Was this accident my fault?
the great cornholio
Posts: 33
I was riding in to work this morning, on my usual route on my regular bike, a fixed wheel road bike. As usual, the bus lane was full of stationary cars, and so was the inner lane. The lights, around 100 ft ahead, were red and I was aiming to get to the front of the queue in order to turn right on green.
So I was cycling between 2 lanes of stationary cars (though I would have been in the bus lane, if it had not been blocked) at approaching 15 mph up a steady drag. A pedestrian walk out from in front of a van in the bus lane and stepped right in to my path. He seemed to be giving all his attention to his mobile (texting, I guess). I hit him, and we both fell. He did not seem to be injured, and I wasn't more than a bruise on my hip. His mobile was knocked flying and in pieces, my bike was OK.
My initial response was to call him various names, and he did'nt argue. In fact, he just gave me a look, picked up the pieces of his mobile and went on his way. The driver of the adjacent car (illegally driving in the bus lane) seemed to think it was my fault and, as the day has worn on, I have been wondering to what extent I was at fault. Are cyclists allowed to pass between 2 lanes of stationary traffic? When I do this, I am aware of the potential for car doors to open or for pedestrians to jay walk, but I must admit that my mind was elsewhere this morning.
I am pretty sure that this accident was (mostly) not my fault but if there had been injury or damage, where do you think the blame would lie?
cheers,
So I was cycling between 2 lanes of stationary cars (though I would have been in the bus lane, if it had not been blocked) at approaching 15 mph up a steady drag. A pedestrian walk out from in front of a van in the bus lane and stepped right in to my path. He seemed to be giving all his attention to his mobile (texting, I guess). I hit him, and we both fell. He did not seem to be injured, and I wasn't more than a bruise on my hip. His mobile was knocked flying and in pieces, my bike was OK.
My initial response was to call him various names, and he did'nt argue. In fact, he just gave me a look, picked up the pieces of his mobile and went on his way. The driver of the adjacent car (illegally driving in the bus lane) seemed to think it was my fault and, as the day has worn on, I have been wondering to what extent I was at fault. Are cyclists allowed to pass between 2 lanes of stationary traffic? When I do this, I am aware of the potential for car doors to open or for pedestrians to jay walk, but I must admit that my mind was elsewhere this morning.
I am pretty sure that this accident was (mostly) not my fault but if there had been injury or damage, where do you think the blame would lie?
cheers,
0
Comments
-
It is his responsibility to cross the road paying attention to what is happening around him. He didn't look for you and walked into you. His fault. Ask yourself whose fault it would be had the driver opened his car door on a cyclist - his fault again.
Chill, have no doubt that it was his fault, buy yourself something shiny to forgt about it!0 -
It's easy enough to argue either case, but probably 50/50 in my opinion. While texting and crossing the road is the behaviour of a pillock, 15mph between stationary traffic that's blocking your view is a bit reckless.0
-
+1 to Brun. Putting aside blame, it could have been a car door opened in front of you.0
-
Brun, I think you are probably right.0
-
I had an alomost identical accident a few years ago and came to the conclusion that whilst I was partially at fault the ped took the larger share of the blame for not checking the road properly or paying full attention to what he was doing
At least no one was seriously injured and you can chalk this one down to experiencepain is temporary, the glory of beating your mates to the top of the hill lasts forever.....................
Revised FCN - 20
