Pueblo Failure to Yield Right of Way Lawyer

Someone ran a stop sign and hit you. Or pulled out in front of you at an intersection. Or turned left across your lane without waiting. And now they’re saying you could have stopped. That you were going too fast. That it was unavoidable.

It feels like your word against theirs. But failure to yield crashes leave evidence — physical evidence, camera footage, witness statements, skid patterns — that tells the real story of what happened.

At McCormick & Murphy, we handle failure to yield accidents in Pueblo, Pueblo West, Cañon City, Florence, and throughout Southern Colorado. We know how to reconstruct intersections, preserve camera footage before it’s erased, and counter the narratives insurance companies use to blame victims. If another driver violated your right of way and caused your injuries, we can help you prove it.

Call 888-668-1182 to speak with a personal injury attorney who knows how to build these cases.

What Failure to Yield Means Under Colorado Law

Colorado law gives specific drivers the right of way in specific situations. At a four-way stop, the first vehicle to arrive goes first. At a yield sign, you must let through traffic pass. When turning left, you must wait for oncoming traffic to clear. When entering a roadway from a parking lot or driveway, you must yield to vehicles already on the road.

Failure to yield means a driver ignored these rules and forced their vehicle into a space another driver had the legal right to occupy. The violation might last two seconds, but the collision that follows can change your life.

These aren’t always high-speed crashes. Many happen at intersections where speeds are moderate. But when a vehicle crosses into your path and you have no time to react, even 30 miles per hour generates enough force to cause serious injuries.

The Most Common Failure to Yield Scenarios We See in Pueblo

Left Turn Collisions

A driver waits at a green light to turn left. They misjudge the speed of oncoming traffic. Or they glance at their phone. Or they assume they have time. They turn, and your vehicle strikes them broadside or hits them head-on as they cross your lane.

Colorado law is clear: the driver making the left turn must yield to oncoming traffic. But insurance companies will still try to argue you were speeding or could have braked sooner. That’s why we document approach speeds, sight lines, and reaction times.

Stop Sign and Red Light Violations

You’re driving through an intersection with a green light. Another driver runs the red or rolls through a stop sign without looking. The impact happens in your peripheral vision — you never saw them coming because you had no reason to expect them.

These cases often hinge on witness statements and camera footage. Pueblo has traffic cameras at several major intersections. Businesses near smaller intersections often have security cameras that capture the approach. We send preservation letters immediately to make sure that footage isn’t deleted.

Merging and Lane Change Failures

On I-25 near Pueblo or Highway 50 heading toward Cañon City, a driver merges without checking their blind spot. Or they force their way into a lane that isn’t clear. You’re already occupying that space. There’s nowhere for you to go.

The driver who merges has the duty to yield. The vehicle already in the lane has the right of way. But fault still gets disputed, especially when both vehicles are damaged on the sides. Skid marks, final positions, and damage patterns tell us who was where when contact occurred.

Pedestrian Crosswalk Violations

Colorado law requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. That includes marked and unmarked crosswalks at intersections. A driver making a right turn on red, or rushing through a yellow light, strikes someone lawfully crossing.

These cases carry some of the most severe injuries we see. Pedestrians have no protection. Even low-speed impacts cause broken bones, head trauma, and internal injuries.

How We Prove the Other Driver Failed to Yield

You don’t have to prove your case in the hours after the crash. You just have to preserve the evidence so we can prove it later.

The Police Report

The responding officer documents the scene, interviews drivers and witnesses, and notes violations. If the other driver received a citation for failure to yield, that citation becomes powerful evidence. But even without a citation, the report contains details — skid marks, debris patterns, where each vehicle ended up — that help us reconstruct what happened.

Police reports aren’t always perfectly accurate. Officers arrive after the fact. They rely on statements from people who are shaken or injured. But the physical facts they document don’t lie.

Intersection and Business Cameras

Camera footage is the closest thing to an unbiased witness. Traffic cameras capture red light violations. Gas station cameras capture stop sign intersections. Dashboard cameras — yours or another driver’s — capture the moments before impact.

But this footage gets erased. Many systems overwrite recordings every 30 to 90 days. We send preservation letters to the City of Pueblo, CDOT, and any business with a potential view of the crash. We do this within days, not weeks.

Witness Statements

People who saw what happened often stop to give statements to police. Some leave their names. Others drive away before officers arrive. We canvass the area, check nearby businesses, and post requests for witnesses. Memories fade. We need to talk to witnesses while the crash is still fresh.

Accident Reconstruction

In disputed cases, we work with accident reconstruction experts who analyze skid marks, crush damage, and final vehicle positions. They calculate speeds, reaction times, and sight distances. They create diagrams and animations that show what the physical evidence proves.

Reconstruction isn’t necessary in every case. But when the other driver’s insurance company hires their own expert to blame you, we respond with evidence that holds up under scrutiny.

What to Do After a Failure to Yield Crash in Pueblo

Your priorities in the first hours are your health and basic documentation. Everything else can wait.

Get Medical Attention

Even if you don’t think you’re badly hurt. Adrenaline masks pain. Some injuries — soft tissue damage, internal bleeding, concussions — don’t show immediate symptoms. If an ambulance is called, let the paramedics evaluate you. If you refuse transport, see a doctor the same day or the next morning.

Insurance companies use gaps in treatment to argue your injuries weren’t serious. Don’t give them that opening.

Take Photos if You’re Able

Your phone is the best documentation tool you have. Photograph all vehicle damage from multiple angles. Photograph the intersection, including traffic signs, signals, and lane markings. Photograph skid marks, debris, and where each vehicle came to rest. Photograph your injuries.

You don’t need professional-quality photos. You just need a visual record before the vehicles are towed and the road is cleared.

Exchange Information but Limit Conversation

Get the other driver’s name, insurance company, and policy number. Give them yours. Do not discuss fault. Do not apologize. Do not speculate about what happened. Anything you say can be used to argue you admitted responsibility.

Report the Crash but Don’t Give a Recorded Statement Yet

You’re required to report crashes that cause injury or significant property damage. Call your insurance company to report that a crash occurred. But when they ask for a recorded statement, you can wait. Once you give a recorded statement, you can’t take it back. Talk to a lawyer first.

The other driver’s insurance company will also call you. They’ll be polite. They’ll say they just need your side of the story. You are not required to give them a statement. Refer them to your attorney.

What Compensation Covers in a Failure to Yield Case

Colorado law allows you to recover damages for all harm caused by the at-fault driver. That includes economic losses you can measure and non-economic harm you can’t put a dollar figure on.

Medical Expenses

Emergency room treatment, ambulance transport, surgery, hospital stays, physical therapy, medication, medical equipment, and future care your doctors say you’ll need. If the crash caused a permanent injury, we work with medical experts to project lifetime costs.

Lost Income

Wages you lost while recovering, sick leave and vacation time you had to use, and future earning capacity if your injuries prevent you from returning to your previous job or working the same hours.

Property Damage

Repair costs or fair market value if your vehicle is totaled, rental car expenses while your vehicle is in the shop or while you’re looking for a replacement, and personal items damaged in the crash.

Pain and Suffering

The physical pain of your injuries, the emotional impact of the crash, anxiety or depression that follows trauma, loss of enjoyment if you can’t do activities you used to do, and the daily frustration of living with limitations you didn’t have before.

Insurance companies have formulas for calculating pain and suffering. We don’t use their formulas. We present the full picture of how your life has changed and demand compensation that reflects it.

Colorado’s Modified Comparative Fault Rule

Colorado allows you to recover compensation even if you were partially at fault, as long as your fault doesn’t exceed 49%. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault. If you’re found 20% at fault and your damages total $100,000, you recover $80,000.

Insurance companies use this rule to their advantage. They’ll argue you were speeding, distracted, or could have avoided the crash. Even when the other driver clearly violated your right of way, they’ll try to pin some blame on you to reduce what they pay.

That’s why we don’t accept their initial fault assessments. We gather evidence that shows what really happened and we push back against inflated claims about your speed or your reaction time.

Common Injuries in Failure to Yield Crashes

The sudden, high-force impact when a vehicle crosses into your path causes injuries that affect every part of your body.

Neck and Back Injuries

Whiplash, herniated discs, spinal fractures, and soft tissue strains. You might feel soreness the day after the crash that turns into chronic pain weeks later. You might have nerve pain that radiates down your arms or legs. These injuries often require months of physical therapy and sometimes surgery.

Head Injuries and Concussions

Your head strikes the window, the steering wheel, or the headrest. Or your brain moves inside your skull from the force of impact. Concussion symptoms — headaches, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, sensitivity to light — can last months. Severe traumatic brain injuries can cause permanent cognitive changes.

Chest and Abdominal Injuries

The seatbelt saves your life but bruises your chest. The steering wheel compresses your ribcage. Broken ribs, bruised organs, and internal bleeding are common in front and side impacts. Some internal injuries don’t show symptoms immediately. That’s why we insist clients get checked even when they feel okay.

Broken Bones

Arms, wrists, legs, ankles, ribs, collarbones. Fractures happen when your body is thrown against the interior of the vehicle or when the vehicle structure intrudes into the passenger compartment. Some fractures heal in weeks. Others require surgery, pins, plates, and months of rehabilitation.

Psychological Trauma

Anxiety when you approach the intersection where you were hit. Flashbacks when you see a vehicle approach from the side. Fear of driving. These aren’t weaknesses. They’re normal responses to a traumatic event. And they’re compensable under Colorado law.

How Long You Have to File a Claim

Colorado’s statute of limitations gives you three years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. Miss that deadline and you lose your right to compensation, no matter how strong your case.

Three years sounds like a long time. It isn’t. Investigations take time. Medical treatment takes time. Settlement negotiations take time. And if the other driver’s insurance company knows you’re up against the deadline, they have every incentive to delay and lowball you.

We recommend clients contact us within weeks of the crash, not years. Evidence disappears. Witnesses move. Camera footage gets deleted. The sooner we start, the stronger your case.

What It Costs to Hire McCormick & Murphy

Nothing upfront. We handle personal injury cases on a contingency fee basis. We cover the costs of investigation, expert witnesses, and litigation. You pay us only if we recover compensation for you. If we don’t win, you don’t pay.

That fee comes out of your settlement or verdict, not out of your pocket. You’ll know the percentage before you sign anything. No surprises. No hourly bills.

This structure exists so that people who are hurt can afford experienced representation without writing a check they don’t have.

Why Clients in Pueblo Choose McCormick & Murphy

Kirk McCormick and Jay Murphy have spent years handling personal injury cases across Southern Colorado. They know the intersections where failure to yield crashes happen most often. They know the insurance adjusters who will handle your claim. They know which cases settle and which ones need to go to trial.

When you call, you’ll speak with someone who has handled cases like yours. Not an intake coordinator reading from a script. Not a paralegal who will pass a message along. An attorney who knows what questions to ask and what your case is likely worth.

We represent clients in Pueblo, Pueblo West, Salt Creek, Blende, Avondale, Boone, Colorado City, Rye, Cañon City, Florence, Penrose, Walsenburg, and Aguilar. If the crash happened in Southern Colorado, we can help.

What Happens When You Call

We’ll ask what happened. We’ll ask about your injuries and your treatment. We’ll ask whether you’ve talked to insurance companies and what they’ve said. We’ll explain how Colorado law applies to your situation and what kind of compensation you might be entitled to.

If we think you have a case, we’ll tell you. If we think the facts don’t support a claim, we’ll tell you that too. You’ll leave the call knowing more about your rights than when you picked up the phone.

There’s no charge for this conversation. No obligation to hire us. Just information so you can make a decision.

Call 888-668-1182 or visit mccormickmurphy.com/pueblo-personal-injury-attorneys to get started.