Q: Police say I'm at fault for wreck an gave a failure to yield the right away ticket. What do I do?
I was pulling into my driveway when I was hit on my right side by a truck. My car is totaled. Truck had no damage. The speed limit was 45 mph and the skid marks from the accident were 70 ft at least.
A:
Take pictures of the skid marks. Put a level on the surface of the road to measure the slope.
With respect to the traffic ticket, plead not guilty and request a trial.
With respect to the car accident, turn in a claim to your insurance and make a claim against the other driver's insurance. If the other driver's insurance denies your claim, file a lawsuit against the other driver for the fair market value of your car at the time of the collision and for loss of use (e.g. the fair rental value of your car) for a reasonable time until you are able to buy a new car.
Note that on dry asphalt with no slope and 100% braking efficiency, a 70-foot skid mark equates an estimated speed of roughly 35-36 mph which is below the posted speed limit of 45 mph according to your question. https://goodcalculators.com/skid-speed-calculator/
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