Oddzball
Member
Being a fellow bicyclist, I kind of find this situation upsetting, but figure I would come here asking for advice anyway.
Lucky no one was injured, no damage, just a case of (He either ran into me, or I hit him, it was to close/quick to tell)
Sooo the details...
I was in my truck pulling out of a gas station. I look left and right. On my right, pretty much right up to the road, excluding the sidewalk, is a 8 foot wall, so you cant see anyone until they have passed the wall, which also means they are already inside the driveway to exit the gas station. I start edging out to get a clear look on my right, left is clear of cars and pedestrians, and BAM! right into the corner of my bumper goes a kid on a bike.
Did I hit him, or he hit me? Hard to tell. In that case I would consider it no fault, but apparently the officer felt otherwise.
I should mention that I have a clean driving record, and am very aware of bike riders because I AM one of them.
Paramedics actually arrived first, and no one was injured, they cleared the kid to go(Of course he wasn't wearing a helmet, was like 14 year old kid, but I digress) They called the kids mother but she didn't feel like coming down the the accident to make sure her kid was ok. Regardless, the medics found no cuts or bruises or bumps etc.
Now its just me and the cop. He say he is going to cite me for "Failure to yield to a pedestrian". Of course my argument is its not that I didnt yield, but simple zero visibility on the right hand side sidewalk, and the fact that the kid was riding the sidewalk the opposite direction of traffic(which i "think" doesn't matter, as in my town there are no laws about riding on the sidewalk for bikes)
So all around bad situation. Kid rode off on his bike just fine I should note. But now I am sitting here with this ticket wondering if I should go to court, or pay the fine..
Advice? I tried to make this as clear a view of the situation as possible.
Lucky no one was injured, no damage, just a case of (He either ran into me, or I hit him, it was to close/quick to tell)
Sooo the details...
I was in my truck pulling out of a gas station. I look left and right. On my right, pretty much right up to the road, excluding the sidewalk, is a 8 foot wall, so you cant see anyone until they have passed the wall, which also means they are already inside the driveway to exit the gas station. I start edging out to get a clear look on my right, left is clear of cars and pedestrians, and BAM! right into the corner of my bumper goes a kid on a bike.
Did I hit him, or he hit me? Hard to tell. In that case I would consider it no fault, but apparently the officer felt otherwise.
I should mention that I have a clean driving record, and am very aware of bike riders because I AM one of them.
Paramedics actually arrived first, and no one was injured, they cleared the kid to go(Of course he wasn't wearing a helmet, was like 14 year old kid, but I digress) They called the kids mother but she didn't feel like coming down the the accident to make sure her kid was ok. Regardless, the medics found no cuts or bruises or bumps etc.
Now its just me and the cop. He say he is going to cite me for "Failure to yield to a pedestrian". Of course my argument is its not that I didnt yield, but simple zero visibility on the right hand side sidewalk, and the fact that the kid was riding the sidewalk the opposite direction of traffic(which i "think" doesn't matter, as in my town there are no laws about riding on the sidewalk for bikes)
So all around bad situation. Kid rode off on his bike just fine I should note. But now I am sitting here with this ticket wondering if I should go to court, or pay the fine..
Advice? I tried to make this as clear a view of the situation as possible.