Carpark crash visualized.
Lady in the black Honda behind me is eyeing for an opening parking space.
I see the car behind me, and start up the car and put it on reverse, to show her that I am wanting to leave, which I she clearly takes a notice of since she's looking right at our car through her side window. I take it that she acknowledges me wanting to back out, so she promptly pulls forward leaving me plenty of room to roll out. I also take notice there's a black Chevy with blinkers on, waiting for me to open up a spot for them. (The couple in the car witness what is about to happen.)
She notices there's another car leaving, and has an idea: "That spot is much closer! I'll take it!"
I start pulling out. I see something dark suddenly blocking the right back view mirror and hear a honk presumably from the Chevy at the same time. Before I can react the car jerks into whatever's behind us.
Without much thought, she swiftly hits the reverse and crash boom.
Now I'm not sure who is the party to blame. But one thing that caught my eye when I was reconstructing the whole thing was that there should have been more room. Why was she on the left lane anyway? I don't get it. She's not British, nor Australian or Japanese from what I can gather. Or shouldn't we pay attention to traffic rules in a parking lot?
Also, is it permissible to suddenly change directions from forward to reverse in a busy parking lot?
I am puzzled. If it were fully my fault for not looking when she was going past, I would consider myself at fault, but because she clearly had noticed my turning the car on and on reverse when she was sitting right behind us and then even gave us room to back out. It's almost as if she did it on purpose. I know it isn't so, but her denial on the phone made me doubt it might be the case. I had two people witness she suddenly decided to reverse direction "out of nowhere" even. And she herself admitted she saw a spot closer and on a whim decided to take it instead of the one further away.
I would so much love to have cameras and sound recorders planted on my car and everything because she was bordering silly when she first admitted to backing in hurry (reckless if you ask me), and then called it my fault.
Anyway, I'm getting to bed now. I'm exhausted.
I wish i was there to see wat happened to get a better judgement of the issue.
What a mess i cant make anything out of it, so many mobing parts lol Luckily it is not a serious accident and nobody's hurt. Stay safe and have a rest
Looks like Tetris :d
That's great you visualized the full scene now fully understand what happened with you.
Haha, I was a bit late to link you this post. Anyway, good thing it was a clear post. :)
hahah you taking it to the next level of visualisation :D
How much is the damage on yours do you guess? Guess the cops will sort it. Did she leave the scene?
If only had I had enough brains to call the cops right that moment, but no. I did the stupid thing and just gave her my number so that we could argue it over the phone later. Which we did. Instead what I could have done; take photographs from each and every corner of the accident and then use them as a reference for insurance claims and what not...
Well. I guess it's just bonuses I will lose if I just take the blame myself. Money is not really that big of an issue.
I know that type of thing is very frustrating. Dont let it get you down...
i can visualize the scenario very well. but the only problem is no drive women can visualize the scenario. if they try to understand this kinda of situation they will have to re-think it again "what is going on there "
So sorry about this brother. I think the security camera at the parking lot may be helpful. I hope there is one.
Yeah that's what we thought too, but it turned out there were none.
Just today you told me that the lady had suggested that it be enough for you to pay for the paint to cover the marks on her car. I think you should just tell the lady that you are going to file an insurance claim and ask for her insurance details if you haven't already. If she disagrees with your account of what happened, you can tell her that you will call the police and have them determine who was at fault. You have witnesses to back up your story so that part should be covered. Let the police state their opinion about who was at fault. If you have witnesses to corroborate your story and the police say the lady was at fault, you can go and file the claim. (You should, in fact, make the claim anyway just so that the damage may be inspected.) If she disagrees with the witnesses or the police, culpability will decided by the courts and it could turn out to be expensive for her. Now, I have no doubt in my mind that when the police hear the testimony of the witnesses and decide to believe them that the lady will admit she is wrong. She will only be liable to pay between a hundred or two as deductible and have lower insurance bonuses for a while. The brunt of the economic damage (between 1000 and 2000 euros judging by the sight of the damage in your car and hers) will be borne by your insurance companies. Nobody in their right mind will risk losing in court with such odds and with so little to gain.
Asked the police today and they told me it would be best for us both to pay for our own damages, that we are both at fault. We should have called the police to assess the situation on site.
So I called the other party and we decided to both make our claims and withdraw any blame on the other. I guess it is the best course of action, since the damages weren't that huge.
The lady was on the left because she was eyeing on a parking space on the right and about to drive into it. It is impossible for a car to turn right to enter a parking space in such a narrow space without being on the left hand side of of the driveway between the spaces. I think what really happened was very simple. She forgot that you were behind her backing up from your space at the time she got the brilliant idea of using the newly freed up space closer to all of you requiring her to back up. It was a silly mistake she was probably embarrassed to admit to. Being careful not to tread on her ego while being firm about the facts will help in resolving this with minimum hassle. Anyone is capable of making such mistakes. The fact that a car passing by may have right of way does not mean that a car partly backed out of a parking space is allowed to be rammed into.