Hi everyone.
I was involved in a car accident with a bicycle while backing up in my company parking lot last week. In general I checked but I did not see this bike appear somewhere and hit backside of my car while reversing. I feel sorry for him. Unfortunately, his two fingers were broken. I help him to provide logistic support to hospital, provide drinks and also call police for reporting. I have full casco insurance for my car.
What should I expect now? Should I expect a lawsuit? Fines or the possibility of losing my driver's license temporarily?
Anyone who has gone through this process please guide?
Learning: Always look twice when backing up, no matter how stressful your day has been
Have you informed your insurance?
Did you call the police? Or is it only in a publc place that if there's an injury in a car accident that you have to do that?
They said that they did in their post.
I certainly agree with this, but at the same time, it's not always possible to see if someone is coming while you're backing out. (For example, if there's a large SUV parked next to you, etc.). Sometimes it's also up to the other people -- whether walking or on bikes -- to also be cautious and observant. They're not always easily seen and shouldn't assume that they are.
Anyways, I hope it all works out. I would be shocked if there was a lawsuit and/or if you would lose your license because of this.
Good luck!
Ah yes. Thank you.
Unlikely you'll get a lawsuit. You'll get a bill for his healthcare costs, which will be covered by your insurance. Police will give you a fine and you may lose your license.
Glad the cyclist isn't too badly hurt.
This is why it's best to back in rather than go in forwards, as it's safer when you're coming out. Going in, either backwards or forwards, you can see everything around you. Coming out, as others have said, you're limited in what you can see - so best to give yourself the best chance.
But what if the bicycle is behind you when you reversing in ?
wait, wait...that's a bit dramatic.
The driving license may be withheld from weeks to months, or not a single day at all.
I've seen it happen soooo many times here where someone will walk (or ride) directly behind my car despite the fact that they could clearly see that I was already in process of backing out. It's like some of these people don't care if they're hit -- or are behaving as though they're hoping to be.
So I'm not saying that's what's happened in the OP's case, but in my opinion, it shouldn't ONLY be the driver's responsibility to try to avoid accidents. People walking and on bikes need to do their part as well.
A lot of people in our large apartment complex use our parking lot as a walk-through, rather than taking 10 seconds to walk a bit further to take the actual designated walking path instead. Our parking spot is an end spot and the car that parks next to us is a HUGE van. It is literally impossible to see if anyone is coming when we back out of our spot, and it's not a spot that we can back into, to park, because it's a narrow parking lot and ours is an end spot.
So the point is that people in general need to use some caution, patience and common sense and that goes for everyone, regardless of whether they're walking, driving or riding a bike. It's not always easy for someone in a car to see or to know when someone else is coming.
A guy backing out of his parking spot hit my car. I was sitting in it, in the adjacent parking spot, correctly parked, with the engine off. These things happen, and I wasn’t angry, until he tried to say the accident was my fault. Fortunately his insurance decided otherwise, and paid my costs.
He was 84, didnt know his mobile number or how to find it, didn't have an insurance card, though he knew the name of his insurance. Clearly my space had been empty when he got into his car and he didnt check again when moving off.
If you are stationary it is very very difficult to pin any blame on you for an accident....
All the relevant details are listed on the cars gray card. Just take a photograph and let insurance work out the details. No need to get angry, accusational, or calling the police (unless mandatory because someone got injured).
Or you can do as the guy who hit me: Do not give gray card, call the police themselves, and then get charged by the police, because they were not only in the wrong, but did a very dangerous maneuver.
In lots of accidents it really is a case of the reversing driver not looking.
If that means getting out of the vehicle, walking around to the back and checking it's clear then so be it.
Having said that, modern cars do have pretty amazing reversing cameras with 180' wide-angle lenses letting you see what is coming in both directions.
If you're backing out of a parking spot, you usually or often can't see if someone is coming behind your car until you're already backed out far enough to see if someone is coming -- and especially if a tall van or SUV is parked next to you. So you can look as much as you want before backing out, but that doesn't ensure that someone can't basically suddenly come up behind your car. So the best thing is to back out very slowly and cautiously so that you can stop very easily and quickly, if need be.
Also, it doesn't make much sense to get out of the car and look to see if someone is coming before backing out because, again, someone can basically come up behind you (or almost behind you) in the time it takes for you to get back in the car, put on your seat belt and begin to back out.
So the point of my earlier post is that someone can be as cautious as possible while backing out of a spot, but if some idiot chooses to suddenly walk right behind their car or another driver can't be patient enough to let you back out, then accidents can happen regardless of how cautious someone might be.
Or, hear me out, one could read and follow what is written in the traffic rules:
Unless all hazards can be excluded, an assistant must be called which supervises the reversing of the vehicle.
Art. 15 VRV
For that reason I always park backwards after having a small crash at the shop car park.