I was at my bank today and I saw a funny little fender-bender happen right before my eyes. I say funny cause no one got hurt. Here is how it happened:
One Mini-Van and one 98 Honda Civic, both parked next to eachother in those slanted parking spots (instead of cars parked head to head, the spots are angled so that you can backout in less space). Well the Civic rolls out first and is about to go foward when the MiniVan starts to roll out, blocking the Civic. So far no problem. Well the MiniVan doesn’t see the Civic and starts to turn its wheel so that it may go forward. Well this puts it on a collision course with the Civic that is now whalling on its horn. The MiniVan driver, being a MiniVan driver, does the stupid thing…instead of turning her head and looking, she stares at her rear view mirrior, sees nothing, and keeps going. Well…** crunch. **
Everyone is ok and insurance info is passed on. Now, my question is this: There was no one behind the Civic. She could have backed up even more and been OK. Instead she sat there for about 5 seconds and just honked her horn. Could this come back and bite the Civic owner in the butt? Is it totally the MiniVan’s fault, since the Civic could have gotten out of the way?
Just wanted to give another example of why MiniVans are the scurge of the roads. Anyway, peace out and, MiniVan drivers bring it on!
I don’t think the Civic driver will be held responsible. It is easy in 20/20 hindsight to say the Civic driver could have backed up and prevented getting hit, but at the time the Civic driver may have felt things were happening too quickly to think of the option. If the Civic driver had backed up quickly and been wrong about no one being behind then that driver would have been responsible for the car it hit, not the mini-van.
At a fairly busy intersection on a main thoroughfare in my city, popularly known to be the place to go when one is looking for, shall we say, the company of a “professional” companion, a woman wearing a very short skirt bent over to pick something up off of the ground. Bent from the waist, of course, not at the knees. (She’s going to injure her back if she’s not careful.) In doing so, she rather plainly revealed that there was no further clothing to be revealed beneath the skirt. Needless to say, this was rather distracting to the traffic going by. One car came to a crawl to look at her; the car behind him, looking straight at her, plowed right into him. My husband was three cars back, saw the whole thing, and told me about it as the most amusing moment of his day.
Legally it’s going to be the fault of the minivan driver because the civic was at a dead stop.
If the civic was an automatic the driver almost certainly did the most that could be expected of him. I’d be very surprised if I were ever to find out that the civic was a manual. People who drive manual cars usually drive them because they want to (in the US anyway.) That type of person is usually more fully aware of what’s going on that a typical automatic type.
Just a WAG to complicate issues on the situation in the OP, but it may depend on the laws of the state. Some states go with split or comparative liablity to apportion out blame, depending on the situation.
If that the case in your state, the driver of the Civic may be in for some problems. Sounds like there’s some pretty solid evidence that she could have prevented the accident. Laying on the horn helps, but she could have either backed out of the way and avoided the collision.
The drivers of mini-vans etc. need to invest in some bubble mirrors on the side rear-views. The van at work doesn’t have side windows–basic, no-frills Econline van–and the bubble mirrors really help with the limited sight lines. Too bad more people don’t use them.
Hey thanks, I live in Califorina so if you know what the law says for its residents, do share.
I would also agree that the Civic could have prevented the accident. She could have backed up and been fine. There was plenty of room, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she never thought about that. In that moment, all she was looking at was the MiniVan.
I just recently bought a stick for that very reason.
At least in New York, the mini-van would be at fault. It’s not up to the Civic to prevent an accident that the other vehicle is about to cause. In any event, the insurance companies will be too busy and blame the van. Don’t matter though. Everyone’s premiums will rise!!!
