To be worried the police will get involved. Splashed a pedestrian by accident.

[SputnikChugabug]

I absolutely didn’t mean to do this at all but I didn’t see him or his poor dog! It was dark, no street lights, under trees, raining and he was dressed in black and the road was completely flooded as I was driving though. About a foot of water covering the road and onto the pavement.

I stopped because I hadn’t realised what had hit my car, but he had punched it with something and the window is now chipped. He was racing towards me screaming so before I could even apologise I got back in the car and drove off because I didn’t feel safe.

the flood is over the road and the pavement and I drove through at about 10 mph, possibly even less! It was very busy. And navigating with the oncoming traffic was difficult.

im a bit worried I’m going to now get a call from the police and a hefty fine. I do feel absolutely terrible especially for the dog. I realise his feet must have been soaked but it was a total accident! I’m not worried about the chip as I know I deserved it, it’ll get sorted.

When it rains there’s always a huge puddle in the bus stop at our school. Loads of drivers deliberately swerve into it to soak the pupils waiting for the bus. The police know about it but couldn’t give less than a shot. You’ll be fine.

I’m not certain how deep it is but there was a car abandoned a few days earlier after it was totally impassable due to a flooded engine.

If that area has been flooded for days then he's even more of an idiot to go there in the dark especially when wearing dark clothes.

Our friend was reported to the police for this and it was reported as a hate crime. The police spoke to him and his boss ( because it was a company car and under the company ownership). It was closed down as a case hit was quite stressful at the time as he couldn’t even remember splashing anyone.

In view of the circumstances your outrage is justified.

There are some arseholes who consider stupid things like this to be hilarious - my fervent hope is that their engines get flooded with the water they churn up and it costs them dear to get it fixed.

Particularly nasty to do this to children - nasty, bullying behaviour.

presumably the OP had headlights on and they should see someone on the path

Dark clothing against a dark background at night doesn't stand out at all - particularly if the pedestrian is standing still, which he may have been, or if it is raining or foggy.

The very fact that he was able to spring forward and strike the car window tells you the OP was going very slowly - otherwise she'd have been past him and away before he had time to react.

As a teenager on my bike, I was actually hit by a car that was overtaking so on my side of the road, fortunately with no injuries. Car didn't even stop. I was very visible: lights, reflective clothing, the lot. Reported it to the police but of course I didn't have the number or even the colour of the car (it was dark) so they never got the driver.

This is different, because I don't think you were in the wrong, you were driving carefully in difficult conditions and someone got splashed. I doubt the police would be much interested, even if he reports it. But if he does and the police for some strange reason are interested, there's no chance IMO that they'd be able to track you down.

there's no chance IMO that they'd be able to track you down.

they’re driving a vehicle with a registration number on it, if he’s got the number a check on the police national computer and they have the details of the registered keeper and whoever is insured to drive the vehicle. If it’s a company car or leased it takes longer as they would have to name whoever was responsible for the car first. The only way they wouldn’t track her down is if the OP bought the car and never told the DVLA but even then in some instances the police would contact the previous owners to ask if they had details of the person they sold the car to.

Another thing to consider is that currently we only have the OPs version of the incident. We don’t know how close she was to the pedestrian and their dog and just how frightening that could be. From the OPs own admission she was concentrating on the road and the oncoming headlights were making it difficult so it’s not unreasonable to think she didn’t see him because she wasn’t looking for anyone as she was navigating through the water and the traffic coming towards her. I’m not saying who was right or wrong regarding the incident as we don’t have all the information but his reaction was unreasonable which is why at the beginning of this thread I suggested that the OP should report the incident online to cover herself in case the pedestrian has reported it to the police.

I wouldn't have stopped either for someone who behaved like that, regardless of how justified they might have felt they were. I doubt you have anything to fear from the police.

I hope the police give you a chance to explain what happened. Though if you could not see the person or their dog, perhaps you need an eye test.

Two wrongs don't make a right (the second wrong being the response).

Get a dashcam.

You won't hear from the police. They don't investigate most serious crimes let alone trivia like this.

I remember when it was fun to splash pedestrians. Them were the days

Not for the pedestrian it wasn't.

How much of a splash was it at 10mph? And what's he doing wandering round unlit streets with a dog and neither wearing hi-vis.or a light. I doubt you were the only one who splashed him given the traffic. If the police get involved I'd definitely be showing the windscreen and describing how frightening he was. I doubt he'd do that if a bloke was in the car

Well, yes, if he's got the number. But I would assume that's unlikely?

it feels a bit pointless when you only hear one very subjective take on what happened.

His retelling of this same incident could well be that someone nearly ran him/his dog over , he flung his arms in the air in panic and knocked the window with his walking stick and was lucky to escape with getting splashed rather than killed or losing his beloved pet. Then having narrowly avoided a fatal collision the driver failed to stop and apologise but just drove off.

whatever actually happened though, I’m sure nothing will come of it.

You know its quite normal for pedestrians on pavements not to wear high vis. There is no obligation on them to do so.

I hate drivers who have no awareness of pedestrians. But in this case, it sounds as though it really was accidental - except that you obviously didn’t see him. For me, as a pedestrian, that is a concern. It means that as a driver, you’re not looking out for pedestrians in a road where pedestrians may be at risk from drivers and cars.

It could be argued that you should have seen him if you were paying due attention. It could be argued that your headlights should have picked him up and then you should have stopped to let him past.

If you had seen him, would you have stopped to let him walk past you, before you drenched him?

And what's he doing wandering round unlit streets with a dog

WTF?? That is perfectly legal. Don’t be utterly ridiculous. Pedestrians ALWAYS have right of way on streets, and drivers have a duty to take care.

So stop being ridiculous.

@SputnikChugabug No a chance in hell OP the police are going to act on this.

Have you ever tied to upload dashcam footage to the police about a serious road incident, you have to sign a disclaimer to say you willing to go to court, make a full statement with all the details and times, then the footage has to show the number plate clearly without the police needing to enhance it and all this with actual video evidence.

A couple I submitted in the past (nothing ever as trivial as this) I got reply's saying they would not act as they could not read the number plate clear enough, the others the said they would be prosecuting the drivers.

So overall id say you have no chance of an officer knocking on your door.

It’s a man rather than a woman, so on here they don’t matter 😆

But seriously OP, don’t worry about it. You’re both in the wrong but the likelihood of anything coming of this is very low.

The flood was across the whole road and she was doing about 10 mph, it's not like she was causing massive waves.
On top of that the idiot took his dog out on the dark dresses in black so he could barely be seen so not even like op had spotted him.
Other than not being on the road, I'm not sure what else she could've done

If he does report it he’s not submitting dash cam though. It’s a different process. The OP didn’t spot him so who’s to say whether there was any one else walking or one of the other drivers stopped and gave their details to the pedestrian as witnesses. You’re right that there’s no chance of an officer knocking on the door but there might be a section 172 notice of intended prosecution through the letterbox and she may be asked to provide an account. I’m saying this as someone that worked in traffic prosecutions from 2000 until eighteen months ago.

Well of the police did knock on my door, I would want his details to make him pay for the damage to my car, what idiot walks in the floods and in all black especially when there are no lights

Well she was driving slowly, I would assume that it’s possible to get a full or partial number (a partial registration with make and model plus anpr cameras, pretty easy to get a match)