WISCONSIN DRIVING RULES OF THE ROAD
LOOKOUT: BACKING
A safety statute provides that the operator of a vehicle shall not back the vehicle unless the movement can be made with reasonable safety.
To comply with this statute, an operator must, before he or she backs the vehicle, must use ordinary care to make an efficient lookout as that phrase has been defined for you. An operator must not only use ordinary care to determine the presence and location of other vehicles, objects, or pedestrians that may be approaching or within the course of travel but must also exercise reasonable judgment in calculating the time required to reach a proper position on the highway and the distance and speed of any vehicle seen by the operator to be approaching the operator's course of travel.
LOOKOUT: ENTERING OR CROSSING A THROUGH HIGHWAY
Because the law gives a preference to traffic on a through highway, a driver crossing a through highway has the duty to look sufficient distances to determine that a vehicle approaching on the through highway cannot reasonably be expected to interfere with the driver's crossing the through highway before the driver proceeds to do so.
In addition, the driver must use reasonable judgment in calculating the time required for him to cross the through highway as well as the distance away and speed of any vehicle seen by him to be approaching on the through highway. If the driver fails to use such reasonable judgment, the driver is negligent as to lookout.
LOOKOUT: GUEST
A passenger in an automobile has a duty to exercise ordinary care for his or her own safety. This duty requires a passenger to exercise ordinary care in maintaining a proper lookout to warn the driver of any danger of which the guest has reason to believe the driver may not be aware.
A passenger, however, is not bound to maintain the same degree of diligence in keeping a lookout as is required of the driver of the car, because a passenger does not have the responsibility of operating and controlling the automobile. However, the fact that the passenger is not in charge of operating the automobile does not relieve the passenger from all duty to use care for his or her own safety. The passenger's duty with respect to lookout is to exercise that care and caution which a person of ordinary intelligence, care, and prudence would use while riding in the same passenger seat of the automobile as the plaintiff and under the same or similar circumstances as exist in this case.
MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL
A driver must exercise ordinary care to keep his or her vehicle under proper management and control so that when danger appears, the driver may stop the vehicle, reduce speed, change course, or take other proper means to avoid injury or damage.
MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL — EMERGENCY
When considering negligence as to management and control bear in mind that a driver may suddenly be confronted by an emergency, not brought about or contributed to by her or his own negligence. If that happens and the driver is compelled to act instantly to avoid collision, the driver is not negligent if he or she makes such a choice of action or inaction as an ordinarily prudent person might make if placed in the same position. This is so even if it later appears that her or his choice was not the best or safest course.
This rule does not apply to any person whose negligence wholly or in part created the emergency. A person is not entitled to the benefit of this emergency rule unless he or she is without fault in the creation of the emergency.
OPERATION OF AUTOMOBILE FOLLOWING ANOTHER
The driver of a motor vehicle should not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent.
In determining whether a driver was following the vehicle ahead more closely than was reasonable and prudent, one should consider the speed and location of both vehicles, the amount of traffic, the condition of the highway, and the visibility at the time.
DUTY OF PRECEDING DRIVER TO FOLLOWING DRIVER: LOOKOUT
If a motor vehicle driven by the front driver does not deviate from his lane of travel, then the driver of the front car owes no duty to the driver of the car behind him, except to use the road in the usual way, in keeping with the laws of the road. Until a driver has been made aware of the car behind by signal or otherwise, the driver has a right to assume either that there is no other automobile in close proximity to the rear or that being there, it is under such control as not to interfere with the free use of the road in front of and to the sides, in any lawful manner. However, if the driver of the front car intends to deviate from the course of travel or suddenly stop or decrease speed in such a manner that would create a hazard to a car following in a lawful manner, the driver must then exercise ordinary care to make a lookout to the rear before making the movement.
The following articles about personal injury law may also be of interest to you:
You & Your Personal Injury Claim
Answering Questions About Accident-related Injuries
At The Accident Scene, What Should I Do?
But My Insurance Adjuster Says I Don't Need A Lawyer
How Much Is My Injury Claim Worth?
Injuries To Children
Product Liability Claims
Herrick & Hart Personal Injury Attorneys, Eau Claire, Wisconsin
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The attorneys at Herrick & Hart provide expert advice to people who have suffered a loss or been injured. If you or someone whom you care about has been injured, please call (715-832-3491), e-mail (mike@eauclairelaw.com) to arrange a free initial consultation with the injury lawyers at Herrick & Hart, or complete the online personal injury case assessment form to have your case reviewed by the personal injury attorneys at Herrick & Hart.
The team of personal injury lawyers at Herrick & Hart represent people throughout northwest Wisconsin. They litigate against insurance companies based in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and across the nation, and most frequently help clients who were injured in or are residents of Eau Claire county (Eau Claire, Altoona, Augusta, Fairchild, Fall Creak, & Seymour), Chippewa county (Chippewa Falls, Cadott, Cornell, New Auburn, & Stanley), Taylor county (Medford, Gilman, & Stetsonville), Rusk county (Ladysmith, Hawkins, & Weyerhauser), Barron county (Barron, Rice Lake, & Cameron), Dunn county (Boyceville, Menomonie, Colfax, & Downing), Clark county (Abbotsford, Colby, Neilsville, & Thorp), Marathon County (Wausau, Abbotsford, Colby, Brokaw, Evergreen, Marshfield, Mosinee, Rothschild, Schofield, Spencer, Unity & Weston), Portage county (Stevens Point, Amherst, Plover, Rosholt, & Whiting), Wood county (Wisconsin Rapids, Port Edwards, Nekoosa, & Marshfield), Jackson county (Black River Falls, Taylor, Merrillan, and Alma Center), La Crosse county (La Crosse, Brice Prairie, Onalaska, Holmen, & West Salem), Monroe county (Sparta), Douglas county (Superior), Sawyer county (Hayward), Ashland county (Ashland, Odanah), Bayfield county (Bayfield, Mason, & Washburn), Juneau county (Elroy, Mauston, Necedah, Union Center), and St Croix county (Baldwin, Hudson, New Richmond, North Hudson, River Falls, Spring Valley & Wilson), Pierce county (Bay City, Ellsworth, River Falls, Spring Valley).
