Intersection and Failure-to-Yield Crashes in Louisville, KY Right-of-Way Rules and Proof

The default rule, before any sign is involved

KRS 189.330(1) sets the baseline: where two vehicles approach or enter an intersection from different roadways at approximately the same time, the driver on the left yields to the driver on the right. Subsection (2) immediately notes that the baseline is modified at through intersections and elsewhere in the chapter, which is why the rule is rarely the whole answer in Louisville. Subsection (3) authorizes the state highway commissioner for state highways and local authorities for roads under their jurisdiction to designate stop or yield intersections and erect the signs. The first question in an intersection file is therefore which control was in place, because that determines which of the statute's later subsections governs the movement.

Stop signs and yield signs create different duties

Under subsection (4) a driver approaching a stop sign stops at a marked stop line, or before the near crosswalk if there is no line, or at the point nearest the intersecting roadway where approaching traffic can be seen. Having stopped, that driver yields to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching closely enough to be an immediate hazard, and that duty continues while the driver is moving across the intersection. A yield sign, addressed in subsection (5), requires slowing to a speed reasonable for conditions and stopping if safety requires it, then the same yield to immediate hazards. The subsection ends with a provision that shapes proof: where a driver passes a yield sign without stopping and then collides with a vehicle in the intersection, the collision is deemed prima facie evidence of a failure to yield the right-of-way.

Turning movements have their own subsections

Left turns generate a large share of these collisions and Kentucky covers them twice. Subsection (6)(b) requires the turn to be approached in the extreme left-hand lane lawfully available and, where practicable, made to the left of the center of the intersection, leaving in the extreme right-hand lane available on the road being entered. Subsection (9) is the yielding rule: a driver turning left within an intersection or into an alley, private road or driveway yields to oncoming traffic that is in the intersection or so close to it as to constitute an immediate hazard. Subsection (10) covers entering or crossing a roadway from a place that is not a roadway, such as a parking lot or a driveway, and requires yielding to everything already on the road. Subsection (11) governs shared center turn lanes: a left turn may not be made from any other lane, and the center lane may not be used except in preparing for or making that turn or merging after one.

Signals, devices and the movement nobody signals

Subsection (7) allows the Transportation Cabinet and local authorities to place traffic control devices directing a different course than the statute describes, and once those devices are in place a driver may not turn other than as directed. Subsection (8) forbids turning to proceed in the opposite direction unless the movement can be made safely and without interfering with other traffic, which is the provision that reaches a mid-block turn across traffic. Pedestrians are in this picture too: KRS 189.570(4) requires a driver to yield, slowing or stopping if needed, to a pedestrian crossing the roadway where signals are not in place or operating, and subsection (5) forbids overtaking a vehicle that has stopped at a crosswalk to let someone cross.

Proving who entered first

Nobody measures approximately the same time with a stopwatch, so intersection files are built from converging evidence. Signal timing and phase data, where the agency retains it, can establish which movement had a green indication. Vehicle damage patterns show impact angle and therefore relative position. Final rest positions and debris distribution indicate speed and direction. Nearby businesses and residences sometimes hold video for a matter of days, so a dated written request early is worth more than a subpoena later. Independent witnesses in a queue behind either driver often saw more than either driver did.

Both drivers usually carry some argument

Kentucky assigns percentages rather than winners. Under KRS 411.182 the trier of fact allocates the total fault among every party to the claim, including released parties, and the court states each party's equitable share, with a release reducing the claim by the released party's equitable share rather than by whatever that party paid. In an intersection case that structure invites arguments running both directions at once: a driver with the right-of-way may still be said to have been inattentive or fast, and a driver who rolled a stop may still point to an unlit or speeding vehicle. Because Kentucky abolishes tort liability to the extent reparation benefits are payable, the reparation ledger has to be read alongside the fault analysis rather than after it.

The first two weeks of an intersection file

Useful early steps are unglamorous: get the report number and the investigating agency, photograph sight lines and any vegetation or parked vehicles blocking a view, note the position of every sign and signal head, identify the businesses with cameras facing the approach, and write down the names of everyone who stopped. Nothing on this page is legal advice about a particular collision — it is a description of Kentucky's right-of-way statutes — and a specific intersection crash is a conversation for the attorney advertising on this site.