Bicycle vs Car (WA) who is at fault

neophytte on 11/05/2021 - 21:11
Last edited 18/05/2021 - 09:47

This morning my wife had an accident, she was riding her bicycle on the footpath down a slight incline, which has a T junction across it. My wife is not a fast rider, and that junction is a place we always slow down, as it's at the bottom of a hill. From what I understand she has come to the junction and tried to stop, however a 4WD has come through, in order to turn left or right (not sure which) and she has run into the side of it.

Because she doesn't drive, she didn't think about collecting drivers licence, car registration or any car details, they only exchanged phone numbers. The woman from the car has subsequently sent a video showing scratches and large dents all down the side of her car, which I personally fail to see how much damage could be done to the car, as my wife had no damage to the bicycle (which is a cruiser style electric bike). She said she did not remember so much damage, but without any evidence, we cannot say either way. However she was probably traveling at an estimated 10km/h.

From my quick research on WA law, the site https://www.rsc.wa.gov.au/Rules-Penalties/Browse/Cyclists(https://www.rsc.wa.gov.au/Rules-Penalties/Browse/Cyclists) states that:

Do I have to stop at driveways or do I have right of way?
Drivers need to give way to you, but slow as you approach a driveway, in case they haven’t seen you.

and I would consider that the rule as well, as she was going from one bicycle lane to the other on the other side of the road.

So far the other party has evaded giving any further details, only asking about payment for the damage.

Which party is in the wrong here?

EDIT: requested MSPaint diagram here: https://imgur.com/GJ7mXAy

EDIT2: this is the alleged damage to the car, remembering my wife was traveling straight at around 10km/h - https://imgur.com/a/PcACYQX - she didn't come off her bike, nor did either wheel come off the ground … does this look like damage caused by a bike?

EDIT3: this is the bike (taken this morning) , against my Mitsubishi 380 for height comparison: https://imgur.com/a/gbsp5z9

EDIT4: not sure if this changes the situation, but apparently the driver of the car, upon seeing my wife, stopped. As you can see from the map, the driver was stopped a fair way back from the actual intersection, and was stationary on the road when my wife ran into her. If the driver had proceeded, there would be no incident. Also her text messages have escalated to threatening legal action by tomorrow morning. (I told my wife not to respond to threats)

EDIT5: Amongst the 40 or so SMS's the lady has sent in the past few days, she included a statement that said "with all the rain all of the other scratches came off", including a photo of what she has said the damage is, but I notice in the video the rear view mirror is silver, and in the new photo the rear view mirror is black - can they change colour like that, or is it a trick of the light? So far she has not provided a quote for us.

Automotive

Comments

    • neophytte on 12/05/2021 - 23:20

      Thanks, I suspect you are correct, she is now threatening legal action as noted in edit 4 in the original post - the incident happened on Tuesday morning, and she is threatening to "speak to her lawyers" on Thursday morning ….

      • [Deactivated] on 13/05/2021 - 00:53
        -1

        Let her speak to her lawyer.

        Silly woman, she should have threatened to file a police report instead.

        Despite your wife is at fault or not, damage on the car looks like more than what a bike can do, esp the in dent at the door handle. Looks like its been dragged from from the front door all the way to the rear.

  • brendanm on 13/05/2021 - 10:18
    +2

    Your wife is at fault, she ran into the side of a car that was simply driving on the road.

    • neophytte on 17/05/2021 - 22:20

      The other party stopped about 10 - 15m away from the intersection, directly in front of my wife.

      • brendanm on 18/05/2021 - 06:37

        So, she thought it was a good idea to just ride out into the side of a parked car? You think this is an acceptable thing to do?

        • neophytte on 18/05/2021 - 09:57

          See edit4; if the car didn't stop she may not have hit it … I wasn't there so I don't know how fast the car was initially traveling, if the driver was traveling at 50km/h, it would have been 14m further down the road.

          • brendanm on 18/05/2021 - 10:15

            @neophytte: It doesn't matter. Your wife has to give way to vehicles that are on the actual road. If a car is coming, she stops before sailing out onto the road. How is this so difficult to comprehend?

  • Hirolol on 13/05/2021 - 13:37
    +2

    We need more pics of the bike.
    Show us handle bars, pedals, back half, close up shots of the bike.

    The hill looks long as and would easily pick up speed going down there.
    You are saying your wife had her brakes on the whole time to slow down?
    Yeh I don’t think so mate.
    She was going way fast, probably tried to turn to avoid damage and that’s how the extra damage was caused.

  • OzHunterNSW on 13/05/2021 - 15:39

    Obviously your wife.
    You can not ride upon the foot path.
    You can not expect a vehicle to stop if your shoot out off a curb into the street.

    • pegaxs on 13/05/2021 - 23:32

      You can not ride upon the foot path.

      You can in WA where this incident occurred.

      • HelpMeiCantSee on 17/05/2021 - 08:36

        Yet another reason Wait Awhile is superior to NSW. I need to get out of this backwards state and get west!

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