WHO IS AT FAULT FOR A WISCONSIN BICYCLE ACCIDENT WHEN A DRIVER TURNS LEFT IN FRONT OF THE RIDER?

In a 1994 Wisconsin case, the Wisconsin Court of Appeal had to determine who was at fault under the Wisconsin Statutes when a car was turning left off of Juneau avenue in Milwaukee onto 4th Street, and turned left in front of a biker who was going straight.

At issue in the case was which Wisconsin statute should be applied. At that time, Wis. Stat. 346.18 provided that, ""[t]he operator of a vehicle within an intersection intending to turn to the left across the path of any vehicle approaching from the opposite direction shall yield the right-of-way to such vehicle." 1 Section 346.02, STATS., provides, in part:[183 Wis.2d 73] (4) APPLICABILITY TO PERSONS RIDING BICYCLES AND MOTOR BICYCLES. (a) Subject to the special provisions applicable to bicycles, every person riding a bicycle upon a roadway is granted all the rights and is subject to all the duties which this chapter grants or applies to the operator of a vehicle, except those provisions which by their express terms apply only to motor vehicles or which by their very nature would have no application to bicycles.

The plaintiff bicyclist argued that the driver had to yield to him before turning left at the intersection. However, the driver argued that Wis. Stat. 346.25 applied holding:

"Crossing at place other than crosswalk. Every pedestrian or bicyclist crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked or unmarked crosswalk shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles upon the roadway."

The court ruled that the two statutes apply to two distinct situations- bikers riding on the sidewalk and those who are using the roadway. After so concluding, the court ruled that since the biker in this case was using the roadway, the correct statute to apply was the one requiring the driver to yield to the bicyclist.