In today’s decision in Mincy v. Farthing, 2009-Ohio-5245 [PDF], the First District held that the assured clear distance statute, R.C. 4511.21, may not apply to a situation where a driver takes evasive action to avoid an obstruction in the road. Specifically, the driver in this case swerved to avoid an overturned car in her lane and collided with the concrete highway divider. The court held that it may be inappropriate to apply the assured clear distance statute because the driver did not actually collide with the overturned car, and remanded the case for further proceedings.
This post was written by Jeffrey M. Nye.
