Would a little common decency have hurt?

[Weezapleeza]

My nephew lost control of his R/C car and it went into the road. A few seconds later a woman in a Discovery ran right over it but apparently without batting an eyelid. She didn't slow down or stop either before or after. It was like she'd just flattened it in passing. Then the acknowledgement came. A couple of minutes later she pulled up outside the drive, wound down her window, and asked him the most incredible question. "Did you enjoy that?" She was furious, and rude, and he was in tears. That seemed to give her an answer but all she did then was drive off again. No apology, nothing. AIBU to expect better?

[endlesswicker]

Perhaps she was looking at the road, like drivers are supposed to, and didn't see a piddly little car go into the road

Drivers are supposed to see obstructions in the road actually. This one is probably the sort who enjoys squashing hedgehogs for fun.

[PurplePansy05]

@therealteamdebbie You are spot on IMO. Not an ounce of common sense between her and her DN, and clearly very entitled. Way too much of this attitude around, and then a big surprise - welcome to the real world where people are expected to think and take responsibility for their actions.

[JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows]

How would you feel if someone did that to your child because of an accident!

I'd completely understand, and I'd use it as an opportunity to say "this it what happens when you piss about on the road with toys" and also explain why the car couldn't have swerved or slammed on the brakes. And my son is half the age of the OP's nephew and I'd still react that way

[Confusedandshaken]

If I was driving and ran over a small rapidly moving object I'd be scared I'd hit a cat. I'm sure she was very shaken and probably thought your nephew (who is not a little child) did it on purpose.

[JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows]

Mind you I wouldn't let a child play with a RC car next to the road

[Nith]

The thing is that she seemed to think he'd deliberately wanted to see her go over it, like other posters have suggested. Who would do that?

She may well have believed he wanted to give her a fright or even cause an accident. Some kids think it's funny to do something that makes a car driver swerve or even drive off the road, and the consequences if she'd lost control as a result and hit someone on the pavement could have been awful. That does make her question perfectly understandable - she wasn't asking whether he enjoyed the car being flattened, she asked if he'd enjoyed trying to give her a fright and make her have an accident.

[islockdownoveryet]

It’s because op she’s a c**t and I don’t say that often . Making a child cry and some people are justifying it ffs .

[JudgeRindersMinder]

12!!! Are we going to be drip fed the additional needs now?

[Nith]

At first it felt like she'd had plenty of time to see his car in the road but had still driven right over it on purpose like she was teaching him a lesson or something.

Not sure if you're a driver, but I think you seriously underestimate reaction times. A car doing 30 mph has an overall stopping distance of 75 feet, and you say that the toy went out into the road only a few seconds before she came along. If she was aware of it, she acted correctly by following the Highway Code guidance not to try to swerve away from it.

[Bubbletube]

Should never have been playing with a remote controlled car so near to the road - what if it had gone into the path of a cyclist?

[thedancingbear]

Drivers really, really shouldn't have to dodge kids' toys when they are driving. She could easily have swerved and hit something, or slammed her brakes on, and injured someone in her car, or someone could've gone into the back of her.

The driver's comment is, at first glance, weird. But if you think about it, it's pretty consistent with her assuming that the kid was buzzing cars deliberately - I can tell you for 100% certain that people do that, because it's happened to me, and my DF.

The best thing in future could be take the R/C car to somewhere other than a public road, where it can be used legally and safely.

[Persephonegoddess]

You were in the wrong as was your 12 nephew, it could have caused a far worse accident and at 12 he should know better, you should have apologised to her and he is lucky if his only punishment is the loss of his toy.

[AllTheWorldIsGreen]

YABU.

[Onjnmoeiejducwoapy]

12?!?!? So he’s basically a teenager. She probably thought “little shit, thinks this is funny and needs a lesson.” Kids this age think messing with cars is funny, like the little shits who dropped stones off bridges and killed people.

[Letsplough]

@UrAWizHarry

A plastic r/c car is not going to damage an actual real car.

Yes, letting it go in the road is not idea but any adult reducing a kid to tears in that way is a prize cunt.

This

[Nith]

@endlesswicker

Perhaps she was looking at the road, like drivers are supposed to, and didn't see a piddly little car go into the road

Drivers are supposed to see obstructions in the road actually. This one is probably the sort who enjoys squashing hedgehogs for fun.

Highly dubious that she had time to see this one since OP says it went out into the road just a few seconds before she came by.

And the Highway Code says you shouldn't swerve suddenly to avoid this sort of obstruction.

[ancientgran]

Did you expect her to swerve to avoid it? Maybe causing an accident.

He shouldn't be playing by the road. It is dangerous.

[JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows]

@MsTSwift

I was with a friend and her dd let go of her scooter and a car ran over it. Friend was very apologetic to the driver who stopped and seemed shaken up. That’s the dynamic I would have expected in this scenario - the party at fault for the thing being in the road is very much at fault and on the back foot and should be apologetic.

When me and my siblings were kids my older brother (lovely but total numpty) was riding his bike off the drive forgetting the brakes weren't working. He went straight on the road and into the side of a car, and I will never, ever forget the look on the face of the 20-something driver who got out and thought he'd killed a child.

My brother was absolutely fine, as was the car, but the poor driver was shaking Like hell. I've never seen anyone look like he did.

Me and my sibling's were on the drive and my mum flew out the house, bollocked us all because not one of us bothered to say "Jim, remember your brakes are broken" and brought the poor chap in, made him a cup of tea, told him what feckless tits her children were and then actually baked him a cake 😂 then sent him away with some stew she'd made in the freezer and the remainder of the cake 🤣

These days parents want an apology 🙄

[UrAWizHarry]

The kid being 12 does change things a little bit, but it still sounds like the driver basically didn't give him or the OP a chance to even apologise.

Things occasionally appear in the road which shouldn't. If you find that "shocking" then I would suggest that driving isn't for you.

[Penners99]

The child got a learning experience. I cannot fault the driver at all.

[MyCatHatesEverybody]

Are you a driver OP? If you are you should know that if an inanimate object is stationary in the road it's usually deemed safer to hit it as opposed to swerving to avoid it (unless it's something substantially big obviously). You'd also know what it feels like to have that slight panic when you see an obstruction in the road. YABU.

[Melange99]

You are being totally unreasonable. You were the one in the wrong, he lost control of the car, she lost control of her temper, but you were the one who lost control of the child. I would imagine she was shaken up. If you think she was a cow you can imagine what she thinks of you.

Stop looking for someone else to come out of this badly. This is on you.

[Nith]

@OlympicProcrastinator

How old is your nephew. I think that makes a difference. Although I think it was bloody mean at any age, what a weird thing to say as well. I can understand not apologising but to sneer like that is just awful.

I don't think she did sneer. I think she genuinely thought he had sent the car out deliberately to give her a scare and make her swerve - which unfortunately is not at all unknown in children of that age - and she was asking whether he enjoyed trying to scare her. He's lucky it wasn't considerably worse, I think in her shoes I'd have had a bit of a rant.

[JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows]

@JackieWeaverIsTheAuthority

That's like saying someone threw something at your head, and it broke, so you replace it.

That’s like something someone whose had a thunk on the head would say.

No it isn't.

Someone else made a mistake, you as a stranger are put at risk as a result, and you rectify the mistake they made that disadvantaged you. It's a perfect analogy.

[JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows]

@endlesswicker

Perhaps she was looking at the road, like drivers are supposed to, and didn't see a piddly little car go into the road

Drivers are supposed to see obstructions in the road actually. This one is probably the sort who enjoys squashing hedgehogs for fun.

She should squash a hedgehog if it's in the road, according to the Highway Code, because it's safer than swerving