Question/Advice?

booth

Hi,

I was just wondering if anyone has any advice on this:

I was driving home last night and came around a slight bend in the road to meet a jeep parked on my side of the road facing me with no hazard lights on. The driver was closing a gate to his property and was not in the jeep. The road was narrow and I first assumed it was a car driving on the other side of the road but braked anyway. When I realised it was on my side I braked harder and the car skidded as the road was kind of mucky. I slowed down but it was too late and I hit him causing one of the bars on the A-bar on his jeep to be bent back while my bonnet and front bumper will definitely need to be replaced.

He said he would fix his and i should fix mine. The Garda came out and said we could sort it ourselves our go to court.
I took his number and am assessing the damage to my car.

Does anyone know who is in the wrong or what I should do. I've never been in this situation before.

C_Breeze

Sounds like the best option , you fix yours and let him fix his. too much hassle otherwise as it would seem to me you are both at fault.

On a side note , why did you drive into him and not around him . I know your barkes locked and skided but i why not just maneouver around him like you would with any other car that was parked on a side of the road (although facing the correct way)

booth

I was driving a 96 Corolla which is really low (not modified to be low just is) and he had an Isuzu jeep so his lights were blinding me. Also lights are supposed to shine to the left slightly to light up the left side of the road so his would have been shining directly at me. The road is narrow there and bends around behind his jeep so I couldn't be sure if there was anything coming. If there was something coming it would have been a lot worse.

Can you elaborate on how I was at fault. Is it because I should have been able to stop in time?

C_Breeze

ok thats understandable, im not saying its your fault . It may well be his fault , but in this sort of situation its hard to tell and going to court may not be worth the hassle .. at the end of the day you never know what a judges view of it might be , and remember You crashed into him . Id say both sides can make thir argument sound very convincing.

By no means am i an expert , but if your car can be repaired at reasonable cost just leave it at that . MY 2 cents worth .

booth

You may be right on that one. Guess I'll have to see what the damage is anyway. I've been advised that and I've also been advised to get him to pay for it. Confusing!

I appreciate the reply anyway Breeze. Thanks.

DanThe

I would have to say it is Booth's fault, as you crashed into him.

It seems harsh and unfair but I would think that is how it would end up. I really hate to say this but you should be able to stop in the distance you can see.

Audioslaven

Ya agree also its booths fault. You should be able to pull up in time. Although, if the jeep was parked in a dangerous manner, he could be done for dangerous driving/ undue care. I'd say if ye both agreed to fix yer own cars/jeeps, I bite his hand off for that deal.

BrianD3

IMO you were both at fault. Him for dangerous parking, you for driving at a speed where you couldn't stop in the distance you could see to be clear on your own side of the road. I'd imagine that a court would take a more dim view of what you did than what he did. If it just went to insurance the companies would possibly agree to split it up 50/50 to save further hassle over what is a relatively minor crash

However you were lucky and should learn from this. What would have happened if it had been a dimly lit pedestrian rather than a jeep. Ask yourself would you have been able to stop without hitting the pedestrian or swerving into oncoming traffic.

booth

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Just a pain in the ass. I mean it doesn't cost anything to put on the hazard lights if you're going to be leaving your jeep parked facing oncoming traffic on the wrong side of the road and the jeep (no exaggeration) is at least half the width of the road (country road) and it could've been parked in his gateway which had ample room for it.

Thanks again anyway and hopefully it won't cost too much to fix. :-/

Thunder_struck

Can't understand how this could be Booth's fault when the jeep was parked on his side of the road with no hazard lights on?? Surely the onus is on the jeep driver not to cause such a hazard, rather than Booth being able to avoid him?

dubstub

Thunder_struck wrote:

Can't understand how this could be Booth's fault when the jeep was parked on his side of the road with no hazard lights on?? Surely the onus is on the jeep driver not to cause such a hazard, rather than Booth being able to avoid him?

At the end of the day, he hit a stationary vehicle. It would be a difficult one if it went to court as they could claim he was speeding, not driving with due attention, poor observation, etc.
However the person who parked the jeep there could be sued for negligence and prosecuted for dangerous parking.

EDIT: After writing that, I realised it doesn't sound right. Can you be prosecuted for dangerous parking? Or would it fall under negligence?

booth

But that stationary vehicle was on my side of the road facing me and taking up at least half of the road with no hazard lights after a slight bend in the road. The speed limit for the road is 80km/hr which is way too much for the road in my opinion and I wouldn't drive at that speed on the road (the road I drive at least 4 times every day) plus I had just met a car 10 secs earlier so had slowed down because of that anyway.

kluivert

No point in asking the lads from Dublin city about this.

I know the situation your in, I drive on country roads (lanes) regularly meet farmers closing gates moving cattle etc.

The farmer is in the wrong here,

1. He was parked on the wrong side on the road.
2. No harzard lights on.
3. He had his full lights on, not his parking.

I meet cars pulled in at houses in the country with the full lights on and have to guess which side of the road they are parked on as you cant tell, its so dark.

Well done to the Gardas for passing the buck.

I have to agree that the farmer is the one at fault, but what sort of come back you would have now if you decided to make a claim and take it to court I don't know as the Garda have made a mess of it.

Wishbone Ash

AFAIK it is illegal to park a vehicle during lighting up hours on the right hand side of a road as the rear reflectors will not be seen by an approaching driver. The Garda passed the buck alright.



7.—(1) In this bye-law the word " stop " means to bring to a stand-still and does not mean or include to keep stationary and the words " stopped " and " stopping " shall be construed accordingly.

(2) The following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to the stopping of vehicles on a roadway, that is to say :—

(a) during lighting-up hours, the driver of a vehicle shall only stop such vehicle on the left side of such roadway ;

booth

Thanks everyone for your input, I really appreciate this and it's helped me not go insane today....