So, me and my mate are trying to work out who is at fault in this car accident we witnessed this afternoon, mostly out of curiosity as we continued to discuss this after the fact
Here is the situation:
Hand Drawn diagram
Time of day is peak hour traffic ( heavy traffic coming from right side)
Controlled intersection ( controlled by lights)
Car A is in the intersection and is waiting to turn right
Car B is approaching the intersection and is about 30-40m away from the stop line, no cars are behind them.
Light has just turned Yellow
Car A begins to make turn and is hit by Car B
Who is at fault and why?
The road rules that I could find that relate are:
57 Stopping for a yellow traffic light or arrow
(1) A driver approaching or at traffic lights showing a yellow traffic light must stop—
(a) if there is a stop line at or near the traffic lights and the driver can stop safely before reaching the stop line—as near as practicable to, but before reaching, the stop line; or
(b) if there is no stop line at or near the traffic lights and the driver can stop safely before reaching the traffic lights—as near as practicable to, but before reaching, the nearest or only traffic lights; or
(c) if the traffic lights are at an intersection and the driver cannot stop safely in accordance with paragraph (a) or (b), but can stop safely before entering the intersection—
and must not proceed past the stop line or nearest or only traffic lights, or into the intersection (as the case may be), until the traffic lights show a green or flashing yellow traffic light or no traffic light.
But they also state:
62 Giving way when turning at an intersection with traffic lights
(1) A driver turning at an intersection with traffic lights must give way to -
(d) if the driver is turning right—any oncoming vehicle that is going straight ahead or turning left at the intersection (except a vehicle turning left using a slip lane).
if we go by rule 62, Car A is clearly at fault for failing to give way.
if we go by rule 57 then wouldn't Car B be at fault?
EDIT
I should point out that it was more out of interested and to understand why, not whose fault it was (yes, that is what I said in the original post) but primarily why those rules wouldn't apply to both drivers or affect one another
Car A is at fault because they turned into oncoming traffic when it was not safe to do so, but then as this was a controlled intersection - has lights to control the flow of traffic , then wouldn't Car B be at fault for failure to stop at a yellow light if it was safe to do so?
[Intersection] (https://goo.gl/maps/jLiWRiWznHKxxsQNA)
Lights do have arrows to allow turning traffic first before allowing cars to cross the intersection, it then allows for cars to turn right.
Car A is going against peak hour traffic (North Dandenong Clinc would be on its left) and was in the intersection attempting to turn right.
Car B is in Peak hour traffic (30 to 40m would be in line with the trees behind the Qik Wash on its right side), Lets also say that it had no cars behind it for 60-80m
Speed Limit is 60. it would have been a somewhat lower speed for Car B due to peak hour traffic
On Car A side appeared to be going the 60 km limit before the lights changed.
it is extremely common for people to be Car B- trying to beat the Red light after it had gone Yellow(not slowing down or speeding up Especially during peak hour traffic, so are they getting of free and why would Rule 57 not be a factor in this situation?
Car A is at fault because it was not safe to proceed through the intersection