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Original poster

Who is at fault here? (Bike/car accident)

119 replies

00100001 · 17/09/2021 08:27

Nephew (17) was cycling home on Monday evening, he was on the pavement. He got knocked off by a car that reversed out if a drive with no lights on.

Nephew was knocked off bike, and has a hairline fracture in his arm,and front wheel is possibly buckled. (It's being checked this weekend)

He rode home, as was in a bit of shock,so didn't think to ask for details etc. Driver didn't get out of car as far as I know.

He knows the address it happened so could return for details if needed.

As his bike needs repairing, would the driver be liable?

We're not sure, as nephew was cycling on the pavement, but driver was reversing onto main road and clearly didn't see him

Can wise MNers please help?

OP posts:

insancerre · 17/09/2021 08:29

The driver as it’s their responsibility to check before reversing but the cyclist really shouldn’t be on the pavement
Although I suppose the car could have hit him if he had been on the road

insancerre · 17/09/2021 08:30

And he needs to report it to the police

gindreams · 17/09/2021 08:30

The driver should by law report that

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 17/09/2021 08:32

Technically the driver shouldn't be reversing off a driveway either.

sirfredfredgeorge · 17/09/2021 08:33

The car driver was required to report it to the police, you can get the insurance details from them, like most accidents, the insurance company will just decide, and actual fault is pretty irrelevant.

The police are also probably unlikely to care about the failure to report by the driver (as I very much doubt they did) but still.

WeAreTheHeroes · 17/09/2021 08:34

Driver's responsibility to check the way is clear though your nephew shouldn't have been on the pavement. Also, you shouldn't reverse onto a road, certainly not a main road. He should go to the police. I'd go back to the address and see if he can identify the car and get it's reg.

Soontobe60 · 17/09/2021 08:34

Did he drive into the side of the car, or did the car hit him with its rear bumper? Or did he just swerve to void the car and fall off his bike?

Parky04 · 17/09/2021 08:35

Car driver has to ensure it is clear before proceeding. It could easily have been a pedestrian. This is why you should always reverse into your driveway/parking bay!

swapsicles · 17/09/2021 08:35

Did the driver know he'd hit something? Bit dangerous and worrying if not.
Also was your nephew cycling fast? Too fast for the driver to see perhaps? Depends on the visibility of the driver I suppose, maybe he thought it was all clear and so moved it to the edge of the road, unfortunately your nephew came along faster than a pedestrian (even of at normal speed) and so wasn't seen when the driver pulled out before going on the road.

Neolara · 17/09/2021 08:36

He shouldn't have been cycling on the pavement.

midsomermurderess · 17/09/2021 08:39

No one on this site was was there. Really, this is just so silly.

girlmom21 · 17/09/2021 08:42

The driver reversing is at fault. It's your responsibility as a driver to ensure all angles are clear before reversing.

No nephew shouldn't have been on the path but if he was on the road or walking there's a good chance he'd still have been hit.

Sirzy · 17/09/2021 08:47

Was he behind the car or did he go into the side of the car?

Soontobe60 · 17/09/2021 08:48

@girlmom21

The driver reversing is at fault. It's your responsibility as a driver to ensure all angles are clear before reversing.

No nephew shouldn't have been on the path but if he was on the road or walking there's a good chance he'd still have been hit.

When you walk along a pavement do you walk so fast that you would be unable to stop if a car were to reverse out of its driveway? If he had been on the road, the driver would have been far enough out of his driveway to be able to see along the road, so most likely wouldn’t have hit him.

Fluffypastelslippers · 17/09/2021 08:49

It doesn't matter that he should not have been there. It's up to the driver to ensure they don't hit anything.

Toytownupthehill · 17/09/2021 08:49

Who had no lights on?

Soontobe60 · 17/09/2021 08:51

Actually, I’ve just checked and the Highway Code says to reverse into a driveway IF YOU CAN. It only says you must not reverse from a side road into a main road.
So the driver wasn’t t fault by reversing from his drive.
www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/using-the-road-reversing.html

girlmom21 · 17/09/2021 08:51

@Soontobe60 in response to your walking comment, recently a car reversed into me whilst I was walking behind it. As I was already behind the car, stopping wouldn't have helped.

tintodeverano2 · 17/09/2021 08:52

Why was he on the pavement? Did he have lights on as well?

The car isn't always found liable. A friend (cyclist) had an accident and broke multiple bones and was off of work for months had to sell his car to pay damages to the driver.

tintodeverano2 · 17/09/2021 08:53

Posted too soon.

So, your nephew has a damaged bike, the car may be damaged too, will your nephew pay for the damage to the car?

Blossomtoes · 17/09/2021 08:54

@girlmom21

The driver reversing is at fault. It's your responsibility as a driver to ensure all angles are clear before reversing.

No nephew shouldn't have been on the path but if he was on the road or walking there's a good chance he'd still have been hit.

Nonsense. The driver obviously wouldn’t expect a cyclist to be on a pavement. A pedestrian would stop to let the car out, I’d expect a cyclist to do the same thing.

girlmom21 · 17/09/2021 08:55

@Blossomtoes it's the drivers responsibility to make sure their path is clear before they reverse. That's basic. It's not nonsense.

VelvetSpoon · 17/09/2021 08:55

More information needed.

Did the bike have lights on? What time of day was it?

If the car was reversing surely the cyclist would have seen the reversing light? Or is he saying he didn't see that either?

Could he see the car on the driveway as he approached or was the layout such it was only visible once it started to reverse?

The bulk of the blame is likely to rest with the driver, but I'd be arguing for a deduction for riding on pavement/ no lights (if cyclist had no lights on).

Soontobe60 · 17/09/2021 09:00

[quote girlmom21]@Soontobe60 in response to your walking comment, recently a car reversed into me whilst I was walking behind it. As I was already behind the car, stopping wouldn't have helped.

In this instance, if your logic is the speed at the vehicles were moving, the car must have been reversing pretty quickly to have hit a passing cyclist. If that's the case, it would have also hit a passing pedestrian. [/quote]
As the OP hasn’t yet told us where the point of impact was, we can only assume.
Were you walking behind a vehicle that had started to reverse out of their driveway?

Blossomtoes · 17/09/2021 09:01

[quote girlmom21]@Blossomtoes it's the drivers responsibility to make sure their path is clear before they reverse. That's basic. It's not nonsense. [/quote]
We don’t know what the driver did. You do know how fast a bike can move? It’s not inconceivable that the path was clear when the driver started reversing, is it?

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