whos at fault

blahblah06

Hi guys, driving down a road yesterday. a car parked in a line of parked cars suddenly opened there door and i hit it and it cause damaged to my car. he is saying its not his fault i saying it is his.

googles says its his HAHA

Random

In it's simplist form I'd say that if the door was opened as you passed then they're at fault. If the door was open(ed) before you passed then you may be at fault as you need to leave a safe distance / react to obstacles etc.

Tipsy Mac

Random wrote: »

In it's simplist form I'd say that if the door was opened as you passed then they're at fault. If the door was open(ed) before you passed then you may be at fault as you need to leave a safe distance / react to obstacles etc.

Yes I'd be thinking the same myself.

blahblah06

Hi random. ye thats whats wrecking my head. I mean how can an insurance company determin was door opened or not ya know. I know i did leave enough room as the road in question you have to drive on broken white line because of cars either side. he is simply just denying it but the way i see it is if he just looked in his mirror he simply would have not opened his door if he seen me coming.

Random

If it's one word against the other I would guess it may be 50/50 in terms of blame. Unfortunitly short of having a camera in your car pointing out all windows all the time you will be the victim of dishonesty and injustice while motoring. Why should anyone take your word over that of the other driver?

I'm not saying it's fair ... but it's fair ... if you get me?

enry

I speck from experience hes at fault. He was obstructing the road.

Barr

The third parties could only hold you liable if he says the door was already open and you should have been able to react

To be hosest I think anyone that opens the door without checking the way is clear should be held liable , even if he says it was ajar for a while .

If their is no clear evidence of one sides story afraid it will go 50/50

biko

There was a thread on this before and I think the consensus was that it's the door openers fault but sure it's not up to us.
I'd say these accidents are 99% caused by the door opener, who in their sound mind would drive into a open door?

blahblah06

hi again. well i had a camera which i took pictures of the cars parked were they were hit. it better not go 50/50 its the same insurance company and all thats what im worried terribly about. I just dont understand how it would go 50/50 considering i was in moving traffic.

to the person who said speaking from experience. what happened?

Barr

blahblah06 wrote: »

Hi guys, driving down a road yesterday. a car parked in a line of parked cars suddenly opened there door and i hit it and it cause damaged to my car. he is saying its not his fault i saying it is his.

googles says its his HAHA

Where was the point of impact on your car ?

blahblah06

hi barr, above my left wheel arch then onto my mirror/door. as i say i didnt even see this chap open the door. it just hit my car with a shock.

Owen

Barr wrote: »

Where was the point of impact on your car ?

blahblah06 wrote: »

hi barr, above my left wheel arch then onto my mirror/door.

That should be your saving grace. If the impact was your front bumper, they will say you should have been able to stop in time, but because it's half way down your car, you can prove that the door was opened as you were passing.

Barr

blahblah06 wrote: »

hi barr, above my left wheel arch then onto my mirror/door. as i say i didnt even see this chap open the door. it just hit my car with a shock.

Ok you could use this in your favour , it could be argued if the door was already open the point of impact would be more frontal i.e left corner of your front bumper . The fact it started at the wheel arch would indicate that u had already passed him when the door opened

frostie500

Its the fault of the other driver. When youre getting out of your car its your responsibility to ensure there is nothing coming

DanGerMus

Well if the door opened in front of you then you drove into it it would be your fault.
But it sounds like he opened the door into the side of your car as you passed in which case 100% his fault.

My unprofessional opinion anyway.

Sundy

DanGerMus wrote: »

Well if the door opened in front of you then you drove into it it would be your fault.
But it sounds like he opened the door into the side of your car as you passed in which case 100% his fault.

My unprofessional opinion anyway.

Well depends how far away you were when it opened. By your logic you could say if a car pulls out in front of you its your fault if you hit it.

blahblah06

well i never thought of that impact hitting the side of car but makes sense when use explain it like that.

LoveDucati2

This happened me 15 years ago in London in my trusty Manta.

His door hit my left front wing and slid down into my door and buckled his door. I needed a new wing and door and he insisted that it was not his fault. I took pics and got the insurance and police involved immediately.

It was his fault and I got a cheque from his insurance company after 2 months.

How could it be your fault.

leitrim lad

exact same thing happened me , i had an escort van ,and they had a sierra , i also got a wing out of it ,and they got a new door and a wet seat ,

i got 272 off their insurance along with the wing fitted for the misunderstanding and the whole mess

blahblah06

thanks guys. i would love to post the pics but i dont think thats a good idea just yet. see whats happening its just the waiting time now. what a pain. funny thing was your man left his car parked and headed off to work while I waited on the guards.

blahblah06

any other help lads

leitrim lad

well in that case you have him then,

its against the law to leave the scene as far as im aware,

or atleast thats what the gardai told me the last time a silly woman ran into me, she lost her licence over it,

blahblah06

hi leitrim. well this guy was parking up to go to work. so when he got out of his car and the damage was done he took my details while i rang the guards and he said he was not waiting around for the guards as he is late for work.
Guards didnt say much when the guy was not there expect they would ring to get him to produce.
I rang the insurance company yesterday to see whats happening and they said this guy is saying it was not his fault.
So my head is just wrecked what can I do now.

johndaman66

frostie500 wrote: »

Its the fault of the other driver. When youre getting out of your car its your responsibility to ensure there is nothing coming

I don't know if its off any relevance but I had it repeatedly hammered into me by my driving instructor while taking my driving lessons (almost 10 years ago) that you should leave enough room for people in parked cars to open their car doors when you are passing them. Now I'm not saying that's a good rule but it may be a rule that's there to be obeyed all the same. In fact its a bag of sh*te like so many other things involved in the driving test if you ask me. In real life with the way people drop their cars wherever and even the way town councils lay out parking it would be impossible to follow. If the damage was along the side of your car I would certainly see it as being the third parties fault. But thats just my opinion and if the insurance company will see it the same way is another question.

blahblah06

johndaman66 wrote: »

if the insurance company will see it the same way is another question.

thats my biggest worry as its the same insurance company for the two of us

leitrim lad

blahblah06 wrote: »

thats my biggest worry as its the same insurance company for the two of us

thats what you pay insurance for, let them sort it out, but dont forget to harass them about it being his fault , or else he will get them on side,

Barr

blahblah06 wrote: »

thats my biggest worry as its the same insurance company for the two of us

This should speed things up , not the other way round. Find out if both claims have the one handler and get your point accross to that person. The other side can deny liability all he wants but at the end of the day the insurance company will decide on liability.

Hooch

O/P there is a Road Traffic Act offence for opening a vehicles door into traffic. Cant find it on google but i'll get it at work the next day.

The person in the parked vehicle must ensure that nothing is comming before opening his/her door into traffic. So he should never have opened it.

In my professional opinion you are right and he is wrong (although you should be able to stop). I have prosecuted several persons for this on serious incidents, like your one.
Hope this helps

blahblah06

nice guy your kidding me. if you could provide that it would be ideal mate.

SAABMAN

He said that he was late for work, so he was probably rushing and didn't take enough care opening the door. Don't settle for 50/50

Pedro K

blahblah06 wrote: »

hi barr, above my left wheel arch then onto my mirror/door. as i say i didnt even see this chap open the door. it just hit my car with a shock.

There's no way your man could possibly contest this! If he hit the side of your car with his door, then it's him who hit you, not you who hit him.

Has to be door openers fault!

kdak

i dont really know,
but one thing i do know is that when a friend of mine failed his driving test one thing he failed on was not leaving a door space when overtaking a parked car, he had not heard of this rule and asked how can he do this without going onto the other side of the road and he was told if theres not enough room to leave a door space then dont overtake. its in the rules of the road as far as i know. so technically he may be able to say its your fault

but

the others are right about where the damage is- he obviously hit you as you were passing and should have seen you so it was his fault for not looking first. sorry thats not much help but you may just have to go 50/50.

Farls

kdak wrote: »

i dont really know,
but one thing i do know is that when a friend of mine failed his driving test one thing he failed on was not leaving a door space when overtaking a parked car, he had not heard of this rule and asked how can he do this without going onto the other side of the road and he was told if theres not enough room to leave a door space then dont overtake. its in the rules of the road as far as i know. so technically he may be able to say its your fault

So going by that mode of thinking unless you have 3 feet clear to pass a parked car then you cant pass it. So that means that legally I can't drive down most streets in most towns?!!?? I'd like to see that argued in court! :pac:

Pedro K

Farls wrote: »

So going by that mode of thinking unless you have 3 feet clear to pass a parked car then you cant pass it. So that means that legally I can't drive down most streets in most towns?!!?? I'd like to see that argued in court! :pac:

+1

Couldn't see it standing up to much in a courtroom!

Hooch

Here you go O/P, as promised.

ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) REGULATIONS, 1963.

Article 92(3) A person shall not in a public place cause or permit a door of a vehicle or trailer to be opened or remain open unnecessarily or passengers to alight where the opening, or the remaining open, of such door is liable to cause danger or obstruction.

Heres the Irish statute link - http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1963/en/si/0190.html#zzsi190y1963a92

Hope this helps
NGA

blahblah06

now aint that just amazing.

Barr

nice guy always wrote: »

Here you go O/P, as promised.

ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) REGULATIONS, 1963.

Article 92(3) A person shall not in a public place cause or permit a door of a vehicle or trailer to be opened or remain open unnecessarily or passengers to alight where the opening, or the remaining open, of such door is liable to cause danger or obstruction.

Heres the Irish statute link - http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1963/en/si/0190.html#zzsi190y1963a92

Hope this helps
NGA

Thats very interesting . I assume this relates to private vehicles as well

Does anyone know if a prosecution was ever given for someone leaving their door open ?

Hooch

Barr wrote: »

Thats very interesting . I assume this relates to private vehicles as well

Does anyone know if a prosecution was ever given for someone leaving their door open ?

Yes private vehicles and its a lot more common than people think for prosecutions to be followed, normally only in RTCs. Normaly cautions every other time, but at one RTC I followed a prosecution and conviction.

Delta Kilo

nice guy always wrote: »

Here you go O/P, as promised.

ROAD TRAFFIC (CONSTRUCTION, EQUIPMENT AND USE OF VEHICLES) REGULATIONS, 1963.

Article 92(3) A person shall not in a public place cause or permit a door of a vehicle or trailer to be opened or remain open unnecessarily or passengers to alight where the opening, or the remaining open, of such door is liable to cause danger or obstruction.

Heres the Irish statute link - http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1963/en/si/0190.html#zzsi190y1963a92

Hope this helps
NGA

God, I guess ye aren't that bad after all, maybe it will make me rethink when I curse the white transit parked on the verge in a 80km/h motorway spec road in the middle of nowhere!

Anyways that aside, nice work, credit where credit is due!

Barr

Any upadate on this OP , I would be very interested how your insurance company comes to their decision.

blahblah06

Hi Barr,
got a visit this morning from the claims guy to look at the car.

Claim went in my favour you will be glad to hear.
Apparently the other guy asked to go 50/50 after he said his door was open for 10 seconds then when the claims guy pointed out to him that the damage done to his car does not coincide with someone hitting his car the time wentto 2 seconds ha.

ie door hinges were not damaged at all normally would be form the impact of a car going into a door.

So I am getting another visit on thurs from the engineer from a company hired by insurance company to check the car because they think estimate is to high.

I did produce the doc supplied above to the claims guy and he seemed to know this alread but it did help my case.

Farls

blahblah06 wrote: »

Hi Barr,
got a visit this morning from the claims guy to look at the car.

Claim went in my favour you will be glad to hear.
Apparently the other guy asked to go 50/50 after he said his door was open for 10 seconds then when the claims guy pointed out to him that the damage done to his car does not coincide with someone hitting his car the time wentto 2 seconds ha.

ie door hinges were not damaged at all normally would be form the impact of a car going into a door.

So I am getting another visit on thurs from the engineer from a company hired by insurance company to check the car because they think estimate is to high.

I did produce the doc supplied above to the claims guy and he seemed to know this alread but it did help my case.

Result, a pleasant change to most peoples fortunes with insurance claims.

Barr

blahblah06 wrote: »

Hi Barr,
got a visit this morning from the claims guy to look at the car.

Claim went in my favour you will be glad to hear.
Apparently the other guy asked to go 50/50 after he said his door was open for 10 seconds then when the claims guy pointed out to him that the damage done to his car does not coincide with someone hitting his car the time wentto 2 seconds ha.

ie door hinges were not damaged at all normally would be form the impact of a car going into a door.

So I am getting another visit on thurs from the engineer from a company hired by insurance company to check the car because they think estimate is to high.

I did produce the doc supplied above to the claims guy and he seemed to know this alread but it did help my case.

Good stuff - I think the fact ye both had the same insurance company usually speeds things up as well .

Some people have some cheek , they open the door in your path and expect you to pay 50% of it - crazy