So it looks like Venus Williams (USA, women's tennis) is at fault in causing that fatal car crash earlier this month

The whole chain of events is kind of confusing.

First, it looks like Venus hesitated a bit before proceeding through the intersection, but not to a crazy degree. Presumably this is what caused the white car to make the left turn in front of her, because otherwise Venus would have had the right of way. Then for whatever reason she stops for a long time to let that second car, the dark one, make another left turn in front of her. It wasn't like the second left-turn car was buzzing right at her, she definitely paused for a little bit to let it go.

At any rate, the old woman who hit Venus was coming through like a bat out of hell. Either she was completely oblivious to the traffic around her, and/or she was trying to time the green light perfectly to avoid slowing down and so was already accelerating through the intersection. Venus ought to counter-sue her.

Trollception wrote:

Agree with the poster above. I can't believe this is even a debate! Just because the light is green doesn't mean you can or should just ignore what's directly in front of you and go ahead full speed. Intersections get blocked all the time.

The person with the green light is the one responsible, not the one who illegally entered the intersection, stopped in the middle, started, stopped again, then started again at the last few seconds and didn't make it across, and of course being a tennis star is not a factor. Therefore the one who had the green light is the guilty one.

reer wrote:

At any rate, the old woman who hit Venus was coming through like a bat out of hell. Either she was completely oblivious to the traffic around her, and/or she was trying to time the green light perfectly to avoid slowing down and so was already accelerating through the intersection. Venus ought to counter-sue her.

The old woman was in the right lane and did not see Williams' car in front of her. Williams came to a dead stop in the middle of the wide intersection to let the dark car turn left. From the video time stamps, It looks like it was a very short light cycle, maybe less than 10 seconds. By the time Williams got moving again, her light had been red for a while.

There were several cars in the left lane blocking the old woman's view of Williams' car. All she could see was the green light and a clear lane in front of her, so she gunned it. To her, Williams' car came out of nowhere.

I don't think anyone here has a clearly assignable fault. It was an unfortunate accident. Williams should quietly settle for a couple of mil and let it go away.

evidence wrote:

Williams should quietly settle for a couple of mil and let it go away.

It would probably cheaper for her to just bleed the other lady dry financially so that she gives up her suit.

probably cheaper wrote:

evidence wrote:

Williams should quietly settle for a couple of mil and let it go away.

It would probably cheaper for her to just bleed the other lady dry financially so that she gives up her suit.

The old lady will have plenty of lawyers lining up to work on a contingency basis. It won't cost her anything.

From personal experience I can tell you that even a fairly simple one-day trial will run Williams close to a mil in costs.

And this one will not be simple.

evidence wrote:

probably cheaper wrote:

It would probably cheaper for her to just bleed the other lady dry financially so that she gives up her suit.

The old lady will have plenty of lawyers lining up to work on a contingency basis. It won't cost her anything.

From personal experience I can tell you that even a fairly simple one-day trial will run Williams close to a mil in costs.

And this one will not be simple.

Williams could sue her, though. No one is going to defend her on contingency, right?

To me, it would be worth it to break her just on principle, but that's just me, and I could understand Williams settling if that suits her own sensibilities.

probably cheaper wrote:

To me, it would be worth it to break her just on principle

What principle?

evidence wrote:

probably cheaper wrote:

To me, it would be worth it to break her just on principle

What principle?

I just want to do all that's in my reasonable power to hurt anyone who threatens to harm me. That's a principle, right?

probably cheaper wrote:

evidence wrote:

What principle?

I just want to do all that's in my reasonable power to hurt anyone who threatens to harm me. That's a principle, right?

The problem you have is that Williams has no reason to sue her. She was not hurt in the crash. She didn't even miss work (Wimbledon). Her car got wrecked, but that's covered by insurance. She has no damages. There is nothing for her to sue over.

evidence wrote:

The old woman was in the right lane and did not see Williams' car in front of her. Williams came to a dead stop in the middle of the wide intersection to let the dark car turn left. From the video time stamps, It looks like it was a very short light cycle, maybe less than 10 seconds. By the time Williams got moving again, her light had been red for a while.

There were several cars in the left lane blocking the old woman's view of Williams' car. All she could see was the green light and a clear lane in front of her, so she gunned it. To her, Williams' car came out of nowhere.

I don't think anyone here has a clearly assignable fault. It was an unfortunate accident. Williams should quietly settle for a couple of mil and let it go away.

This is what I saw as well. However, I can't imagine driving across a 6 lane highway after the light had turned red without checking to see if everyone had stopped for me. It's not the law, but it is stupid. There are way too many distracted drivers to expect oncoming drivers to see you, especially on a divided highway like that one. I suspect a civil jury would see it that way as well... or at least enough to force Venus to pay.

Had the old couple been driving an SUV and Venus a Hyundai, the injuries could have easily been reversed.

This, in part, is why I just bought a 4,600 pound Honda Odyssey for my wife to drive instead of a 2,500 pound Hyundai Accent.

"This, in part, is why I just bought a 4,600 pound Honda Odyssey for my wife to drive instead of a 2,500 pound Hyundai Accent."

pics of ur wife?

evidence wrote:

The old woman was in the right lane and did not see Williams' car in front of her. Williams came to a dead stop in the middle of the wide intersection to let the dark car turn left. From the video time stamps, It looks like it was a very short light cycle, maybe less than 10 seconds. By the time Williams got moving again, her light had been red for a while.

There were several cars in the left lane blocking the old woman's view of Williams' car. All she could see was the green light and a clear lane in front of her, so she gunned it. To her, Williams' car came out of nowhere.

I don't think anyone here has a clearly assignable fault. It was an unfortunate accident. Williams should quietly settle for a couple of mil and let it go away.

That's a good description of what happened, thank you.