in front of her immediately before the accident. So how could she have not seen the trailer in time to stop?

I assigned our chief investigator, Bob Parke, to the case and asked him to determine if there was any explanation for the accident other than Mrs. Carey being distracted. Bob was able to find another Wakulla County resident who had passed through the same area within a few minutes prior to Mrs. Carey that morning. The witness told Bob that as he approached what later became the accident scene, he suddenly saw a semi-trailer backing out onto the Woodville Highway and had to swerve to miss it. Although it was dark, this witness did not see any lights on the trailer. Bob Parke was able to determine that the trailer observed by this witness was the same one Mrs. Carey ran into a minute or two later, about 150 yards down the road.

By the time Mrs. Carey approached the scene, the tractor had backed the tanker trailer out of one driveway and was backing it down Woodville Highway in a northerly direction and into another entrance to what used to be the St. Marks Refinery. As she approached, the tractor portion of the rig would have been facing her in the opposing southbound lane as it backed towards the entrance to the Refinery and across her lane of traffic.

Of course, the truck driver and flagman who was walking with the truck as it backed up the Woodville Highway testified the tractor and trailer had its lights on at all times. The flagman also testified that although he walked with a flashlight in his hand to direct traffic, that he was directly in front of the headlights of the tractor as it was backing up the highway. He admitted seeing Mrs. Carey’s headlights as she approached and running in front of Mrs. Carey’s car immediately prior to the collision.

A reconstruction by our accident specialist revealed that as the tractor backed the trailer up the Woodville Highway and across Mrs. Carey’s lane of traffic, it was angled such that, if its headlights were on, they would have been shining directly into Mrs. Carey’s windshield. This would explain why she didn’t see the flagman, who was directly in front of the tractor’s headlights, and why her skid marks began just as she passed the glare of the headlights. If the tractor’s headlights had not been on, then the explanation for the accident was obvious, especially since there was a serious conflict in testimony about whether or not the flagman actually had a flashlight.

We presented our case to a Wakulla County jury and at the conclusion of our case, settled it for a confidential amount. The important message here however, is that had our client decided not to get a second opinion about what happened that morning, she would never have known that this accident was not her fault.

If you or a loved one are in an accident and you don’t agree or don’t understand why you were determined to be at fault by law enforcement, be sure and get a second opinion from our law firm.