[Closed] Car accident, Legally and morally.

Fair comment - I'm a lawyer, though that might count for something.

Did you pin your certificate to the wall or frame it?

It's lost under a huge pile of £500 notes 😛

scottchegg... did you actually read the ops post, door was open first while his wife was putting child in back and then the car came after and tried to squeeze through the gap and failed miserably.

its posts like that which really piss me off!!!

my mates heated , indicatored ,colour coded, folding (only one way) mercedes c200 mirror cost him 500 odd quid

You could buy a bike for that 😆

Any witnesses? Otherwise the other party will likely say your wife opened the door into her path

+1. All the transgressor has to say is you suddenly swung the door open.

What is the law on this?

Renton +1

hora - Member

Any witnesses? Otherwise the other party will likely say your wife opened the door into her path

+1. All the transgressor has to say is you suddenly swung the door open.

What is the law on this?

You have said what the answer is but don't know the law?

The law would be it's one side's evidence vs the other's.

Legally, the driver did not give a vulnerable road user/pedestrian with child anywhere near enough room to safley overtake regardless of where the door was. I'd say the driver put your wife in danger and is completley in the wrong.

Morally, there would have been more of a scene if the driver had done that to me.

I'm a lawyer, though that might count for something.

I wasn't aware of that. What sort of lawyer?

What's the point if you don't have some knowledge/expertese? There's enough clap-trap on the interweb

Well, this is very true (-: This is a chat forum though, is it not, not a legal advice forum? I'm chatting. Hiya.

Not road traffic 😉 , professional indemnity.

If she didnt even stop tell her to get ****ed and deny all knowledge

You have said what the answer is but don't know the law?

The law would be it's one side's evidence vs the other's.

I don't know the answer, just trying out good ol' common sense...

Zaskar is the expert, he'll have sued the driver, himself, his kid, then his parents.

were any details exchanged?
you could always report the accident if not. your wife tried to provide insurance details, name and address, but the other driver became abusive...
if no details were exchanged you are obliged to report the accident anyway within 24hrs.

otherwise, when you speak to her, i'd just say that you have a witness, if she wants to pursue it, then here are my insurance details, please give me yours. that's what you pay them money for. fill in the form and forget it, but very likely it will never get that far due to excess, as suggested above.

The onus was on the driver of the other vehicle to make sure the way was clear - Basic Highway Code and how your insurance company will argue it.

Whether you exchanged details or not is irrelevant, as long as you have the other driver's registration number, your insurer will be able to identify their name, insurance company and policy details.

Contact your insurance company, tell them what happened. They will be able to sort any damage to your car and claim any costs back from the other party at no detriment to you.

Driver of moving car is at fault no matter what else happened.

Women drivers eh!

Runs for cover......

Driver of moving car is at fault no matter what else happened.

Unless a kid runs out?

On another thread someone described how he was driving along and ended up with a kid and bike on his bonnet- the parents paid him £250 for the scratches.

Hora he was refering to car versus stationary object.

Driver of moving car is at fault no matter what else happened.

Unless the parked car opens a door while someone is passing

[i]you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door[/i]
[url= http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069860 ]http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069860[/url]

Very hard to prove who was at fault without an independent witness. I suspect insurers would go knock for knock.

I know, going back to what I said earlier, if it was me and I was a **** I'd say I was slowly driving past and this idiot was stood next to his car then suddenly threw the door open...

.....but hang...that doesn't work. As the OP was opening the passenger door (STOOD) next to the car to open the door so this was a developed hazzard and as such the driver should have noticed OR stopped.

nickjb - I am talking about this specific case using the details provided. Drivers have a duty to not hit stuff AND give enough clearance so as not to cause endangerment.

I thought if there were no witnesses as such it was knock for knock. I've been involved in those before and the police don't get involved so it's word against word and in my case has just been dealt with by insurance. Just tell her to sort it out that way, like someone said earlier the mirror probably cost less than the excess so shell drop it rather than have the hassle. People can be complete idiots about this sort of thing and get abusive even when they know they r in the wrong. Muppets

Ignoring legal/moral, reality for me:

Driver hits stationary object - drivers fault

Other road user hits driver - knock-for-knock unless proven (witnesses) otherwise

So.... has the woman been told you're not paying for the mirror yet?
How did she take it?

Drac "Ianmunro is Zaskar and I claim my £5"

Best chuckle for ages, thanks!

But shouldnt you be driving with enough space to clear any potentially opening doors especially when passing rows of parked cars i am sure this will be in the highway code as good advice?

That would make driving down some roads legally impossible. At the end of the day, if the door was opened INTO the passing car when there was no other obstacle in the road, then it was the door openers fault, but in order to load the baby they would have to be in the road in the first place and squeezing through would put the driver at fault as they should wait.

I agree with all of the others that more than likely the moving driver was at fault.

BUT...

One thing not mentioned by anyone is that your child goes to school with their child.

For the sake of future relations in and out of school, I would tell her to "**** off" in as sensitive a manner as possible, maybe also talk to the head about the incident just to get your word in first if there are any nasty consequences.

Road traffic incident has nothing to do with the school, the head won't want to hear about a minor scrape.
However they will probably advise that you plan and don't load children who need to be lifted in regularly from the road side, after all you can pick which side to park the vehicle as you pull up, even if it means finding a slightly more distant space or turning around, it makes sense.

Legal and financial issues aside (which frankly bore me & as none of us were there inc the op, are all speculative)one hopes all concerned have learnt something about future habits around the school entrance. I have the misfortune to live directly outside a primary school entrance and daily witness some of the most ignorant, selfish, dangerous & self involved behaviour by all those involved. And that's before I get started on those parent's that think it is OK to park directly across our drive so they can cut their walk down to zero yards rather than find a space 50yds down the road and get irritated when you tell them to move on as you need to get out of your own drive! I've had 2 refuse and have a nice chat with another mother before dawdling back to their car so we could get out.

I hope the other mother learnt to have more patience. They probably held someone else up 30 seconds previously getting out of their car. Drive at walking pace until clear of the riot that is the school gate. I hope your wife learnt that whilst it might be more convenient to load the car with sprogs from the road side, it is safer and perfectly possible from the other side, esp if they are pint sized two year olds. Set your car up & load your kids in the right order as if the offside door is welded shut. Next time the impatient car might take either your wife or child out instead.

One thing to consider, you might want to report the incident to the local police station, just to cover your ass.
Not reporting an accident where damage is caused and / or not exchanging details can get you into all sorts of grief, if it goes that way. You dont need to press chartges, just make them aware in case the other party tries it on.
I should know a clash of wing mirrors cost me £200 + 5points 5 years ago for not exchanging details and not reporting the incident. 👿

Passed too close to a parked Police car a while back, wings mirrors clashed, mine smashed, theirs folded back... Stopped down the road, walked back to face the music, the driver was inside a house dealing with a domestic. His mate called the traffic police to sort me out, I thought they'd crucify me for dangerous driving- but they had a quick look around the car I'd hit, decided there was no real damage apart from a scratch that could have been there already, and told me to get lost and be more careful!

She never rang! Sorry guys.

Surely with 2 young children 1 of them is always going to be in the road with the parent when they are both getting out of the car. I dont think there would be enough room for the elder to climb through to the opposite side.
As said no damage to our car. Wife has calmed down and hopefully the other woman has also.

Then the older one travels on the near side and you reach across to put the younger one in their seat on the off side - It's not rocket science & simply no excuse for loading your kids whilst standing in the road.

Sorry, you say you reach across a whole car width with a child in your arms from the opposite side? Good luck with that.
I think i would struggle with that let alone a woman.

Surely with 2 young children 1 of them is always going to be in the road with the parent when they are both getting out of the car. I dont think there would be enough room for the elder to climb through to the opposite side.

Not sure what car you have, which may make a difference, but I can't see why the older one can't sit on the road side but get in at the pavement side and scoot across. I'm 6'1 and regularly used to do this in a small hatchback, I can get changed into a drysuit in a peugeot 205. Why can't a young kid scoot across from the pavement side? There really isnt an excuse, it's just laziness really.

Yeah ok i imagine your right 😀

Thanks for the advice and reccomendations.

Ben

Well I did it for years, and my wife who is no Amazonian. Strapping in often involves reaching through whilst kneeling on the drivers seat. As I said, less convenient but less dangerous and less selfish to other road users.

Convert, Do you have children? Thought i saw a post in you profile saying you are childless? sorry to pry! 3 door car perhaps ours is 5.

Don't have kids now - long sad story not best for a mtb forum 🙁

Very sorry mate. I am starting to be an arse.
I shall go.
Thanks all.

She never rang! Sorry guys.

Ahh, the power of the singletrack forum - clearly she is a reader.

One thing to consider, you might want to report the incident to the local police station, just to cover your ass.

Not sure I'd want to do that though, as it might make it difficult to tell my insurer that I'd not been involved in any accidents.

Road traffic incident has nothing to do with the school, the head won't want to hear about a minor scrape.

Might not want to hear about it, but if it was the head at our school and I was the OP then they probably would hear about it, especially if I thought it was symptomatic of a wider problem that was a danger to my kids. OTOH you can't have too much information. I think the head may well "want to know" just because they like to know everything that is going on in and around the school.

Passed too close to a parked Police car a while back... told me to get lost and be more careful!