Vehicle collision in private driveway - Who's fault?

sarahg1969

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Not a very good generalisation, especially when it comes to vehicle doors.

Generally, drivers who hit stationary objects are in the wrong. In the case of a vehicle door, if the door is opened into the path of the oncoming vehicle, then it is not stationary.

harveybobbles

If it was my neighbour I'd try to keep things as polite as possible as I wouldnt want there to be any awkwardness where both parties dodge each other for the rest of their life.

Kindly ask them if they'd like to pay for the damage to your motorhome without going through the insurance.

A neighbours sister reversed into one of my cars years ago but just offered to pay for the repairs.

On the other hand, a neighbour cut the corner of a T junction where my dad was waiting to pull out of and tvvatted the front bumper corner and wing of my dads car. That went thru the insurance as the guy was a right pleb anyway.

Lum

pendulum wrote: »

It is cut and dried IF she tells the truth and admits she hit the open door which was open all along.
If she says the door was opened in to her path, just as she was pulling in to the space, then it's a different story.

Were the stairs hit too? A bit hard to say the door was suddenly opened into her path if the stairs were out as well.

Motorhome_Man

Lum wrote: »

Were the stairs hit too? A bit hard to say the door was suddenly opened into her path if the stairs were out as well.

No, the steps were not hit. The steps are electric steps that were fully extended for more than 15 minutes before my neighbours arrival and would be a warning for anyone that the door was being probably being used.

I repeat that the door was already open but if there is any doubt about how much the door could have been opened into her path I submit the following information.

The door actually sticks out exactly 4 1/2" more than the steps when it is fully at right angles from the Motorhome which means that my neighbour must have been travelling at less than 2 1/2" from the (very stationary and sticking out) steps when she was passing the vehicle.

Her stopping distance after the vehicle had finished hitting the motorhome was a further 3 yards along the drive which should be an indication of the pace she was going at. I hasten to add that she has damaged her passenger side door and now has a dent in it @1" deep and scratches more than 12" long.

If more information is required at this point it is worth pointing out that if the neighbour had been driving at a distance of at least 4 1/2" away from the steps she would only have clipped the door and knocked it out of the way. What has actually happened is that she has caught the door at an angle (an absolute minimum 60 degrees from the motorhome), continued driving for another 12" as it gouged its way along her car door, and then (in one continuous movement) the motorhome door has been caught by the passenger door handle and forced into and past the 90 degree angle with enough force to push the motorhome sideways on it's suspension at least a couple of inches (I witnessed this as I was stood at the rear of the motohome at the time of the collision). As I said before she stopped a further 3 yards past this point.

It is probably also prudent to say that my wife was stood inside the motorhome and also felt the force of the collision.

I hope that this makes the incident a little clearer but if I have missed something else and further details are needed then just ask.

On an aside and as a thought for those of you who are arguing the "if the door is opened into the path of the oncoming vehicle" case then please consider this hypothetical question. If you opened your car door a maximum of 4 1/2" and a car coming past you at the same time hit the door and damaged your vehicle, would you not consider the driver to be driving at a dangerous distance from your vehicle?

bigjl.

Motorhome_Man wrote: »

No, the steps were not hit. The steps are electric steps that were fully extended for more than 15 minutes before my neighbours arrival and would be a warning for anyone that the door was being probably being used.

I repeat that the door was already open but if there is any doubt about how much the door could have been opened into her path I submit the following information.

The door actually sticks out exactly 4 1/2" more than the steps when it is fully at right angles from the Motorhome which means that my neighbour must have been travelling at less than 2 1/2" from the (very stationary and sticking out) steps when she was passing the vehicle.

Her stopping distance after the vehicle had finished hitting the motorhome was a further 3 yards along the drive which should be an indication of the pace she was going at. I hasten to add that she has damaged her passenger side door and now has a dent in it @1" deep and scratches more than 12" long.

If more information is required at this point it is worth pointing out that if the neighbour had been driving at a distance of at least 4 1/2" away from the steps she would only have clipped the door and knocked it out of the way. What has actually happened is that she has caught the door at an angle (an absolute minimum 60 degrees from the motorhome), continued driving for another 12" as it gouged its way along her car door, and then (in one continuous movement) the motorhome door has been caught by the passenger door handle and forced into and past the 90 degree angle with enough force to push the motorhome sideways on it's suspension at least a couple of inches (I witnessed this as I was stood at the rear of the motohome at the time of the collision). As I said before she stopped a further 3 yards past this point.

It is probably also prudent to say that my wife was stood inside the motorhome and also felt the force of the collision.

I hope that this makes the incident a little clearer but if I have missed something else and further details are needed then just ask.

On an aside and as a thought for those of you who are arguing the "if the door is opened into the path of the oncoming vehicle" case then please consider this hypothetical question. If you opened your car door a maximum of 4 1/2" and a car coming past you at the same time hit the door and damaged your vehicle, would you not consider the driver to be driving at a dangerous distance from your vehicle?

No the person opening the door is at fault.

Funny how you now ask that and now state your wife was inside. Did she open the door? I bet the other party claim she did.

[Deleted User]

Was the door on your land, theirs, or neither?

i.e. did your neighbour hit a stationary object that was entirely on your land?

Quentin

Motorhome_Man wrote: »

If you opened your car door a maximum of 4 1/2" and a car coming past you at the same time hit the door and damaged your vehicle, would you not consider the driver to be driving at a dangerous distance from your vehicle?

No.

If that's really what happened, then the person who opened the door is at fault.

Motorhome_Man

bigjl. wrote: »

No the person opening the door is at fault.

Funny how you now ask that and now state your wife was inside. Did she open the door? I bet the other party claim she did.

No. She did not open the door. I have already said several times that the door was already open. I had just left the vehicle myself seconds before and that was why I was at the rear of the vehicle. I did not shut the door as we were walking in and out because we were loading it so we will both state that the door was already open and the steps were out warning anyone of our intentions to use the door.

It is quite a normal occurence for anyone loading any vehicle to leave the doors open when collecting the next item. Same as in the kitchen when you get some saucepans out of the cupboard. You don't get one out, then close the cupboard, the open it again, get another, then close it... You know what I mean.

Just to point out that I said it was a hypothetical question and I thought it was made very clear that this was not relevant to the accident. Perhaps I should remove the point as it has only served to muddy the facts although it has served to warn me of the dangers of a wrongly worded statement of facts on our claim form.

Motorhome_Man

bigjl. wrote: »

...and now state your wife was inside. Did she open the door? I bet the other party claim she did.

Incidentally. Anyone opening a motorhome door past 90 degrees from the inside at the point of collision would have meant that their arm would have been reaching out from the inside of the motorhome. If this was the case I am convinced that this claim would not have been just about the damage to vehicles but would also have been about injury to my wife.

Mrs_Arcanum

Motorhome_Man wrote: »

Incidentally. Anyone opening a motorhome door past 90 degrees from the inside at the point of collision would have meant that their arm would have been reaching out from the inside of the motorhome. If this was the case I am convinced that this claim would not have been just about the damage to vehicles but would also have been about injury to my wife.

Would make sure you take lots of pictures - particularly to show how the motorhome was immediately prior to the neighbour arriving.