Rotary Accident Lawyer
Entering a rotary, one driver refused to wait.
In a Massachusetts rotary the cars already going round have the right of way, so when an entering driver fails to yield and hits you, the crash and the recovery are yours to claim.
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What a rotary claim covers
A rotary accident usually comes down to one rule that many drivers forget the moment they approach the circle. In Massachusetts, the cars already traveling in the rotary have the right of way, and a driver entering has to wait for a safe gap. When an entering driver does not wait and drives into someone already going around, or sideswipes them while jockeying between lanes, the crash is not a shared misjudgment. It is the result of a driver treating a yield as optional. A Boston personal injury attorney at Larson Law can reconstruct how the crash unfolded inside the circle, match it against the rotary right-of-way rule, and build the case that puts the cost on the driver who failed to yield. The consultation is free, and there is no obligation.
Rotaries confuse people, and insurers use that confusion. Because the movements happen quickly and in a curve, the at-fault driver will often claim it was a mutual merge, that you sped up, that nobody could say who was really entering. That fog is exactly what a driver who did not yield is counting on. Cutting through it, and showing plainly who was already established in the circle and who was still entering, is the heart of a rotary case.
You may be turning the crash over in your mind, unsure whether you could have braked or steered clear once the other car started coming in. That doubt is understandable, but it is not the legal test. The law does not ask whether a flawless driver could have escaped a car that entered without yielding; it asks who was already in the circle and who was still coming in. Keeping the case fixed on that question is how we make sure your honest uncertainty is never turned into an admission you never meant to make.
What our clients say
Why rotary victims call us first.
- We reconstruct who was already in the circle and who was entering, not the other driver’s story.
- We answer the insurer’s mutual-merge and shared-fault arguments before they can shrink your claim.
- We line up the medical proof so every lasting cost is counted, not just the first hospital bill.
- We know the Greater Boston rotaries where these entering-driver crashes keep happening.
- We handle the adjusters and the paperwork so you can focus on healing, not on fighting the claim.
- No fee unless we win.
- Free case review, no obligation.
- Available 24/7 for your call.
- Decades of trial experience.
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98% Legal Success Rate
100+ Injured Victims Helped
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How rotary law works here.
Who had the right of way. The rule inside a rotary is short and clear. Under G.L. c. 89, §8, a driver entering a rotary must yield to the traffic already circulating within it. The cars going around are established; the car coming in has to wait for a gap. When an entering driver breaks that rule and strikes a vehicle already in the circle, the statute does most of the work of showing who was at fault.
How shared-fault arguments work. Massachusetts follows a modified comparative negligence rule under G.L. c. 231, §85. You can recover as long as you were not more at fault than the other driver, though your award is reduced by your own share. Rotary crashes are where insurers push hardest on shared fault, because the geometry is confusing and they hope to split the blame. Reconstructing the positions and speeds inside the circle is what answers that.
The deadline that governs your claim. Under G.L. c. 260, §2A, you generally have three years from the date of the crash to file suit. Miss it and the claim is gone, no matter how clearly the other driver failed to yield.
How your own coverage fits in. Massachusetts is a no-fault state, so your own Personal Injury Protection coverage under G.L. c. 90, §34M pays initial medical bills and part of lost wages regardless of fault. To step outside no-fault and pursue the entering driver for full damages, including pain and suffering, your case must meet the tort threshold in G.L. c. 231, §6D, generally more than $2,000 in medical expenses or an injury such as a fracture, permanent scarring, or loss of a sense. The angled, side-on impacts a rotary produces routinely clear that bar.
It helps to remember what a rotary is really asking of drivers. It replaces a set of traffic lights with a single, continuous act of courtesy: those already in the circle keep moving, and those entering wait their turn. A driver who refuses to wait does not just cause a crash, they break the one agreement that lets a rotary work at all, which is why the law and the physical evidence usually point the same way once the positions are reconstructed.
Understanding the rule early also changes how you deal with the insurer from the first phone call. Adjusters know that most people find rotaries confusing and have never read the yield rule, and they use that to reframe the crash as a two-way mistake. When your side can state plainly what the statute requires and reconstruct who was established in the circle, that reframing stops working.
The comparative-negligence fight matters more in rotary cases than almost anywhere else, precisely because the movements are so easy to blur together. An insurer that can convince a jury the two cars simply merged into each other turns a clear yield violation into a fifty-fifty split, cutting what they owe in half. That is why the reconstruction is not a formality here; it is the difference between a full recovery and a discounted one.
Where rotary crashes happen
Greater Boston has more rotaries than almost anywhere in the country, and the crashes cluster at the busy ones where traffic never really stops. Drivers know the pattern at circles feeding the bridges and the parkways, along the routes out toward the coast, and at the neighborhood rotaries where two or three roads all pour in at once. The trouble is almost always the same: a driver enters without waiting for the gap and clips a car already coming around, or drifts across lanes inside the circle into someone beside them.
A driver who fails to yield entering a rotary threatens everyone already in it, which is why we handle these claims across the full range of people they hurt. We represent drivers and passengers in Boston car accidents and the far more serious Boston truck accidents, where a large vehicle entering a rotary without yielding leaves little room to survive. We stand up for the road users a rotary is hardest on, from motorcyclists who can be swept under in a curve and pedestrians at the crosswalks feeding the circle to cyclists forced to share a lane and riders on scooters, because a rider caught by an entering car has nothing to absorb the hit. Whatever you were driving or riding, the question is the same: who was already in the circle?
What makes these crashes so frustrating is how ordinary the mistake is. The entering driver saved a few seconds by not waiting, and handed someone else a recovery that can last months. A claim cannot undo that, but it can put the cost of those saved seconds where it belongs, on the driver who would not wait their turn to enter.
If you are not sure the other driver truly failed to yield, that is exactly the question we exist to answer, and the review costs you nothing. In most rotary cases the answer is written in the angle of the damage and the marks on the road long before anyone starts arguing about it, and we know how to read both.
The rotary crashes we see
Rotary crashes take a few recognizable shapes, and each carries its own injuries. The most common is the entering-driver collision, where a car coming into the circle strikes the side of a vehicle already going around. There is the sideswipe, where a driver changes lanes inside the rotary into someone beside them. And there is the crash at the exit, where a driver cuts across a lane to leave and catches a vehicle continuing around. Because everything happens on a curve, these impacts tend to land at an angle, on the side of the car where there is least protection.
The injuries follow the physics. An angled, side-on impact in a rotary can break ribs, wrists, hips, and the bones of the spine, tear the soft tissue of the neck and back, and cause a head injury that is not obvious on the first day. A motorcyclist, cyclist, or pedestrian caught by an entering car has no shell around them and absorbs the whole collision. These are exactly the lasting, life-altering harms the yield rule exists to prevent.
None of this depends on the other driver admitting anything. The angle of the damage, the marks on the pavement, and the resting positions show who was established in the circle and who was still entering. Our job is to gather that evidence before it is lost, line it up against the rule that the entering driver had to yield, and present the two together so the conclusion is the only one the evidence will support.
Moving quickly matters. Pavement marks fade, vehicles are repaired or scrapped, and any nearby camera footage is recorded over within days, so the physical proof of who was where in the circle has a short life. The sooner a lawyer is involved to secure it, the harder it becomes for the entering driver to rewrite what happened.
It is worth being plain about what is at stake. A person who was simply driving around the circle, exactly as the rule allows, can end up with the medical bills, the lost work, and the long recovery, while the driver who cut in often leaves with minor damage. A claim exists to move that weight back onto the driver who would not wait, not as punishment, but so the cost lands where the choice was made, plainly.
Medical Bills and Future Care
Lost Wages and Earning Capacity
Pain, Suffering, and Hardship
Wrongful Death of a Loved One
What to do after the crash.
Photograph both cars and the rotary
Photograph both vehicles, the entry you each came from, the points of impact, and the final positions before anything moves, because in a rotary crash the evidence shows who was already in the circle.
See a doctor even if you feel fine.
See a doctor promptly even if you feel only a little shaken, because the injuries a side-impact or turning crash causes can surface days later, and an early record ties them squarely to the collision.
Call a lawyer before you settle up.
Before you accept the other driver’s version, let a lawyer prove who had the right of way, because the rules place the fault on the driver who entered without yielding, and the evidence backs that up.
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Talk to us before you talk to them.
If a driver failed to yield entering a rotary and hit you in the Boston area, you should not have to untangle the geometry of the circle for an adjuster whose job is to pay you less. Larson Law will take that fight off your hands. We will reconstruct who was already in the rotary, deal with the insurer, and make the case that the crash belongs to the driver who did not wait to enter. Call today for a free, no-obligation consultation, and pay nothing unless we recover for you.
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Our Clients.
Our Practice Areas.
Larson Law represents injured people across Boston and its rotary-heavy suburbs in serious crash and injury cases. If a driver failed to yield entering a rotary and you were hurt, the right-of-way rule is on your side, and we will use the evidence to hold the responsible driver accountable for what their impatience cost you.
Personal injury law in Boston answered directly.
Do I have a personal injury claim?
You may, if someone else’s carelessness caused your injury. The key questions are whether another person or company was negligent, whether that negligence caused your injury, and how serious the harm is. Many people are unsure whether their situation rises to a claim, especially when an insurer downplays it. A free review with an attorney is the best way to find out, because we can look at the facts, the evidence, and the insurance and tell you honestly whether you have a case and what it may be worth, at no cost to you.
What kinds of cases do you handle?
We handle the full range of serious injury and wrongful death cases, including car, truck, motorcycle, bus, rideshare, bicycle, and pedestrian crashes, slip and fall and other premises injuries, dog bites and animal attacks, injuries from dangerous or defective products, and fatal accidents. What these cases share is that someone was hurt by conduct that should not have happened. If you are not sure whether your situation fits, the simplest thing is to ask; the review is free, and we will tell you honestly whether we can help.
How much is my claim worth?
It depends on the severity of the injuries and their lasting effects. Value can reflect past and future medical care, lost wages and reduced earning capacity, pain and suffering, and the long-term impact of a serious or permanent injury, along with property damage in a crash. Every case is different, and the future care is often the largest part of a serious claim. Be cautious of anyone who promises a number up front; a careful attorney evaluates the claim only after reviewing how the injury happened and the full medical picture.
What if the insurer says I was partly at fault?
You can still recover as long as you were not more than half to blame. Under comparative negligence, MGL Chapter 231 Section 85, your compensation is reduced by your share of fault but not eliminated unless that share passes fifty percent. Insurers often exaggerate the injured person’s role to cut what they pay, sometimes based on little evidence. An attorney can present the full picture of how the injury happened and protect your recovery from an unfair or inflated fault argument.
Should I talk to the insurance company?
It is best to be cautious. The other side’s insurer, and sometimes even your own, may contact you quickly and sound friendly, but their goal is to limit what they pay, and an early recorded statement can be used against you while you are still hurting. You are not required to give one. An attorney can deal with the insurers for you, so you do not say something that is later taken out of context, and so the focus stays on the other side’s fault and your recovery rather than on the insurer’s bottom line.
How long do I have to file a claim?
Most injury claims must be filed within three years under MGL Chapter 260 Section 2A, and for an injured child the deadline is paused under MGL Chapter 260 Section 7. Claims involving a city or other public entity can carry much shorter notice deadlines. Because evidence fades and cameras record over their footage within days, it is best to act soon so the proof can be preserved well before any deadline approaches.
What if I cannot afford a lawyer?
You can. Larson Law handles injury claims on a contingency fee, which means there is no charge unless we recover money for you, and the first review is always free. We advance the costs of investigating the claim and working with any experts the case needs. You do not pay out of pocket while you recover, and we are only paid from a successful result. That arrangement exists so that anyone, regardless of their finances, can afford strong legal help after a serious injury.
Do I really need an attorney for my claim?
For a minor injury you may not, but for any serious injury an attorney usually makes a real difference. Insurers settle for less when no lawyer is involved, and the rules around fault, deadlines, and coverage are easy to get wrong on your own. An attorney levels the field, handles the insurers, proves the claim, and pursues the full value while you focus on recovering. Because the first review is free and we work on a contingency fee, there is no cost to find out whether you need one and what your claim may be worth.
How long will my case take?
It depends on the case. Some claims resolve in a matter of months through negotiation, while others, especially serious injuries that are still healing or cases an insurer refuses to value fairly, take longer and may require filing suit. It is usually wise not to settle until the full extent of your injuries is known, since you generally cannot reopen a claim later. An attorney can give you a realistic timeline for your situation and work to move the case as efficiently as possible without leaving money on the table.
What if a loved one died from an injury?
If an injury proved fatal, close family may bring a wrongful death claim under MGL Chapter 229. Such a claim can seek compensation for the loss of the person’s income, services, companionship, and guidance, along with funeral and related expenses. These cases are painful and the legal steps are complex, and an attorney can handle the investigation and the filings so the family can focus on each other, never paying anything up front and owing a fee only if there is a recovery.
How much does a personal injury attorney cost?
Nothing upfront. Larson Law handles personal injury claims on a contingency fee, so there is no charge unless we recover money for you, and the first review is always free. We advance the costs of investigating the claim, obtaining the records, and working with experts. We are only paid from a successful result, which lets an injured person take on the insurers without paying out of pocket while they recover, so cost is never a reason to wait to find out what your claim may be worth.
What should I do after an accident?
Get medical care right away, even if you feel okay, since some injuries appear hours or days later, and keep every record. Write down how it happened, photograph the scene, the cause, and your injuries, and get the names of any witnesses while it is fresh. Report the accident as appropriate. Avoid giving the insurer a recorded statement or signing anything before you have spoken with an attorney, who can preserve the evidence and protect both your health and your claim from the start.
Results Disclaimer: Past case results, settlements, and verdicts mentioned on this website do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case. Every case is unique and depends on its own facts and legal issues.