In Louisiana, a driver executing a left turn has a heightened duty of care. In other words, a driver turning left must be extremely cautious because the driver must often cross one or two lanes of oncoming traffic before straightening the wheel from the turn.
Louisiana Revised Statute 32:122 states: The driver of a vehicle within an intersection intending to turn to the left shall yield the right of way to all vehicles approaching from the opposite direction which are within the intersection or so close thereto as to constitute an immediate hazard.
Thus, if a person makes a left-hand turn from an intersection and is hit by oncoming traffic from the driver’s right or left, the driver making the left turn will be deemed at fault for the accident for failing to yield. This of course assumes that the vehicles coming from the right or left did not have a duty to stop or yield for a traffic control sign or light.
Furthermore, Louisiana case law holds that left-turning motorists must exercise a high degree of care because they are engaged in dangerous maneuvers. Neal v. Highlands Ins. Co., 610 So.2d 177 (La. App. 3 Cir.1992), writ denied, 612 So.2d 100 (La.1993).
Often a court will instruct a jury that a left-turning motorist is presumed at fault for an accident. This means that the left-turning motorist must prove that (1) she was not negligent, (2) she executed the left turn safely, and, (3) the cause of the accident was due to another factor or person.
It should be noted that not all left-hand turn accidents create a presumption of fault against the left-turning motorists. But what is clear is that when executing a left-hand turn that requires crossing into other vehicles’ right-of-way, the left-turning driver should be extremely cautious.
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