Whos at fault?

GalwaySM

My father had a wee accident earlier tonight - a lady opened her door as he was about to pass and he hit her door.....who's to blame in this instance?

cormie

She should have looked but he should have kept at least a doors distance between the parked car and himself. That doesn't answer your question so let's wait for someone who knows fo show

biko

Can you give us more information? Was it on main road?

DeepBlue

Like cormie I don't know either but I would have thought that she had some responsibility to ensure that she had room to open her door.
If your father was so close that he had no room to brake it would appear that she was reckless in carelessly opening her door without looking.

There isn't always room to leave a door-width between your car and a parked one on some narrow streets.

FuzzyWuzzyWazza

I would say it is her fault for not checking first. You can't just fling your door out when there is oncoming traffic, that said we still don't know all of the facts.

Eoin

I can't imagine that he would be totally clear.

Tails142

I would say its totally her fault

But if it was a child that darted out from behind a parked car the idea would be he should be able to react quickly enough

stratos

this happened to me, you will be alright.
A woman flung her door open and I hit it. it did extensive damage to my car, when the guards arrived she was claiming all sorts of things.
A taxi driver came forth and said he witnessed the whole thing and would go to court. The guards advised her at the scene that if she went to court she would lose. I got a cash settlement.

GalwaySM

Thanks for all the replies....it actually happened at a funeral - it wasn't a main road where it happened...rather a fairly narrow country road in Connamara.

jimmycrackcorm

it's always the responsibility of someone opening a door to ensure that they can fm so in a safe manner. It makes sense, imagine that there hp a lot of oncoming traffic them how would a driver ensure that gob****es don't nrne doors without looking other than stop before any car doors to make sure. It beggars belief that anyone would not bother looking to see if it is safe to open their door and then claim it was the other cars fault especially when the driver is looking where he is going.

TheNog

Ever noticed old people opening their car doors in the path of oncoming traffic?

They open them as wide as possible so you would be forgiven for thinking that an elephant was about to exit,

they stick their leg out to hold the door like they a hitch hiker sticks out his thumb

and when they are half out of the car they suddenly sit back in 'cos they have forgotten something

I'm not ageist, am I?

Black_Knight

TheNog wrote: »

and when they are half out of the car they suddenly sit back in 'cos they have forgotten something

Or regaining their strenght before the big push to get out.

Fey!

Did he hit the door with the front of the car, or did she hit the middle of the car.

I remember reading something a few years ago where the dirver was at fault if, while moving forward, they drove over something with their front wheels it was their fault, but if they went over it with just their back wheels, it was the fault of whatever they ran over!! (I hope that that makes sense!)

TJJP

I'd be careful on this one. Drivers are required to leave a safe distance between their vehicle and parked cars, and the door opening space is an examination point on the driving test.

I'd have though that hitting a stationary vehicle was a total no-no, so I'm not convinced that blame could be appropriated 100% to the person who opened the door.

Sounds like a own damage repair, but I have known it to got the other way where the stationary car owner paid the damage.

Fey! Makes a good point too, there does seem to be some ‘rule of thumb’ in respect of impact point. Behind the front wheels seems to suggest driver is not at fault.

All of this only hearsay though I’m afraid, couldn’t offer you definitive advice.

Woodgate

TJJP wrote: »

I'd have though that hitting a stationary vehicle was a total no-no, so I'm not convinced that blame could be appropriated 100% to the person who opened the door.

What are you on about???:rolleyes:

If someone opens their door like OP described, you are trying to say that that would be classed as hitting a stationary vehicle, while that is technically what may have happened, there is no way the driver could be at fault for the carelessness of the person who opened the door.