On a clear May morning a young man, Mr. Jones, is heading south on I-91, Vermont. He is late for work, so he is driving 75 -80 mph. He is not impaired, but he is exceeding the posted speed limit.He approaches a line of 4 or 5 cars and moves over to the passing lane, maintaining control of his car. As Jones is passing the last car in the driving lane, he notices a car in front of him, who has just passed the other cars in the line.
The car in front of him is driven by Mr. Smith, 65 years old, with diabetes. Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones are driving 75-80 mph. Mr. Jones decides to shift to the right lane (the driving lane) in order to pass Mr. Smith. Basically, Mr. Jones is inpatient and wants to get by Mr. Smith and continue heading south. Without checking his rear view mirror, or using his turn signal, Mr. Smith starts to move back into the right lane (driving lane), just as Mr. Jones is starting to pass him on the right.
Mr. Smith does not notice Jones on his right side. Mr. Jones sees Smith starting to come into the right lane and moves over as far as he can, actually moving into the breakdown lane. Before Jones can get by him, Smith's right front quarter panel strikes the left rear quarter panel of the Jones' car. The contact puts the Jones vehicle into an uncontrollable spin. His car flips over several times, Jones is thrown from the car and killed. Smith suffers no injuries, other than $1,000.00 damage to his car.
1) Go to the VT statutes and determine what if any motor vehicle laws were broken by either Jones or Smith.
2) If the Jones family brings a civil suit for negligence/wrongful death against Smith, will the suit succeed? Why or why not? MAKE SURE TO APPLY STATUTORY LAW AND THE LAW OF NEGLIGENCE.