RIDEGURU
I'm a taxi driver, I got a call to go pick someone up at a big hotel and a uber driver was driving in front of me and the person stopped i had to stop too because i was driving behind him. The person got our of his car left his door open went to the back of his car and went to go get luggage out of the trunk. i saw a gap i could go thru but he left his door open shop it was risky I took the opportunity but failed to execute and hit his door a little we ended up going thru the insurance and his insurance doesn't want to pay I don't think it was my fault because he left his door open.
I'd like to know who you think it's at fault please.
Posted 8 years ago
Posted In
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Posted By
Elias Zavala (Themessage)
6
Driver
Ride Apprentice
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The Guru Take
"Due Care" is what matters
Hi, Elias,
I am so sorry to hear that you were involved in the accident and put into such a situation.
First a disclaimer. I am not a lawyer (i.e. IANAL); I do not practice law, I am not providing a legal advice, and I do not have enough information to provide a recommendation! (Remember, I am not a “guru” or expert on law!) With that said, I will share from my experience.
The short answer to this (who’s at fault) is that it very much depends on the circumstances. This example of a car hitting an open door is an example where the laws (say, the car was parked legally, you were driving under the speed limit, etc.) or simply looking at the door and car cannot be easily applied to determine who is at fault. You need to look at the circumstances on how it happened, what people were doing, were people paying attention, etc.
What this will most likely come down to is the determination of the “due care”:
“Due care refers to the effort made by an ordinarily prudent or reasonable party to avoid harm to another, taking the circumstances into account. It refers to the level of judgment, care, prudence, determination, and activity that a person would reasonably be expected to do under particular circumstances. This standard is applied in a vast variety of contexts, whether the duty may be driving on the road or performing a background check. The precise definition is usually made on a case-by-case basis, judged upon the law and circumstances in each case.” (https://definitions.uslegal.com/d/due-care/)
Hence the questions you should be asking are:
“Was I paying attention? If so, was I exercising enough caution? Did I try my best to avoid the collision? Did he open the door without paying attention? Did he carelessly leave the door open? etc.” All of these will factor into how the judge or others will determine fault.
I understand that this is a tough place to be, and it may come down to a scenario where it’s your word against his. I will leave some examples and make more comments below. Good luck!
ippei
1202
Uber Driver, CEO of TaxiFareFinder and Unleashed, LLC
Comments
My opinion, you leave your door open in traffic, you're asking for it to get hit. But I don't know the law in this area to be able to weight in on who is legally at fault, sorry.
Call your own insurance company. let them fight with the other guy's insurance... my 2c.
Saw the Guru answer on this. There was a guy who was walking across Interstate-90, which is four x 2 lanes with tall walls on both sides. No one really knows why he was walking there, but it was late at night, and he was struck by a car and killed.
I felt horrible for the man but also for the driver. The driver did not see the man and also did not expect this person to be there. I was later relieved to find out that he was found not guilty (or was not charged? I cannot remember), because:
- The driver was driving legally, at the speed limit, not drunk, had the lights on, aware, etc. He also did swerve to attempt to miss the person, which was obviously too late. He also stopped to tend to the victim.
- The vicitm climbed over the wall, was crossing a eight lane highway in middle of a night, was not wearing any reflective material or lights, etc.
So for the reasons above, it was determined that the driver was cautious, following the law, and ma…
Read more...
Saw the Guru answer on this. There was a guy who was walking across Interstate-90, which is four x 2 lanes with tall walls on both sides. No one really knows why he was walking there, but it was late at night, and he was struck by a car and killed.
I felt horrible for the man but also for the driver. The driver did not see the man and also did not expect this person to be there. I was later relieved to find out that he was found not guilty (or was not charged? I cannot remember), because:
- The driver was driving legally, at the speed limit, not drunk, had the lights on, aware, etc. He also did swerve to attempt to miss the person, which was obviously too late. He also stopped to tend to the victim.
- The vicitm climbed over the wall, was crossing a eight lane highway in middle of a night, was not wearing any reflective material or lights, etc.
So for the reasons above, it was determined that the driver was cautious, following the law, and made enough effort to avoid the incident. On the other side, the victim was found NOT to be cautious, following the law, and did not make enough effort to avoid the incident.
...though, I can't imagine the guilt and trauma this driver is going through.
Read less...
I am afraid it is your fault. Two factors come into play. When you are approaching the rear of a vehicle in front of you, you have the ultimate responsibility of not striking that vehicle (unless the other vehicle was doing something illegal and it couldn't be avoided). Now it sounds like this was on private property. Rules of the public roads may not apply. The second factor is when the collision occurred who was moving. If the other vehicle is stationary and you are moving, YOU are at fault.(no matter where the doors are or any thing else - if that's how the doors had to be for him to take care of his business then that is what you came up on). In any accident, the vehicle/s that are moving cause the accident and are at fault.
Oh, man. Sorry to hear that. I have an experience around this. I believe the law is different in each state, so you may want to talk to someone in your neighborhood, maybe other drivers. Where are you from?
So, in my situation, I hit someone with a car door open at Union Station. I already picked up my fare and was going about 20 mph, where a business man passenger swung the door open wide and I hit his door. The officer showed up, I gave my version of the story, but I was later found guilty...at least according to the insurance companies. The other side's claim was that his car was stationary and legally parked. They even mentioned that I did not exercise enough caution and taht I may have been speeding. (total bs) I know you don't want to hear this, but that was my experience over 10 years ago.
Was this on a busy street or in a hotel roundabout?
Hotel round about.