The victim was soaking up the distance between his car and the others that had been stopped in the turn lane to catch the arrow. This seems 100% valid to me. As to passing a row of stationary cars at speed, sure… exercise caution on the interstate or other situations with that occurrence. However, in this case, it was a row of cars stopped in the lane to proceed straight through the intersection. By being over there they’ve signaled their intention to a reasonable degree. It’s not like they just got stuck in traffic and you would expect people to be moving around an obstacle.
I’d cut the victim total slack on his approach. Seemed acceptable. The person who causes the accident allows substantial time to pass after the car in front of the victim at the turn queue clears a gap before hesitating into the lane. This would tell me that they hadn’t planned the move, but changed their mind once they perceived space had become available.
Instead of watching their mirror for an opportunity to change lanes, I would say they saw the lane ‘empty’, got impatient, and went without checking for additional vehicles approaching from behind. It’s either they didn’t check their mirror or they didn’t see the victim’s car - who was in the lane well before the encroaching vehicle began to move. Judging from when their turn signal begins to flash, I’d say the victim’s car should have been visible in their mirror.
Maybe it was rain on the side mirror?
Mitigating fault would be if the victim had failed to turn their headlights on. Seems like the encroaching vehicle’s weren’t.
