I've just hit someone with my car. He's ok, but was I at fault?

[LimeLeaf]

Just to say first that I was going less than 5mph and he walked away relatively(?) unhurt but I'm very upset about it and wondering if I was at fault.

I was at the bottom of a road which is very steep, at the junction where it meets a very busy main road. I was turning left onto the main road and looking right for a gap in the traffic. I'd been waiting a minute or so.

A car appeared on the main road and stopped, waiting to turn right onto the road I was on. A lorry to my right then stopped on the main road and gave way to allow me to turn left in front of him and the car on the main road to turn right past him onto the road I was on.

I started to release my foot from the brake as its a very steep road so I could roll forward before putting my foot on the gas. The car started moving forward and the man was right in front of my car and it hit him. He must have been on the pavement to the left of me and had tried to cross in front of my car but I didn't see him because I was looking right. He must have been walking quickly because he was already half way across the front of my car and I was already looking forward when I began to take my foot off the brake. As soon as I saw him I put my foot back down on the brake hard. I had moved maybe 3-5 inches but as he was walking so close to my car, it hit him.

He stumbled but kept walking across and then looked back at me and started shouting whilst I sat there in complete shock. The lorry waited for me to set off again even though I was shocked and nervous to drive immediately. He then turned around and kept walking.

I'm so upset about this. I've never hit anyone with my car before and feel very bad about it. Was I at fault do you think or was the man? Is there anything I need to do now?

So you were rolling at the junction instead of stopped whilst looking the other way?

The cars turning right also should not cut the bend.

Also, the wall would have obscured his vision from the rest of the road I was on so he was silly to not stop and check up the road. As I said, he had his hood up and never glanced to his right even once until he was across the road.

Due to the wall, drivers and pedestrians very often suddenly meet at the very bottom but pedestrians nearly always stop and check because they can't see the road unless they lean out and peer up the road. Sometimes it's the first time you realise there's anyone there when you're approaching the bottom and see people leaning out from behind the wall to look.

I was rolling to the bottom slowly until I got to the point where I could see the road right and the pavement to my left. I then stopped less than a foot from the junction to watch the traffic coming right. I was looking all around at this point, noticed the car stop to turn right and then almost immediately the lorry stopped too. I was checking the car turning and the road to my left and in front but the pavement was already over my left shoulder at this point. As the car started turning right, that's when I released my foot to get closer to the junction and he will have stepped out at that moment or just after.

In the nicest way, just stop making excuses and hashing it out. You were at fault. He may have been a prat but it's best to assume that all other road users and all pedestrians are prats, then adjusting your driving accordingly. I think you'll find it easier if you accept you made an error in judgement. You're human. It happens. We all do it! Don't beat yourself up over it. Accept it for what it is and move on.

Fair enough ImNot, but that's a little harder to do when people are still posting on the thread.

Initially I wasn't sure who was at fault but actually, I don't think I was 100% to blame having been over the junction a few times since. However, it's my insurance that will likely go up but I guess that's life.

The next time you're all taking your foot off the brake to pull out of a junction, ask yourself what you'd do if someone stepped out at that precise moment a few inches from your car. There isn't anything you can do except slam back on the brakes.

Lime I honestly don't think you did anything wrong. I would have done exactly the same thing and I would have probably even been pissed off at the person for walking in front of my car! It was his fault in my opinion.

I find this a bit confusing, in terms of responsibility.

FWIW lime, I think exactly the same thing could have happened to me in your shoes. We have a nasty junction at the end of my lane, also in a slope, where just navigating the traffic is hard. I too have to roll forward and like you it is hard to suddenly stop being in the main road if something suddenly happens. It is dangerous and this alone makes you naturally wary, so if someone suddenly appeared next to me I'd be very shocked if I hadn't seen them. They'd have to be really belting it down the road. If a car coming from the right is fractionally over the limit then the likelihood of them hitting my car is high, because there's a bend just before where the lane intersects with the main road. I've taken to winding down my window and listening for cars during all weather conditions as well as looking for them.

If, as you describe, you'd checked the road (and all this happens in seconds) and seen it was clear and were rolling forwards, and then he (jogging, possibly) suddenly darted in front of a moving car, trying to swerve around your bonnet by almost being in the main road (I.e crossing on the corner and not the lowered section, nipping between you and another turning vehicle, then he's an utter idiot. It sounds to me he saw you and decided to dart through rather than stop. I can totally see how what happened happened and I don't think you were recklessly negligent. I think some of the comments here are a little smug and quite harsh. I googled jaywalking because I don't really know how/when this applies and I found this on Wikipedia:

"The United Kingdom does not formally describe priority regulations for drivers and pedestrians at road junctions or other locations, except with respect to marked zebra crossings where motorists are required to give way to pedestrians under defined conditions.[1] Elsewhere, the Highway Code relies on the pedestrian making their own judgment on whether it is safe to cross based on the Green Cross Code. If the pedestrian's judgment was correct then no evasive reaction should be required by any drivers, but drivers are expected to avoid hazards and are examined on their ability to do so during the Hazard Perception Test."

I hope you're feeling better. He probably hasn't given it a second thought but it's stayed with you.

Green Cross Code below. Did he do any of this?

1. THINK! Find the safest place to cross, then stop.
2. STOP! Stand on the pavement near the kerb.
3. USE YOUR EYES AND EARS! Look all around for traffic, and listen.
4. WAIT UNTIL IT'S SAFE TO CROSS! If traffic is coming, let it pass.
5. LOOK AND LISTEN! When it's safe, walk straight across the road.
6. ARRIVE ALIVE! Keep looking and listening

You are 100% to blame. He had right of way. Your observational skills were lacking.

Yes, you have described it perfectly Cakey, and no, he didn't observe the green cross code. When my car made contact with him, the vehicle turning right was just passing. I have no idea what he was thinking.

Spandex, I think you're determined that pedestrians have right of way at all times, no matter what. Are you a driver? What would you do if someone stepped out in front of your car when you were pulling out of a junction? I'd already passed the pavement. I was blocking his path. How did he have right of way in those circumstances?

Although you should have checked both ways, anyone should get the driver's attention before crossing. I never walk out in front of a car that's stopped before a driver notices me or I see they've made eye contact and signalled me to cross.

If he had looked and seen that you were looking the opposite way he should have waited. I would have anyway. Just because your foot may be on the road doesn't mean a driver knows you're there or the car is going to stop. I mean just because a light turns red at a zebra crossing doesn't mean a car isn't going to drive straight through a red light. That's how my sister got run over.

tiggy, I explained further up that I meant he must have been on the pavement further up but I couldn't see him because of the wall. He was no where near the end of the pavement as I approached and was not in my line of vision when looking forward and to the left in front. My DD saw him when he was next to the car but that was over my shoulder. I was trying to rationalise his likely movements and wrote that whilst still in shock. Maybe I should have looked at the pavement to my extreme left but I had already satisfied myself that nobody was there trying to cross when I reached the bottom. There was a lot going on but I felt it was safe to go and think I was entitled to expect the man to stop at the pavement rather than charge ahead which is why I said I don't think it would have changed my actions had I seen him. Who doesn't at least pause at the pavement edge when there is a car blocking the path and one turning into their path? I honestly don't think he was paying proper attention to what was going on and likely had headphones in and his hood up obscuring his view.

Sorry to hear about your sister ayria.

I understand people make mistakes, probably me in this situation but I do think the man was more at fault, what I'm objecting to is being described by some posters as an unsafe driver which I don't think is true.

Pedestrians, even ones who have zero road sense and dart out in front of cars, still have right of way. It's up to you not to hit them, even if they are plonkers and you think a clip 'round the ear might knock some sense into them.

Stop blaming him! It was your fault.

Maybe I should have looked at the pavement to my extreme left but I had already satisfied myself that nobody was there trying to cross when I reached the bottom.

The Highway Code says pedestrians have right of way if they have started to cross the road. You saw nobody was there trying to cross when you approached - you got there first - and you were mid-manoeuvre(actually rolling forwards), as was another vehicle turning, when he decided to dart across. At that point you had right of way and he's bloody lucky his stupidity didn't result in either you accelerating over him, or the vehicle turning running over him.

Another poster above in the thread checked with her police husband who also said in this case the pedestrian was in the wrong.

Having said that though, being 'right' would be zero consolation if he'd been seriously injured. Which is why he gets to move on without a second thought despite his stupidity, and you are left strung out with anxiety and shock.

Pedestrians don't have right of way at all times, he did not follow the Highway Code. A police officer DH of a poster here has confirmed that on this thread. You didn't answer my questions Spandex. Everyone I've spoken to in RL and who knows that junction has said he was a bloody idiot and that I did nothing wrong.

I know pedestrians are unpredictable, this isn't the first time someone has jumped out into the road whilst I'm on it, but it was the first time someone has done it so close that there was nothing I could do except put my foot back down on the brake. My car moved a few inches. He shouldn't have been there. I will continue to be careful on that junction as I am whenever I'm driving.

Cross posted with you Cakey. I think you understand obviously having a similarly difficult junction that you deal with on a daily basis. And you are bang on about why this has upset and shocked me so much. I don't think I'd have been able to get behind the wheel again if I seriously hurt anyone, whether it was my fault or not.

The whole incident was extremely upsetting despite the fact that everyone got out of it relatively unscathed.

You really don't accept you're at fault do you?

Would you Schmoo? Has anyone jumped out in front of your car just inches away whilst you were moving? What else could I have done?

After seeing the photo you posted, with the view obstructing wall and the slope, I do totally believe you approached this carefully. You would be conditioned to be careful after dealing daily with a horrible junction like that. I approach mine every single day thinking, 'is this the day a car is going to slam into me'. I hope you start to feel less shaken as time passes. Not nice at all.