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I was the root cause of a minor auto accident

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by dustoff003, Sep 25, 2011.

  1. dustoff003

    dustoff003 Blizzard Brigade #003

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    I left work on Friday and had to stop by the credit union on my way to go pick up my wife to go out for dinner. My credit union is in the same neighborhood as my working place. I drove over there and parked on the street and went in to manage my millions:p. After I finished at the credit union I went to the adjacent mini mart for a drink and then proceded to walk back to my car. I had to cross the street to get to my car. The street is a two lane street divided by a wide median so basically one lane in each direction. I crossed the first half no problem the second half of the crossing had more traffic, but a car had stoped for me and while he was stoping I heard his inverter so I recognized a fellow hybrid driver. The gentleman who had stopped for me to cross was driving a Nissan Altima Hybrid, I thought to myself that's nice and crossed about 3/4's of the way across I heard tires screeching and then the kind NAH driver who stopped for me got rear ended by a young man in a Scion TC. It was low speed and there was no real visible damage to the NAH, the TC had some damage to the bumper cover. There were other people around to witness the minor crack up some of them knew the kid and had said this is the second time he has rearended someone under the same circumstances in the same place. I felt bad for the gentleman in the NAH here he is doing thr right thing by stopping and allowing me to cross and he gets rearended:(. I was happy though the kid was not going any faster because once I heard the tires screeching I knew what was happening already and was worried about the stopped car being struck and then it hits me. In closeing the police came and said it was a minor accident with no injuries so they were not going to write a report and had the drivers exchange information. I told the NAH driver if he wants me to write a witness statement I would gave him my card and left.
     
  2. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    I don't know if you were the root cause. I'd say you were an underlying factor, or environmental variable, or whatever hip, focus-group tested term you want to use.

    The kid's inattention and failure to break properly was the root cause. Another factor might have been the failure of the kind gentleman who stopped for you to light his flashers while stopped, or even keep his foot on the brake.
    If you're feeling guilty, permission granted to cease and desist (FWIW.) ;)

    It was the kids fault.
    He'll learn...eventually.
     
  3. J5A

    J5A Active Member

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    Since it sounds like you were crossing without using a crosswalk I'm surprised you weren't cited for jaywalking.
     
  4. dustoff003

    dustoff003 Blizzard Brigade #003

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    Aye aye Chief!

    I know it wasn't my fault but I still feel bad for the guy. I am sure he had his foot on the brake because he was not creeping towards me.



    I recon I neglected to mention I was in a marked crosswalk, I was not jaywalking.
     
  5. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    I've had to take the Iilinois defensive driving class twice. Don't ask.

    Here in Illinois, drivers are told to never stop to let pedestrians cross. Oh sure, pedestrians have the right of way when crossing in crosswalks and care should be taken by both drivers and peds. But for multiple reasons, they teach that its best for all parties involved if the pedestrian just wait for an open opportunity.

    Similarly, a guy was killed in a nearby suburb because someone stopped to let him cross. It was two lanes in either direction and the stopped car was in the right lane. As the guy crossed, someone in the left lane came by and hit him.
     
  6. sipnfuel

    sipnfuel New Member

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    I don't think you were the root cause. If that guy hadn't stopped for you, you may have been smeared across the road. Be glad it happened the way it did.
     
  7. davesrose

    davesrose Active Member

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    Then I don't think you should feel any remorse. Here in Atlanta, I notice quite a few streets that have pedistrian cross walks with big signs "Stop for pedistrians". I notice quite a few cars ignore them. The Nissan driver was also doing the right thing in stopping. In any case in which a driver has to stop (whether at an intersection or a sudden obstruction) the driver rear ending them will get a ticket (because they failed to have a proper following distance).

    It sucks that the Nissan was rear ended and that he'll have to go through an "honor system" for trying to get any minor damages repaired. That can always be the worst. I had a fender bender a few years ago in which I was backing out. While I was backing out, I saw a SUV start backing out. He didn't seem to see me at all...so I stopped and laid into my horn...he still did not stop until his trailer hitch hit my bumper. When he got out, I noticed he was a high school kid. His excuse was that he didn't see me: I asked him why he didn't stop after my horn. He must have been playing his music loud or something, because he maintained my horn must not be very loud. Since the damage was a dented bumper, we agreed to settle things out of pocket. I also had one eye witness who said that he did see me back out first and honk my horn. I got an estimate for the bumper and it wound up being more then I had first expected. I had first thought they could just pop out the dent: but because it was a square engrained pattern, and the resistant backing was comprimised, they recommended getting the whole bumper replaced (so $600 for everything). The kids dad wound up being a doctor, but he still tried nickling and diming me for the bumper (even though with the way the kid was driving, I'm sure he was worried about points on his license). If in this case the Nissan doesn't have any bumper damage, I'm sure the kid in the Scion would much rather just pay any of his own damages then get points on his license.
     
  8. mrblaise

    mrblaise Go Lakers!!

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    My first question would be, were you crossing at a crosswalk? If so, under California law, it is doubtful you would have any liability, absent any overt negligent act not mentioned on your part. I would hesitate giving any statement to anyone else. That may just be an invitation to be included in a lawsuit. Just because someone says they weren't injured on Friday doesn't mean that they aren't injured on Monday (or so they say) I've seen it happen hundreds of times. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss it further.

     
  9. mrblaise

    mrblaise Go Lakers!!

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    I just saw this after I posted. I see no liability on your part absent any negligent act that you haven't mentioned, like running in the cross-walk, etc. I'm not knowledgeable on Hawaii laws, but I'd be surprised if you had any fault.

     
  10. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Interesting... At my former work in WA state, we sometimes had employees writing to the company newsletter about how someone had almost run them over because they didn't stop for them while they crossed the street (within the corporate campus).

    Someone else in a reply letter said something along the lines of, he has to remember to adjust his driving habits between WA and where he grew up (somewhere not in the West Coast, possibly the Midwest or East Coast, I forget). For WA, he has to remember to stop for pedestrians but where he grew up if you do that, you'll anger people behind you and they'll honk and so forth.

    A coworker at the time (from Indiana, I think) confirmed the difference in convention/habit out there vs. WA If you stop, the people behind you will get pissed off and people have been rear ended because of the stopping.
     
  11. davesrose

    davesrose Active Member

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    I do not know: my roommate in college was from NJ. I noticed he'd walk out onto oncoming traffic and say "If they hit me, I'll sue". When I lived in Boston, I found the only person who had the right of way was the one who gunned it first (this applied to pedestrians or any cars at an intersection). Atlanta is more schizophrenic: on highways there's plenty of aggressive drivers. Quite often when I'm at a 4 way stop, I have problems with people who refuse to turn when they have the right of way.

    Maybe some areas are encouraging pedestrians to give up their right of ways to just to curb more unnecessary lawsuits....not it being a matter of principle.
     
  12. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    On state roads in Michigan you can be cited for obstructing traffic if you stop for pedestrians with traffic behind you.

    One of the nearby villages sits astride a two-lane state highway. The state highway looks like any other country road: two lanes, non-limited access, driveways, side streets. The marked pedestrian cross walks are clearly labeled with signs that state "TRAFFIC DOES NOT STOP". That, however, does not keep the tourists from wandering out into traffic. They must be from WA.

    Tom
     
  13. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

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    It's really a logical thing... If someone is already in the crosswalk, slow down/stop for them. You don't want to hit them. If they're still on the sidewalk waiting to cross, don't stop and hold up traffic for them - they'll find a convenient gap in the traffic to use.
     
  14. ItsNotAboutTheMoney

    ItsNotAboutTheMoney EditProfOptInfoCustomUser Title

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    People aren't told that here, but often act like it. My wife nearly got run over recently one evening when some dumb woman went round a stopped car on a wide two-lane road. I know people often don't put turn signals on, but seriously, she needed a visit from a guy with a clue bat, preferably a police officer.

    In my city pedestrians have right of way everywhere. That doesn't automatically make hitting a pedestrian the driver's fault but you'd better watch out.

    Right. Ideally it should be the far lane first.

    For the same reason, on a four lane road with flowing traffic DO NOT stop in the right lane to let somebody pull out and turn left across you unless a driver in the left lane has stopped first. Two other drivers learned that rule the hard way when my wife's ex and my wife learned that rule.
     
  15. ItsNotAboutTheMoney

    ItsNotAboutTheMoney EditProfOptInfoCustomUser Title

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    In the UK, the law is that you don't have to stop until the pedestrian puts a foot in the road, although you should stop to allow people to cross. But in the UK crosswalks are often much more visible than some of the pathetic dull-yellow-sign-two-white-line crossings we have here. It's hard to miss a zebra crossing especially with two bright yellow beacons, white zig-zags and metal railings next to them.

    Since I like to keep traffic flowing (altruistic hypermiling pedestrian) I often pretend not to be crossing just so that cars won't stop for me.
     
  16. Chuck.

    Chuck. Former Honda Enzyte Driver

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    Ed,

    Over the years, I've been in three collisions I might have prevented, but was not the root cause....i.e. the other person got the ticket.

    My takeaway is you can never be too careful with cars - drive defensively. Besides, too many distracted people to look out for.
     
  17. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Compared to the community where I took driver education in ID, many WA drivers are hostile to pedestrians. So when first visiting some other states, I was shocked to find drivers downright homicidal towards pedestrians.

    According to laws in ID, WA, and numerous WA cities, drivers must stop for peds in all uncontrolled crosswalks, marked and UNMARKED! All street intersections are ringed by crosswalks -- if you don't see the paint stripes, then it is an unmarked crosswalk -- unless signed to the contrary.

    Note also that any traffic control signals take precedence.

    Unfortunately, a huge number of transplants -- even among the police themselves -- appear to be oblivious to these laws. Seattle police issue far more jaywalking tickets than driver failure-to-yield tickets.
     
  18. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    That's crazy. What's the point of having a crosswalk? Around here, pedestrians have the right of way, and will insist on it. The few drivers who disrespect that tend to be confronted by a very angry person, who sometimes take out their frustrations on the car. I've seen more than one car suffer a boot to the door or a fist to the roof, and the only driver I've seen who was brave or foolish enough to stop and get out got the worst of it, by a long shot. Of course, in the US, this would only be another gun fatality.
     
  19. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    The point of the crosswalks is to concentrate pedestrian traffic to a finite number of locations. Otherwise tourists dart across willy nilly wherever they see fit. In practice that's what they do anyway, but at least it reduces the number.

    Being a busy state highway, having to stop for each pedestrian would bring traffic to a crawl. Ideally you want the pedestrians to cross in bunches. A traffic light would help with that, but we only have one in the entire county. The State of Michigan does not install traffic lights until the body count reaches a certain level. So far we haven't killed enough tourists to count.

    Tom
     
  20. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    In the U.S. states bordering your province -- I'm licensed to carry guns in two of them -- this does not lead to gun fatalities.