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It is a nice fall morning, so Professor Winn decides to ride his 1975 Honda 200cc motorcycle to work. Vintage Honda motorcycles are notoriously cold-natured,
- It is a nice fall morning, so Professor Winn decides to ride his 1975 Honda 200cc motorcycle to work. Vintage Honda motorcycles are notoriously "cold-natured," so Professor Winn is fiddling with the choke lever on the carburetor with his left hand as he is going down the residential street in his neighborhood at about 15 miles per hour (speed limit is 25) towards the nearest "T" intersection with a stop sign 100 yards past his house. Professor Winn is wearing a bright orange visibility vest (like you see people wear working on highway crews), but has forgotten to turn on his headlight (he typically remembers to turn on his headlight once the bike is running smoothly, but definitely before he gets out of the neighborhood). Motorcycles are required to have their headlights on under Virginia law. Matilda Smith is driving her Ford Escape SUV from the other direction and turns right at the T intersection. She is not looking out her window, but actually looking at her cell phone and texting her 14 year-old daughter to get ready for the school bus. Because she isn't watching the road carefully, she does not know she is slowly veering over/across to the left side of the road/intersection as she is turning right. Professor Winn isn't watching the road much either but has moved way over to right side to make sure he is out of the way (he is just one foot from the right-side edge of the road). When he looks up and see's Matilda's SUV coming right at him, he tries to get off the road, but Matilda whacks into his motorcycle. Professor Winn misses class because his motorcycle is totaled and he suffers a broken collarbone also.
Question: Discuss who is legally at fault in this situation? Assume Virginia Laws apply.
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