Opinion ID: 1794726
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: effect of lights of niobrara vehicle

Text: The experts also testified on what effect the fog, in combination with the headlights, was likely to have on an approaching vehicle. Rodaway testified that another cause of the accident was the placement of the vehicles on the roadway. Explaining his attribution of cause to the placement of the vehicles, Rodaway stated: Placement of the vehicles in this particular situation presented an unusual environment for a driver. In other words, if I put the vehicle in this position, I expect it to be on a certain place on the road, and when I have the environment that I have, if I can't respond to that correctly, then this contributes to the accident. Rodaway found two problems with the placement of the vehicles. First, the driver of an approaching vehicle might experience night vision blindness from the strength of the long-range headlights. Second, Rodaway testified: All defensive tactics say go to the right. If the person in front of you has gone across your lane, and you try to go to the left of him, and he now realizes now [sic] what he has done, and he tries to go back into his lane, you may end up having a collision on the wrong side of the road for you, just because you are trying to avoid that gentleman. Always teach go to the right. However, Sokol disagreed with Rodaway's opinions. With regard to the night blindness issue, Sokol testified that night blindness did not play a role because if you have ever seen car headlights approach you in a fog, they are very, very dim, and are not bright at all, so you don't have a night blindness. In fact, Sokol testified, The lights of the truck were simply a visible indicator to the approaching driver of the position of the vehicle. It in no way blinded the approaching driver of that Mustang. Second, Sokol discounted Rodaway's opinion that the defensive driving technique of steering to the right may have contributed to the accident, stating that in his opinion, Schiffern was not intentionally steering to the right.