ASRA - Australian Skateboard Racing Association

To pay for the damages to the car or not

hey guys, im in a bad situation at the moment

I was skating down high street, along side UNSW, and i made sure that i wasnt slowing down traffic or causing any form of delay, but as I was comming down the road I went to the very left side of the road because there was a line of traffic so i slowed down and kept rolling, and a bus suddenly stops and i didnt know why, and then a car pulled out and I tried to dodge it/break, hit the car and flew 5 meters, no broken bones, and thankgod i was wearing a helmet

The problem i've come across is to do with paying for the costs to repair the dent that my leg left on the front right hand side of the car.

now I've been told that he is in the wrong because he didnt check for bikes or anything else and pulled out when the bus gave him the chance to go, and some say that it is my fault because im on the road on a skateboard and I have no rights, and that i should pay for it

but i am a student with little to no money

 

so i really need some legal advice, or any advice at all that can be helpful

 

thanks 

Tags: accident, car, crash, repair, skateboarding

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Premium MemberPermalink Reply by matti rae on May 19, 2011 at 0:01

talk to haggy... but a similar scenario was brought up before, and someone took it to a lawyer or someone in the know (cant remember those specifics), but he concluded that you not legaly suposed to be on the road does not take away from the fact that he pulled out in front of you without looking, and nomatter what vehicle ur in/on you have right of way...

saying that im not a lawyer... but talk to haggy he knows the most about it...

Permalink Reply by Robbo on May 19, 2011 at 6:03
legally you are a pedestrian and I have never heard of a pedestrian ever having to legally pay for damage in an accident with a car. Remember he is just a car driver and can't legally determine anything. He could get his insurance company to chase you up for it but I would just tell them good luck, take me to court mate and see how far that gets you... nowhere!! He might even accidentally expose himself to a neg driving charge if he pushes it, whereas you will expose yourself to nothing

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Skittles on May 19, 2011 at 8:17

You have right of way (no matter if you are riding a bike or sliding down the road on a frying pan.

 

You could also get a fine regarding the recreational wheeled device operation on the road, but you should not pay for the damage caused by his stupidity.

Permalink Reply by Guff on May 19, 2011 at 10:18
You have right of way if you are riding responsibly and with traffic. If you are cutting through the middle of traffic, disobeying road signs and signals or riding at night etc you will have no rights. Someone I know ran over a little girl on rollerblades came out of nowhere police told her she could sue for damages to her car she was NOT charged with neg driving and the girl had serious injuries. You still have to ride in a responsible manner. Say you slide out on a corner and drift over the other side of the road  a car swerves to miss you and has a head on with another car you think everything will be hunky dory then. Be careful of the advice you hear on forums

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by haggy on May 19, 2011 at 11:17

Alex, sounds like a pretty clear cut example of a car pulling out in front of a pedestrian.  If you were on a bike would you be at fault - no!  The driver didn't check his mirror and pulled out.  The fact that you were on a skateboard does not change the situation.  You could have been seriously hurt and it's the driver's fault for not being aware of what's going on around him, not yours.

 

If the driver contacts you tell him to take a hike. 

 

Guff - not sure what point you're trying to make.  Drivers are generally much more reckless/careless on roads than we are, with far greater consequences for their occupants and other road-users. 

 


ASRA AdminPermalink Reply by Bugs on May 19, 2011 at 11:24
Guff is right about one thing - be careful of the advice you receive on forums. However I agree with Robbo's analysis, and would add this:

I'd ignore the whole thing. They're never going to chase an uninsured skateboarder for a small sum of money in a case where the legal rights and wrongs are very murky and in fact the car driver may be the one in the wrong.

Re the accident - did the bus driver stop and wave the motorist through? A cyclist was killed in this situation last year - a car driver in a line of semi-stopped traffic thought he'd be kind to a driver who wanted to cross at an intersection and stopped and waved him through. The driver at the intersection relied on the "wave-through" to indicate that he'd be OK to cross the intersection, but he ran smack into the cyclist, who was travelling alongside the line of semi-stopped cars.

In the following court case the cyclist was determined to have been 100% in the right legally, and the car driver who hit him was 100% in the wrong legally. It was determined that a driver can't rely on another driver's "wave-through" - they have to check for themselves whether the coast is clear.

But despite the legalities, it shows that riding along a line of stopped traffic has some serious risks. If you're gonna do it you need to do it at a very slow, almost pedestrian pace, so you can stop in a very small distance.
Permalink Reply by Alex Smit on May 19, 2011 at 12:36

hey guys, thanks for the advice
he linked me to the nsw road rules site

so i told him
"i know the road rules and i was in the right, the only thing i can be charged with is a fine regarding the recreational wheeled device operation on the road and you pulled out infront of me,relying on a wave from a bus driver and not checking his surroundings is neglegent driving and that in the end i am a pedestrian, and i had right of way."

am i right or did i sound like a twat

Permalink Reply by lach more on May 24, 2011 at 14:16

Out of interest, was that car coming out of the UNSW Village carpark, or one of the colleges further up?

I'm pretty cautious around there, we can be pretty invisible on that hill with all the parked cars on each side. I've had a few close calls.

 

The others are right though, you may have been in the wrong for riding the hill, but that doesn't remove the fact that the driver pulled out in front of you. If you were on a bicycle it probably would have still happened anyway, but with no blame on you..


Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Jake Elliott on May 24, 2011 at 16:24
I believe you can never be 100% not in the wrong in a crash situation, just by being there you have partial blame in what has happened
Permalink Reply by Laurence Lombardi on May 24, 2011 at 17:43
fuck him, people always want you to pay for their damages because your a skateboarder, if you were a bike it would be a different story, i wouldnt pay shit!

Premium MemberPermalink Reply by The Dave on May 24, 2011 at 20:56

1) You shouldn't pay damages, he entered a road without checking properly

2) High St, dude. No. Of all the roads to be running in traffic it has to be one of the worst.


Premium MemberPermalink Reply by Dani on May 24, 2011 at 20:56

That's stupid.

 

Your stopped at a red light. Someone fails to brake in time and smashes into the back of you. Your saying you are partially to blame because your stopped at the red light?

 

Makes no sense... What you believe is trollop.

Jake Elliott said:

I believe you can never be 100% not in the wrong in a crash situation, just by being there you have partial blame in what has happened

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