Where does the OP says the driver was jailed? I see a reference to him being taken to the station for booking, but that’s all.
Well of course he wouldn’t have backed up if he’d known they were there. And why didn’t he know they were there? Either because he didn’t look or his vehicle’s mirrors made it difficult to look. Yet he still drove. If that isn’t displaying reckless disregard then I don’t know what is.
It’s curious to see some reactions in this thread. If the OP had been in her vehicle and been backed into I doubt that anyone would have a problem. But because she has the sheer nerve to be walking where others might want to drive she is somehow partly to blame. Drivers in an environment shared with pedestrians have a duty to not drive into them, in exactly the same way that pedestrians have a duty not to walk into the cars. It’s a depressing attitude shared by too many, but sitting behind a driving wheel does not give you right of way or any more rights than those on foot. It just means you can do more damage.
This driver was illegally parked to start with, and then attempted to enter the flow of traffic without establishing the way was clear. The fact he nearly hit an elderly pedestrian and not a bus doesn’t matter, he was being reckless.
I think I need to point out that I think this guys was at fault. (At least more so than the OP)
All I’m saying is I find it VERY hard to believe that they took this guy to jail.
That’s just insane.
Let me clarify here.
The OP is not a bonehead, I have no problems with SBS. I was saying she did something boneheaded (IMHO of course)
As a rule of thumb, I always make eye contact with the driver of any running vehicle in a parking lot before I walk past said vehicle. If the person is ready to back out I will act as a spotter and waive them out of the stall so they get out safely (mostly so they don`t hit me).
You should bear some of the responsibility of the accident in that you werent aware of the running vehicle and if you were aware you should have made a better attempt to avoid the situation. A good sign of impending danger would have been the WHITE backup lights that come on momentarily before the driver backs up. Or even before that, the brake lights that come on just before the driver puts the car in reverse. If I see the brake lights come on I assume the backup light is on its way and make sure to avoid crossing paths with the vehicle.
As the driver of that vehicle, he takes the brunt of the blame. He clearly didn`t look around good enough to see you two.
Shakes, you may have stepped over the top with calling BS, however, I have a question for the OP.
StarvingButStrong, you and the gal you were helping walk back to the car were, by your admittance, walking rather slowly. The gentleman that ran into you had probably left the store and walked to his car passing right by the two of you, NO? Even if he didnt directly pass the two of you on the way to his car (he took a different route), surely you saw him, or he saw you on the way to his car? Its just hard to belive that neither of the partys involved were aware of each other until the car started to back up. ?
I agree with Shakes. THere’s no way in hell he would be booked, jailed or even arrested for this accident if it happened the way the OP described. If he could, then the old lady that ran the red light and T-boned my wife would have gone to jail too. It’s just an accident and for that you don’t go to jail unless you’ve killed someone-and the OP says she had some bruises.
Also, most places something considered “reckless driving” could only happen on the street, not on private property, exiting a parking space.
Sam
Hitting an old lady in a parking lot is not an “accident.” It’s negligence, pure and simple. Those who are defending the driver are afraid that the same “accident” may happen to them, and are afraid of the consequences.
I remember the last time I was hit by a car. I was on my bike, stopped at a red light, and was rear-ended by a car. Was that an “accident” too? Should I not have been on the road because I should have known cars may come up behind me?
StarvingButStrong, you did nothing wrong.
Yes it is an accident.
Like I said before-the 70 year old lady who rad a red light with a cast on her right foot and plowed into my wife was considered an “accident”, so to this shall be considered an accident.
And nobody is saying that the driver wasn’t an asshole or at fault. Read again if you think that is the case.
And yes, the OP fucked up by walking BEHIND a row of cars without making herself visible.
And no I’m NOT defending him, but I refuse to demonize one person when this accident is surely the fault of two.
Sam
Maybe wrong would be the wrong word here. She could have been more aware of her surroundings. Cars, especially an SUV, don`t start up in the winter without some noise (esp. if it had an 8 cyl), some white fog coming out of the tail pipe, and the telltale brake lights and backup lights coming on. She needed to be a little more defensive is all.
Perhaps you do, as do I.
But it is the driver’s responsibility to make sure the way is clear. Would you suggest that it was the OP responsibility if she had been in a vehicle? When driving do you “avoid crossing paths” of every vehicle that is showing signs of wishing to join the flow of traffic, just in case they are not looking where they are going? Or do you assume that they will wait until you have past? If so, why should it be any different for a pedestrian?
We all know it is different for a pedestrian. We all know how careless some drivers can be and how any accident is going to hurt the pedestrian far more than the vehicle. We all know that some drivers think they have the right of way at all times, and it’s up to the pedestrain to keep out of their way. But to suggest that this transfers blame to the pedestrian is ridiculous.
You do realize that it’s pointless to compare your accident with the one in the OP right?
It’s a fact of life that crashes happen. Under some circumstances someone is at fault, and under other circumstances no one is. Epoch shattering ain’t it?
Update: my neighbor’s back home now. They kept her overnight, just playing it safe. She’s been moved back up on her painkiller dosage, and her physical therapy program reset by a few weeks to allow for the muscle pulling/strain, but she should be fine.
I’m perfectly fine, as well. Well, my nearly brand-new winter coat will require cleaning (I landed in some pretty dirty slush) but nothing physical.
Now that I’ve had a good night sleep, I no longer think the suitable punishment for the driver involves a prison cell with an overly-friendly cellmate. 
Amazing how having a humongous machine rolling towards you and not being able to jump out the way will kick your adrenaline through the roof. Anyway, fine him, and make him go through one of the ‘good driver’ programs with an emphasis on being courteous and I’ll call it even. (But if Bozo tries to make me pay for the damage to his car…)
To address some of the points raised:
We were walking in the driving lanes (aisles between rows of cars, whatever you want to call it) because that was the only place to walk. There are NO sidewalks within the parking area of the store. The particular row we were walking behind goes right up to the wall of the store: there are those low concrete ‘stop’ thingies, so that if you pull up so your tires touch them, the hood of your car might be 6 to 18 inches from the wall. There simply no way to walk in front of them.
Yes, I probably could have left my neighbor to wait in the doorway while I brought the car around. It just didn’t occur to me. We were parked in slot 6, so we only had to pass behind five cars – what, around 30 feet? It just didn’t seem like a very long way to go.
I don’t know exactly what charges the driver is facing. I do know he ended up in handcuffs and was put into a police car and driven away. Before that he and the arresting cops got into a rather prolonged argument, and I know that among the things the cops said the phrase ‘you were reckless’ or ‘you were being reckless’ got said a few times.
As to my not noticing the car was ready to back up – yes, that’s my fault. I was concentrating on my neighbor, and picking our way through the slush and lumps of snow and ice. No one passed us (on foot) as we walked, so the driver must have already been sitting in his car – given the location of the car and the store door, it wouldn’t have made sense for him to approach his car by any other route. There were cars passing both ways – that’s why were staying so close behind the parked cars, to give the moving ones room – so there was a fair amount of car engine noise, and I guess I just didn’t realize part of it was his car idling.
Even so, I think it is still MORE his fault: we were in a parking lot, not out in the middle of some road. The whole idea of parking lots is that people go there and park and change from being a driver to a pedestrian! Parking lots are bound to be full of people on foot, it’s the nature of things. And while most of those pedestrians may be concentrating on which cars have drivers sitting in them and alert to jumping out of the way if they suddenly move, other pedestrians are going to be not-yet-savvy children, people with impaired mobility, those distracted by other concerns, etc. etc.
We didn’t suddenly appear out of nowhere – we were walking along at a more or less steady slow pace, our path easy to predict. He knew he was changing from one state to another – from being a stationary object to a moving one-- and so it was up to him to make sure he wasn’t in danger of hitting anyone.
Hey, I’m a driver, too. I’m not bashing some outside group or proposing that he had to perform some dragonian feat of superhuman alertness to avoid killing people that I myself don’t do routinely every time I drive.
ALL HE HAD TO DO WAS LOOK OUT HIS BACK WINDOW BEFORE HE STEPPED ON THE GAS TO BACKUP.
Ya know some of the stuff I have read in this thread is just silly.
Suggesting that walking though a parking lot is a bonehead move is well just dumb. How in the fuck could anyone get to a car in the middle of any parking lot without walking behind some car at some point? Fly? Pedestrians are an expected hazard in a parking lot. GaWd must either never park in any lot unless the space next to the front door is open or there is a sidewalk in front of the car that leads to the store. Must make shopping at most shopping centers a bit hard I think.
It is the driver?s responsibility to ensure that he operates his vehicle in a safe manner. As far as the reckless charge goes, as was explained to me by a very nice CHP officer many years ago, if your reckless driving causes an accident even though you were not involved you can be charged with reckless driving. If someone was injured in said accident then the charge becomes a felony. So causing an 85 year old lady to fall down trying to avoid be run over by your car would seen to qualify under the way the law was explained to me.
As far as the comments about the pedestrians not paying attention. If I was walking an 85 year old lady though a slush filled parking lot with snow and ice I would probably have about 99.9% of my attention focused on where our feet were going in an attempt to keep her from falling and winding up back in the hospital.
I am in the automotive business so I am more aware of cars than most people. I look at them, I listen to them, I often diagnosis malfunctions while looking and listening to them in a parking lot. Now with that said, if I were walking though a parking lot in VT in the winter with snow and slush on the ground, and I saw a car with someone sitting in it idling I would not always assume that they were about to pull out. They could also be waiting for their SO to get out of the store and were running the engine to stay warm. Particularly since ** StarvingButStrong** said that no one passed her on the way to the SUV in question. Until I saw the backup light come on, I would have no clue as to the intentions of the driver. (Brake lights don’t count I have seen people sitting in a parking lot with there foot resting on the brake for 5 minutes or more waiting for someone.)
Reading SBS’s last post makes me think that the reason the driver went away in handcuffs is that he failed the attitude test with the officer big time. Instead of being respectful, and sorry for what happened, he argued with the officer, probably maintaining that he did nothing wrong. Bad move. There are some arguments that you don’t want to try and win. This guy should learn to pick his battles, arguing with a cop over an accident were you are clearly in the wrong is not one you should choose. I am guessing that when all the dust settles, the driver will be convicted of parking in a handicap space w/o a permit, and failure to yield. Unless of course he refuses to remove his head from his ass, in which case the state might choose to teach him a lesson.
:wally
Not anyone walking you idiot, walking an 87 year old with Parkinson’s disease through a slush filled Parking lot. The OP did it and look what happened, she was hit!
Case in-fucking point. Less focus on where feet are and more focus on trucks that can run you over.
Walking an elderly person who can hardly propel herself forward let alone make some sort of move to prevent an accident, behind a row of cars in a slushy, wet and icy parking lot is just not swift. Obviously as I, and others, have said, it’s the driver’s fault. But hopefully the OP has learned a valuable lesson in being a pedestrian-be aware of your surroundings.
As to your comment about never walking in parking lots-
When I walk in a parking lot with loved ones, I am ever on the lookout for drivers. Drivers in their cars, drivers with their foot on the brake, drivers with their reverse lights on, Ad Infinitum. Just about a month ago, this hyper-awareness paid off as some jackass decided to damn near back into myself and my wife. My yelling and very quick footsteps out of the way(with quite a bit if bird-flipping and cursing), saved us from being knocked to the ground.
Sorry to say that you as a pedestrian bear some sort of responsibility, however small, in making sure the driver sees or hears you. It will save your ass some day.
Sam
P.S.- I’d venture that his attitude or more likely some sort of outstanding warrant or some such is what the man was taken away in cuffs for.
I have to agree with Rick here. The OP didn’t do anything wrong. When I’m walking through any parking lot in the winter, I keep my eyes down. This is because an upright target is easier to see than someone lying down behind your car because they slipped on ice.
What I don’t understand here is why some of you are acting like the damage to the vehicle was the OP’s fault. She attempted to alert the driver to her presence by hitting the car. Since it’s winter the windows were probably closed and the car was running, it’s reasonable to assume simply yelling wouldn’t get through to him. She obviously couldn’t run, she had an elderly person with her. Her only options were to get hit or to hit the car. The damage was caused because her purse was in her hand. How was she supposed to know when she put her purse in that hand that it was going to damage a car?
If I damage something of someone elses, I don’t usually feel glee. BUT, if the damage was an accident, caused the way it was, I’d feel pretty happy about it too. Besides, his not looking caused more damage to the neighbor than it did to his car.
All drivers should be cautious when driving. It’s not just the responsibility of the SUV drivers. But, an SUV will cause more damage because it’s larger and heavier so extra caution should be taken.
I think this is right on the money. The sequence of events described in the OP do not by themselves warrant being taken in in handcuffs, but being a general asshole to the investigating officer may well do so…
Huh? What thread were you reading?
80/20 responsible. Wrong place wrong time. The driver was an ass though, and he probably got a warm reception down at the station too.
After reading SBS last post this guy had to of had previous charges or had alcoholon his breath. I don’t know why you guys think cops can take you to jail for being an Asshole.
It is funny to think about though:
" Book’m Danno"
- OK whats the charge?*
- HE’S AN ASSHOLE!*
By what bizarre stretch of the imagination was the the OP remotely responsible for this incident?
Hate to break the news but pedestrians, lacking marked walkways, have the right of way in parking lots. That includes folks who are slow, short or anything else. Pedestrians in shopping lots can be expected to be carrying packages, towing small children, tooling along in wheelchairs or just ambling along. Sure it helps if they’re actively paranoid and able to spring away from a carelessly driven car. But the burden of responsiblity is not on them.
Drivers are responsible for making sure their rear view mirrors are aligned properly and to back out sloooowwly. Take it from a former claims adjustor. ::shudders:: Don’t even try to blame a pedestrian hit by a backing car, “because they shouldn’t have been in the way”.
The OP and her elderly friend didn’t dart into the car’s path. They were moving slowly, in an area where foot traffic is expected and they had the right of way. Period.
Once I was almost driven down by a small company van while I was crossing a street, in a marked crosswalk, with the walk light. I had to jump back to avoid being hit and fell, but managed to break off his rearview mirror with my book bag in a panicked effort to alert the driver. I filed a police report and witnessess corroborated. When I called the company named on the van to complain, the driver tried to say I’d “vandalized” his van. He was 1.) fired and 2.) arrested.
Operating a ton or so of moving metal is a huge responsiblity, not an outlet for aggression and let bystanders beware.
Starving but strong, you sound like a good friend and a good person. You did nothing—NOTHING–wrong and you don’t deserve any of the criticism that’s been dished out here.
Veb