Moped Accident - Who do you Think is at Fault?
Discussion
Hello,
My wife was involved in an accident a few days ago and I am unsure of who is at fault (she is fine btw). I'd be interested to see what you guys think from a motorcyclist's point of view (she was the pedestrian). She crossed in the middle of the street (i.e. not at any type of crosswalk) through 2 lanes of stopped traffic. While crossing over the dashed line she was looking at oncoming traffic and saw a clear road. As she popped out in front of a stationary truck a moped hit her. The moped was filtering/overtaking and on the wrong side of the road. The exact location of the incident was outside the Classic Football Shirts shop on Commercial Street here (moped was going southbound):
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5162767,-0.07263...
Having done some cursory research it seems as if they were both acting legally. In terms of fault, My wife has a responsibility to make sure it is safe to cross, however how much is this responsibility fulfilled by looking at oncoming traffic and crossing when there is none? For the moped driver, he should be extra careful when overtaking stationary traffic right? And the highway code talks about leaving a minimum distance, when he was really hugging stationary traffic and so had no time to react to her (although a lot of advice seems to be geared at A roads rather than urban environments). It also seems relevant that the incident happened just before a junction (right turn into Pommel Way) and so technically he shouldn't have been overtaking at all here? He was also wearing very dark/black clothes on a black bike and the highway code clause 86 mentions you should be wearing highly visible clothes even during daylight driving.
I understand nothing here will be legal advice but I's still be curious what you guys make of it, he wants a few hundred quid for a scratch on his front panel (which seems very high to me as a side note) and I'll probably contest it in court if it comes to it unless I get overwhelming legal advice otherwise.
My wife was involved in an accident a few days ago and I am unsure of who is at fault (she is fine btw). I'd be interested to see what you guys think from a motorcyclist's point of view (she was the pedestrian). She crossed in the middle of the street (i.e. not at any type of crosswalk) through 2 lanes of stopped traffic. While crossing over the dashed line she was looking at oncoming traffic and saw a clear road. As she popped out in front of a stationary truck a moped hit her. The moped was filtering/overtaking and on the wrong side of the road. The exact location of the incident was outside the Classic Football Shirts shop on Commercial Street here (moped was going southbound):
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5162767,-0.07263...
Having done some cursory research it seems as if they were both acting legally. In terms of fault, My wife has a responsibility to make sure it is safe to cross, however how much is this responsibility fulfilled by looking at oncoming traffic and crossing when there is none? For the moped driver, he should be extra careful when overtaking stationary traffic right? And the highway code talks about leaving a minimum distance, when he was really hugging stationary traffic and so had no time to react to her (although a lot of advice seems to be geared at A roads rather than urban environments). It also seems relevant that the incident happened just before a junction (right turn into Pommel Way) and so technically he shouldn't have been overtaking at all here? He was also wearing very dark/black clothes on a black bike and the highway code clause 86 mentions you should be wearing highly visible clothes even during daylight driving.
I understand nothing here will be legal advice but I's still be curious what you guys make of it, he wants a few hundred quid for a scratch on his front panel (which seems very high to me as a side note) and I'll probably contest it in court if it comes to it unless I get overwhelming legal advice otherwise.
London_Pedestrian said:
Hello,
My wife was involved in an accident a few days ago and I am unsure of who is at fault (she is fine btw). I'd be interested to see what you guys think from a motorcyclist's point of view (she was the pedestrian). She crossed in the middle of the street (i.e. not at any type of crosswalk) through 2 lanes of stopped traffic. While crossing over the dashed line she was looking at oncoming traffic and saw a clear road. As she popped out in front of a stationary truck a moped hit her. The moped was filtering/overtaking and on the wrong side of the road. The exact location of the incident was outside the Classic Football Shirts shop on Commercial Street here (moped was going southbound):
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5162767,-0.07263...
Having done some cursory research it seems as if they were both acting legally. In terms of fault, My wife has a responsibility to make sure it is safe to cross, however how much is this responsibility fulfilled by looking at oncoming traffic and crossing when there is none? For the moped driver, he should be extra careful when overtaking stationary traffic right? And the highway code talks about leaving a minimum distance, when he was really hugging stationary traffic and so had no time to react to her (although a lot of advice seems to be geared at A roads rather than urban environments). It also seems relevant that the incident happened just before a junction (right turn into Pommel Way) and so technically he shouldn't have been overtaking at all here? He was also wearing very dark/black clothes on a black bike and the highway code clause 86 mentions you should be wearing highly visible clothes even during daylight driving.
I understand nothing here will be legal advice but I's still be curious what you guys make of it, he wants a few hundred quid for a scratch on his front panel (which seems very high to me as a side note) and I'll probably contest it in court if it comes to it unless I get overwhelming legal advice otherwise.
The moped rider should have insurance.My wife was involved in an accident a few days ago and I am unsure of who is at fault (she is fine btw). I'd be interested to see what you guys think from a motorcyclist's point of view (she was the pedestrian). She crossed in the middle of the street (i.e. not at any type of crosswalk) through 2 lanes of stopped traffic. While crossing over the dashed line she was looking at oncoming traffic and saw a clear road. As she popped out in front of a stationary truck a moped hit her. The moped was filtering/overtaking and on the wrong side of the road. The exact location of the incident was outside the Classic Football Shirts shop on Commercial Street here (moped was going southbound):
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5162767,-0.07263...
Having done some cursory research it seems as if they were both acting legally. In terms of fault, My wife has a responsibility to make sure it is safe to cross, however how much is this responsibility fulfilled by looking at oncoming traffic and crossing when there is none? For the moped driver, he should be extra careful when overtaking stationary traffic right? And the highway code talks about leaving a minimum distance, when he was really hugging stationary traffic and so had no time to react to her (although a lot of advice seems to be geared at A roads rather than urban environments). It also seems relevant that the incident happened just before a junction (right turn into Pommel Way) and so technically he shouldn't have been overtaking at all here? He was also wearing very dark/black clothes on a black bike and the highway code clause 86 mentions you should be wearing highly visible clothes even during daylight driving.
I understand nothing here will be legal advice but I's still be curious what you guys make of it, he wants a few hundred quid for a scratch on his front panel (which seems very high to me as a side note) and I'll probably contest it in court if it comes to it unless I get overwhelming legal advice otherwise.
Moped rider should be riding defensively which means NOT hugging the vehicles he is overtaking- he needs to give himself room to move and improve visibility for both him and whoever is looking for him. He also needs to be able to respond to anyone walking out between the cars. If it’s stationary traffic then treat it like parked cars and anticipate doors being opened etc
It seems the area is a 20mph area as well and, given it was a moped rider, I’m hazarding a wild guess that he might not have been travelling at 20.
I’m also presuming your wife wasn’t on the ‘phone.
I doubt he is going to sue for the money.
It seems the area is a 20mph area as well and, given it was a moped rider, I’m hazarding a wild guess that he might not have been travelling at 20.
I’m also presuming your wife wasn’t on the ‘phone.
I doubt he is going to sue for the money.
MightyBadger said:
myvision said:
I ride a motorbike in london and I'd say it's your Wife's fault for not looking correctly.
This.My assumption is that either the bike was moving at a pace and they didn't have time to react or she didn't take sufficient precautions when coming from behind the vehicle. Did she look in both directions before stepping out - it's not clear from your message? From your post it sounds like she didn't look in the direction the bike was coming from.
Even darth vader taught us to look both ways
Even darth vader taught us to look both ways
A500leroy said:
Ex motorcyclist here,
New rules are walkers have priority over cycles/motorcycles/cars/vans/trucks in that order.
But if they step out from behind a van as you are driving past it its their fault......for stepping out from behind a van into traffic without checking properly.New rules are walkers have priority over cycles/motorcycles/cars/vans/trucks in that order.
MightyBadger said:
But if they step out from behind a van as you are driving past it its their fault......for stepping out from behind a van into traffic without checking properly.
If you are travelling too close to the van so sight lines are inadequate then you need to accept a pedestrian won’t see you until they have stepped in front of you.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff