Accident Prime Advanced - Collision (released from hospital)

Sid sorry to hear and hope you recover fully.
You answered my question before I asked, we used to go to church 401 N. Kings Highway so I know the place (sort of we moved 2001).

Were you proceeding north or south?
Do they have a stop sign?

When I ride my bike here in the neighborhood, some of the townhome complex parking lots have entrances with no stop signs, so drivers just barrel out onto the side road without stopping, so I have to watch like a hawk and slam my brakes on if I see a car maneuvering in the parking lot.

 

Prius c is also safe.
I suppose you could get another Advanced once the "totaled" is declared or get a used Prius c (keep in mind that I had a major accident in 2013 with a Prius c and I had no injuries, so also safe enough) to cut back on monthly expenses.

 

No, I believe you are at fault because you hit her.
With all of those vehicles stopped on your right, you should have slowed to a crawl before approaching the gap which is easy to see and anticipate that a gap is there for a reason.
I have witnessed a similar type of accident and saw the same type of driver blissfully unaware of a gap before he got hit by the other guy who raced through the gap.
In your situation, better luck next time and mind those gaps.

 

Glad OP is safe.

I believe the car is totaled. Maybe you can buy a Prius again and claim the tax twice? And hopefully insurance company would give you the total price of the car not after tax credit.

 

Around here virtually no one does a legal stop, WITH stop signs.

 

Wow, that sucks. I am not familiar with the law, and I don't live in "no-fault" state. I had to look it up. I am really sorry to hear this. According to following Wiki article, the "no-fault" scheme only applies to bodily injury, and not to the vehicle damages. (see bold section below from Wikipedia)

Overview in United States

Most U.S. states have a "traditional tort" liability system for auto insurance in which recovery is governed by principles of provable negligence. However, twelve U.S. states and the Commonwealth territory of Puerto Rico require policyholders to operate under a "no-fault" scheme in which individuals injured in automobile collisions are limited in their ability to seek recovery from other drivers or vehicle owners involved in a collision[8] and an additional 8 states have an "add-on" system in which the insureds retain the right to sue.[8]

In three U.S. states – Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania – policyholders are permitted to choose between traditional tort and no-fault recovery regimes. Under such systems, known as “choice” or “optional” no-fault, policyholders must select between “full tort” and “limited tort” (no-fault) options at the time the policy is written or renewed; once the policy terms are set forth an insured may not change his/her mind without rewriting the policy. In both Kentucky and New Jersey, policyholders who do not make an affirmative choice in favor of either full tort or limited tort are assigned the no-fault option by default; whereas in Pennsylvania, the full-tort option is the default.

Several U.S. states have experimented with and repealed their no-fault laws. Twenty-four states originally enacted no-fault laws in some form between 1970 and 1975. Colorado repealed its no-fault system in 2003. Florida's no-fault system sunset on October 1, 2007, but the Florida legislature passed a new no-fault law which took effect January 1, 2008.

In terms of damages to vehicles and their contents, those claims are still based on fault. No-fault systems focus solely on issues of compensation for bodily injury. But it also works the other way: policies pay the medical bills for drivers and their companions independent of who was at-fault for the collision.​

 

I still think her insurance should cover you.

 

You can sue. NJ is a very litigious state.
We moved from NJ with 3 law suits on us, 2 for car accidents, one we were not at fault but they sued everyone in the multi-car accident, one was minor school rear-ender but the kids parents sued my kid for injury, and a moving guy sued us for a fall they said happened.

We did not get a lawyer for any of that, except our insurance company had to supply lawyer. My wife had to go back to NJ for a trial on the moving incident - not guilty was verdict. Hung over us for years though.

 

You can claim another $4502 for another new car, there is no limit. But you have to act fast, the Toyota $5000 rebate deal ends today (and hopefully will get extended). But not too many 2017 inventory left. Good luck with your insurance claim and new car search

 

FL is also no fault. When we were totaled by a texter, the other driver's insurance still paid for our car. Medical had to be by our insurance since they didn't have any and it looked like it would be a waste to try to get money from these folks since they obviously didn't have any.

However, it looks like NJ is a little different. I found this website. Hope it helps. New Jersey No-Fault Auto Insurance Laws | All-About-Car-Accidents.com

Also, we found a great attorney who did enough negotiating that we actually got a fair amount of cash out of the medical side after the insurance dust settled. We would otherwise had to pay tens of thousands of dollars.

 

I haven't heard of any particular areas where the car in the main travel lane must yield to the car trying to cross through the gap.

Had the other cars been stopped and creating a gap for a pedestrian at an intersection, or at a marked crosswalk between intersections, then OP would have been a fault for striking the pedestrian. But this was neither a marked crosswalk, not a true intersection where unmarked crosswalk rules apply, nor a pedestrian involved.

 

The street view shows a stop sign.

 

You're right. The next time you see a gap, just pretend nothing important is taking place and go ahead and blindly demolish a walker or another driver going through a gap that other drivers have kindly let cut in front of them.
Hopefully the sound of crushing metal, breaking glass and screams of someone in pain give you something to be aware of when you see a gap on the roads and think that maybe somebody should have yielded.

 

You are jumping to conclusions the OP never said there were stopped cars leaving a gap. He said:

"I guess the driver saw gap and did a run for it. While I was on the other lane and didn't see the SUV coming."

I interpret this as the cars in the other lane were moving but the SUV saw a gap they thought they could shoot through and didn't see the Prime in the other lane.

Even if there were stopped cars leaving a gap, the SUV is responsible to make sure it is safe to proceed through the gap, not just "shoot through it" blindly and assume that oncoming cars in the other lane will see them and stop also.

Who said anything about ignoring gaps created by stopped cars?

 

I think it’s totally illegal for a driver to cross the road and go straight across 4 lanes of traffic. The safe pattern is to fall into the center respite lanes and have time to evaluate traffic. Also in your lanes she was also going slightly opposite traffic. Thirdly, before entering any lane, she had to assure it’s clear. ( failure to yield ). You’re covered all the way around. Be glad the Prime crumbled, that’s what it should do. Glad you are not hurt.

That is frightening.

That is the most audacious and reckless move Iv ever seen....and illegal. You are not in any way at fault.
Stick to your guns on reparation, be patient, get a nice rental car.

 

Whenever you're passing along side another lane that's stopped, or nearly stopped, there's a danger. Either that the lane is backed up and someone in that lane will be tempted to abruptly change into your lane, or they're stopped to let someone through, either a car or a pedestrian. In a nutshell, anytime you're driving beyond your ability to brake in in time, and this might be once instance, you're gambling. Without any more info, I'd call this one 50/50 blame.

 

Thank You Mendel. I agree with your caution. BUT, you don’t cross 5 lanes of traffic. I know you wouldn’t.

 

PRIMES should always have the right of way.

 

The OP never said the cars in the other lane were stopped or nearly stopped. In fact he gave no indication of the speed of the other cars or his own speed, other than mentioning that he was in the process of slowing down for an upcoming signal light.