Parked car opened their door in to my moving car as I drove past. Who's at fault?

Stoke

Pretty open and shut. Your car was moving, she should have been looking. She clearly wasn't.

You're not to blame. She is.

dannyrst

Stoke wrote: »

Pretty open and shut. Your car was moving, she should have been looking. She clearly wasn't.

You're not to blame. She is.

Unless there was a valid reason (for example, physically restricted on the size of the road), the OP shouldn't have been so close to the car when passing.

I'm not saying the person who was parked isn't to blame, I'm saying they both are. Hence it isn't "open and shut" (like the door...:rotfl:) but is likely to be a 50-50 claim.

It's one of those that could go either way and depending on the insurance companies desire to not pay the costs.

prowla

From the Highway code (https://www.gov.uk/waiting-and-parking/parking-239-to-247):

239

Use off-street parking areas, or bays marked out with white lines on the road as parking places, wherever possible. If you have to stop on the roadside:

• you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door. Check for cyclists or other traffic

parking_question_chap

dannyrst wrote: »

Unless there was a valid reason (for example, physically restricted on the size of the road), the OP shouldn't have been so close to the car when passing.

I'm not saying the person who was parked isn't to blame, I'm saying they both are. Hence it isn't "open and shut" (like the door...:rotfl:) but is likely to be a 50-50 claim.

It's one of those that could go either way and depending on the insurance companies desire to not pay the costs.

Are you kidding?

Most of the roads I drive down you are clearing cars by maybe 50cm. Idea being so cars driving the other way can get past instead of having a head on crash. You cannot be expected to clear every parked car by a metre in case some cretin opens their door without looking.

Perhaps we should all have outboard motors on the back of our cars in case the road is subject to a tsunami food? or perhaps all keep stun rifles in our vehicles just in case a heard stampeeding cattle escape on to the highway?

Car_54

prowla wrote: »

From the Highway code (https://www.gov.uk/waiting-and-parking/parking-239-to-247):

239

Use off-street parking areas, or bays marked out with white lines on the road as parking places, wherever possible. If you have to stop on the roadside:

• you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door. Check for cyclists or other traffic

And from the same source, Rule 160:

Once moving you should

• keep to the left, unless road signs or markings indicate otherwise. The exceptions are when you want to overtake, turn right or pass parked vehicles or pedestrians in the road

Every learner driver is taught very early to allow a door's width (one metre), and to slow down if forced to drive closer. We don't know whether that appilied in the OP's case.

Retrogamer

Should and must mean very different things in the highway code.
Should means good practise, generally but no laws to state this.
An instruction with must usually has a part of law that backs this up.

Regardless, being guilty of a traffic offence and being liable due to negligence are not always mutually exclusive.

straighttalker

LadyMcPoundland wrote: »

Hi
I believe this is an traffic offence called Opening Door to Danger.

There is a lot more rubbish spouted on this thread than usual. The above being the most amusing. I have never heard of such an offence!

OP, if it's clear that the point of impact of the edge of the third party door and your vehicle is past the front of your vehicle, ie that the door was opened into the side of your vehicle as you had already passed the door, I would be accepting nothing less than full blame attaching to the third party. Nothing more, nothing less.

Any chance of posting a pic of the damage?

prowla

Car_54 wrote: »

And from the same source, Rule 160:

Once moving you should

• keep to the left, unless road signs or markings indicate otherwise. The exceptions are when you want to overtake, turn right or pass parked vehicles or pedestrians in the road

Every learner driver is taught very early to allow a door's width (one metre), and to slow down if forced to drive closer. We don't know whether that appilied in the OP's case.

1 metre, really?

The rule you've quoted doesn't mention the amount of clearance you must give to parked cars you are passing.

There are many streets where that would be impractical; to get an idea of how far a door opens, just consider the width of a space in a car park.

However, you are right that we don't know the situation on the particular road, other than the parked car had two wheels on the pavement; that does imply that the street was quite narrow.

I've twice had a wing mirror taken off parked in front of my house, and they don't stick out a metre!.

HappyMJ

straighttalker wrote: »

There is a lot more rubbish spouted on this thread than usual. The above being the most amusing. I have never heard of such an offence!

OP, if it's clear that the point of impact of the edge of the third party door and your vehicle is past the front of your vehicle, ie that the door was opened into the side of your vehicle as you had already passed the door, I would be accepting nothing less than full blame attaching to the third party. Nothing more, nothing less.

Any chance of posting a pic of the damage?

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986

105. No person shall open, or cause or permit to be opened, any door of a vehicle on a road so as to injure or endanger any person.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/regulation/105/made

arcon5

dannyrst wrote: »

In the highway code, you are supposed to leave enough room for a car door to open when passing parked vehicles where possible.

And in reality that is not possible on pretty much every road i've ever been on