Intersection and Left-Turn Crashes in West Covina, CA Right of Way, Signals and Broadside Impacts

The yield duty, in the statute's own terms

Vehicle Code section 21801 puts the burden on the driver intending a left turn or a U-turn: oncoming traffic near enough to be a hazard has the right of way, and the yield continues until the movement can be completed with reasonable safety. Subdivision (b) then flips the burden: once the turning driver has yielded and begun the turn, approaching drivers must yield to the turning vehicle. Section 21800 covers uncontrolled intersections, giving priority to the vehicle on the right when two arrive at approximately the same time, and section 21453 requires a stop at a steady circular red and prohibits entering the intersection until a green appears. Section 22450 sets the stop-line rule at posted stop signs.

Why a permissive green is the whole dispute

A left turn made on a solid green ball is legal and also unprotected. The turning driver is responsible for judging the approaching vehicle's distance and speed, so the entire case becomes a question of what could reasonably be judged from the turn pocket. That is why signal phasing records matter more than statements. If the intersection ran a protected left arrow at that time of day, the analysis changes completely; if it ran permissive, the argument moves to sight lines, approach speed and whether the opposing driver entered on a stale yellow. The physical evidence for that argument is the impact geometry: the point of contact on each vehicle and the final rest positions.

The city is rebuilding these intersections for a reason

West Covina obtained a Highway Safety Improvement Program award of $3,184,700 in state funds with no local match for signal improvements at ten intersections, with protected left-turn phasing identified as the major improvement at Sunset Avenue and Merced Avenue, Cameron Avenue and Orange Avenue, Vincent Avenue and Puente Avenue, Lark Ellen Avenue and Badillo Avenue, Hollenbeck Avenue and Cameron Avenue, and Sentous Avenue and La Puente Road. For a collision that happened before that work was completed at a given location, the phasing in place on the crash date is the relevant fact, and the grant record is a useful indicator of which junctions were operating on permissive phasing.

What the local data shows about broadsides

The City's roadway safety plan recorded broadside as the leading collision type at 31 percent, with improper turning second among primary causes at 19.5 percent, and reported that 31.3 percent of fatal and severe-injury collisions in the city involved intersections against a statewide figure of 23.8 percent. Individual locations skew far higher than the citywide average: Valinda Avenue at Cameron Avenue produced 48 collisions of which 48 percent were broadside and six were head-on, Lark Ellen Avenue at Badillo Street produced 41 collisions with broadsides at 66 percent, and Citrus Street at Cortez Street produced 26 collisions with broadsides at 62 percent. A claim arising at one of those junctions sits inside a documented pattern.

The occupant-side problem

Broadside impacts load the side structure, where there is far less crush distance than in a front or rear collision, and they frequently involve occupants other than the drivers. That produces two separate consequences. Injuries tend to be more severe at the same closing speeds, and multiple claimants tend to compete for a single liability limit. Where one policy has to cover several injured people, the sequence in which claims are documented and presented becomes a practical issue, and Civil Code section 1431.2's rule that noneconomic damages are owed severally in proportion to fault becomes the arithmetic that shapes each person's share.

Evidence with an expiration date

Signal timing data is retained by the operating agency for a limited period, and the phase in effect on a particular date must be requested rather than assumed. Business and residential camera footage near a signalized arterial is typically overwritten within days to a few weeks. The vehicles themselves hold pre-impact speed and braking data that disappears when they are crushed. Independent witnesses at intersections are usually other drivers stopped on the opposing approach, and their contact information exists only in the collision report or nowhere.

If a specific intersection collision is the question

Useful first documents are the report number and responding agency, the exact intersection and approach direction, the time of day, photographs showing damage location on both vehicles, and any citation issued to either driver. Requests to the signal-operating agency and to nearby businesses are time-sensitive for the reasons above, while the two-year injury deadline in Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 continues to run. The material here is general information about California traffic and damages rules, not legal advice about any collision. Specific questions can be taken to the attorney who advertises on this site.