Defendant Driver Succeeds on Summary Judgment Where there Was No Evidence of Negligence When Driver Collided with a Turning Vehicle that Was ‘Waved’ Forward.

This action involved a motor vehicle collision where the facts were not in dispute. It was agreed the plaintiff approached an intersection, intending to make a left turn, when a driver facing in the opposite direction of travel “waved” the plaintiff to proceed. Unfortunately, the defendant driver was in an adjacent lane to the “waving” driver, and, when the plaintiff made the left turn in front of the opposing traffic, the defendant driver struck the plaintiff’s vehicle in the intersection. 

The court granted summary judgment to the defendant driver. The court recognized that, while the defendant driver has a duty to react to foreseeable events on the roadway, the plaintiff’s failure to yield at an intersection was not foreseeable conduct and the defendant driver was not liable for the collision.

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