Hit a pedestrian

gordikin

Morally I'd tend to agree...but legally I suspect would be different. Which makes me think it's not worth pursuing financially.

lisyloo

But there is no downside to asking the insurer to try to recover their losses.
There is already a claim against the OP, so they have nothing to lose do they?

Jackapoo

I think the only real chance would be if she said she seen the car but thought she could make it. it would then be a direct consequence of her actions.

I am also sure that there would be give way road markings for the car to observe as the OP was approaching a T junction, they have also confirmed restricted view due to a van. The women(pedestrian) could have a strong case for compensation

These things happen, just need to move on.

Pincher

I had a neighbour who was doing a loft conversion.
The skip was occupying the road in front of his house,
and his builder decided to set up the cement mixer in front of my drive,
blocking my access. I rang up the council, and they say they can't give parking ticket to a cement mixer. Later, when my drive was dug up to replace the mains water lead pipe, and I parked in front of my OWN drive, they merrily gave me a parking ticket for blocking access, because a car is easy pickings.

The thing that dashed out could have been a fox, a deer, a boy, a shopping trolley. What you need is somebody you can set the insurance rottweilers on. Unfortunately, unless it's an easy target with legal precedence, nobody wants to bother.

In terms of defensive driving, you cannot assume someone is in full control of themselves, as well as their bicylcle, shopping trolley, etc. Children will dash out in pursuit of anything that catch their fancy. Defensive driving thinking means you have to slow down when passing obstacles that obscure you view. This time it's a woman that can't hurt you, but next time it's a twenty tonne truck coming down the hill with failed brakes, and the Transit is petrified because it does not want to be smashed to smithereens by moving forward.

If it was a truck, you would definitely have a counter party to claim from, but you will also be too smeared across the road to care.

lisyloo

I am also sure that there would be give way road markings for the car to observe as the OP was approaching a T junction, they have also confirmed restricted view due to a van.

But there are always cases, where you pass people on the street IN FULL VIEW a few feet away, when you assume they aren't going to jump out in front of you.
It's not reasonable to expect everyone to drive around at 2mph in case someone jumps out.

I think she's liable, but I know the legal system does not help car drivers in this situation.

In terms of defensive driving, you cannot assume someone is in full control of themselves, as well as their bicylcle, shopping trolley, etc.

I totallly agree with you Pincher and I very much believe in advanced driving/riding and spend a lot of my free time promoting it.
However it's still not expected that you drive around at 2mph when you see an adult pedestrian astood at the roadside.
If you saw kids playing, a football cross the road, drunk people, kids playing chicken then OFF COURSE you should be very concerned.
But if you were driving down a street in full view of a normal adult pedestrian you would not be expecting them to jump out.
I don't think thta's a reasonable expectation.

I don't ride my bike around with the expectation of avoiding every pheasant/deer that might jump out.
There is always a possibility of an animal jumping out at the wrong moment.
If you have a bush right next to the road then there is virually NO speed you can do to totally avoid this 100%.

Sadly in this case I thik the OP will find the law is just not on the car drivers side.
It's just one of lifes unfairnesses.
BUT I would say that she is the one chosing to dirve the 1/2 ton metal box around which causes the damage, so I'm back to my "running with scissors" analogy.
If you chose to engage in an activity that is potentially dangerous then you have to pick up the bill.
Why shoudl pedestrians /cyclsts pick up the bill, when this wouldn't happen if you didin't drive a huge metal box around????

pokopoko

I must repeat. She did not jump out in front of my partnet's car. She was jumped to the SIDE of my partner's car. Apparently, according to the eyewitness and she and her friend was playing in the shadow of the van and it was her friend who pushed her into the road. That's where my patner was unfortunately driving her car. They also said that story to the police. I guess it still her liability ? She should have anticipated that there were 2 stupid women playing together behind the van and one could push ther other in the the busy road so that one can get injured. But never mind, they can sue the driver. It's really great story, isn't it ? It seems we are the loser whatever the situation is.

kittiej

TBH I think you'd do best to let this matter lie.

I saw a very similar thing happen to a young girl who crossed at a crossing whilst the lights were on red. A car driver hit her because she (driver) couldn't see round the bus that was stopped at the lane to turn right.

The girl was in shock and looked like she had leg/hip injuries and her leg was shaking uncontrollably.

The moral of this story? whenever there are vehicles parked/ stopped which obscure my view of any potential pedestrian popping out unexpectedly I slow right down.

I don't care if the driver behind me becomes annoyed because I couldn't think of anything worse than hitting a pedestrian, and every time I get into my car I am mindful of this.

The same applies to motorbikes, cyclists, horse riders - in fact anyone who I consider to be more vulnerable than me.

You can be the safest driver in the world but you always have to consider the error of others.

sindersoot

I don't know anything about the law on this but the fact your partner had seen the girls beside the van I would reckon it could be classed that she should have been driving with due care and attention to the pedestrians. In these circumstances although it was the girl that ran into your partner's car knowing that your partner had already noticed the girls may go against her. Not fair, I know but this is a difficult one. Also, for all you know you may not think she was injured but accidents especially bumps have a nasty way of coming out later on. She could end up claiming your insurance for some kind of injuries, etc.

My own motto is never trust a pedestrian that is in sight then out of sight for a split second!! Same with cars, never think another driver will do the right thing because that just doesn't always happen. I'm not a paranoid driver, just learned lots from over the years!

A good few years ago my cousin had a similar accident with two young children running into his car, although they were on the pavement the same side as him. He had been taking away from being parked doing only around 10-15 mph and they decided to run across an extremely busy road full belt right into his car, he did see them and tried to avoid them but it was impossible. They were apparently trying to cross the road for ages and it was a case of one to three will we go or not! Thankfully they were only bruised but I remember him saying "thank God those kids are alive they could have been killed". I remember he decided it was better to be out a few hundred pounds than live with one or two deaths in his mind for the rest of his life. For that reason he decided not to claim insurance and paid for the damage himself. In his case there were a number of witnesses and the Police actually confirmed it was the kids that were at fault. Although the kids were at fault my cousin had to pay ambulance fees as a result of the two kids having to be taken to hospital due to the impact they hit the car with.

I know it's not what you want to hear but sometimes life is a bummer but just think how lucky your partner was that the accident wasn't worse.

shirlgirl2004

My OH was hit by a car in similar circumstances. The driver's OH called him asking for him to pay for the damage and he refused. Personally I was disgusted with him. Not only had the poor woman had a major shock but she was out of pocket too. The OH had a lot of bruising but no financial penalty and by his own admission it was his fault.

I don't want to make it sound like I wish he'd been badly hurt, but I do think morally he should have paid up, but he knew that legally there was little they could do.

lisyloo

She should have anticipated that there were 2 stupid women playing together behind the van and one could push ther other in the the busy road so that one can get injured

She should certinaly have been aware that there may be hazards where she can't see YES.
We all should drive/ride so we can stop in the distance we are able to see.

You can't possibly know the nature of the hazard, but yes, you can know that there is a hazard there.

Perhaps she should take an advanced driving course.
Then she would be able to spot hazard like these.
Personally I think it's cheaper than shelling out on accidents even if you don't care about the other people that have been hurt.