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Just had a car accident...


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I was just driving home a couple of hours ago and turning a corner in the road. In the opposite direction coming towards me - on my side - were 2 girls on bicycles. Side by side, chatting away, one almost in the middle of the road. It was too late. I hit one of them. She fell off. Long story short, ambulance came and looks like she has a broken ankle or something. I have given my account to the police and all, but I'm wary of "what's next".

 

I'm sure I did absolutely nothing wrong, it was the girls fault for riding bikes like that. I had had nothing to drink, was only going normal speed, certainly not speeding.

 

Anyone any experience of this kind of thing?

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One problem in Japan you need to be wary of is in car accidents both parties are always held somewhat accountable regardless of how one sided the fault may seem to lie. Hopefully it will all turn out ok...good luck.

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I find the traffic laws in Japan rather strange, they offer no protection to the driver.

 

Although its a shitty experience you had m8, it could have been pretty worst. The kid didn't got hurt and you will probably be able to reach to an agreement outside the courts. I wish you this form the bottom of my hart.

 

Did you she the news yesterday? There was a mini bus full of kids ruining on the highway returning from a soccer game. Suddenly, a kid opened the side door and fell off the running car. The kid got hit buy a passing track and died. Imagine what the truck driver has to live with for the rest of his life. frown.gif

Common sense says that the driver of the minibus is responsible for not having the kids safety lock on the doors. Surprisingly though, the truck driver was also arrested yesterday for homicide! wakaranai.gif

 

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200712260105.html

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Glad she wasn't hurt too bad mate.

 

As Go Native says, there always needs to be somone accountable. This is for insurance (normally to cover the state from 3rd party liability).

 

This normally means that you may be found guilty of a traffic offence, but the offence won't incurr any demerits etc.

 

IF it is proven that you had not crossed your side of the road, and could do nothing to avoid the accident, you should be fine. They will take into account visibility, road conditions, your vehicles roadworthyness, things like; "could you have easily escaped off the side of the road (your side)?, or was there danger (ie parked cars)." They should also look into whether the girls were visible whilst riding, (here that means if @ night, were they using lights, did they have helmets etc), were they wearing dark clothes etc.

 

MY wifes sister used to work for RAC (Royal Automobile Club) in the insurance section, so I can ask if she has had any similar experience.

 

best wishes with this one mate.

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The cops will ask that it be handled through your insurance company probably as they won't want to commit themselves to blaming anybody.

 

The insurance company will then assign 80% of the blame on you and happily pay all the claims from the girls.

 

You'll be left scratching your head and possibly a little angry.

 

You won't be fined.

You may have to attend a bad drivers school 2 hours of lectures/documentaries and a written true or false test. You will be delayed in getting a Gold license a furhter 3 years.

 

You'll feel like a rape victim in the end...but all will be well...

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Sorry to hear you have been dragged into a car accident fiasco mate, not a nice thing especially in this place with the idiosyncratic way of dealing with such things of this nature.....(had to think of a polite way to say that....censored.gif

 

As for the schoolboy who fell out of the door, why not arrest or charge the bus manufacturer Toyota for creating a faulty product; the door should never open while the bus is in motion. If anyone is to blame its Toyota, sue the pants off them, get them up on national TV and make them bow deeply. Its an unfortuneate accident that could have been prevented with a $2 piece of circuitry from Toyota.

The truck driver was minding his business and wham, its a truck not a F1 car you cant just swerve in a heartbeat, poor guy being made the scapegoat, thankfully it wasn't a gaijin driver who hit the kid.....

 

Next they will charge train drivers who hit people jumping on the tracks

rolleyes.gif

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That sounds awful, I really hope you come out of this ok. I have nearly hit some cyclists doing the braindead side-by-side thing, always extra careful now.

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sorry dude.

 

I think you were in the wrong. 100 percento my friend. You have to be able to stop. Pretty simple in my opinion. You bowled over some cyclists. Suck it up and realise you wernt looking far enough ahead or were driving to fast. Either way you **** up.

 

Dont buy the in the middle of the road, side by side or on my side of the road excuses. You bowled them over.

 

Matt

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Common sense says that the driver of the minibus is responsible for not having the kids safety lock on the doors. Surprisingly though, t]

 

 

I drive School kids and it is a nightmare You are not allowed to lock the emergency door

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Frannyo,

 

Good luck. Hope it all works out - it's going to be a stressful few months. Glad the injuries weren't more serious - whatever happens legally, it will all get sorted eventally but if you had disabled or killed someone you'd have to live with that forever.

 

Unfortunately, none of the logic that domokun mentions above applies in Japan - a car is bigger than a bike so it's the car driver's fault.

Also because you are a gaijin and your nose is high, it was probably obstructing your view which means that it is definitely your fault.

 

 

Blaming the truck driver for running over that child is absolute madness.

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Never accept 100% blame, you don`t have to unless you know it was 100% your fault.

 

use your national insurance to cover the medical costs and ambulance for the girl. This costs you nothing. Do not use you private insurance yet. Better to negotiate with the girl or her family if she is a minor.

 

it really depends if you collided head on or you side swiped. Indeed the bicycle is seen as the weaker party and thus the blame is attributed to you but if you don`t give in you can get yourself in a more advantageous position. if all fails use your private insurance.

 

This is from experience of a triathlete ploughing into me at 50kmh on a dark road without lights wearing shades. I was expected to take the blame but I stood firm and ended up just using my national insurance to pay for the medical costs and told my insurance company I would take it to court. However he did have insurance but lied to me he didn`t and expected my insurance to cover 100%. The cops didn`t want to know anything about it and said it was a private matter. I ended up with a few scratches on my bumper and didn`t give him a penny.

 

So never ever accept 100%! the worst you should accept is 90% but if you can prove negligance on their part you can get it down to 70% or negotiate.

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Thanks folks. Still waiting to hear more.

 

About blame. Well, yes, I did hit her - obviously - but

 

- I was not going fast

- I was driving normally on my side of the road

- I was going round the rather tight corner when she and her friend came cycling round the corner

- they were side-by-side, she was almost on center of the road

- they were on my side of the road!

 

I am pretty certain that the same thing would have happened had most other people been driving like I was at that very moment.

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If she was in the center of the road on a blind spot it is most definately legally not 100% your fault. So as I said use your national insurance but not your private one and negotiate. was she looking in your direction as you went towards each other( I bet not) and were there any mirrors on the corner( as in could you see her on round the corner that way)

 

Bicycles are governed by road rules and must ride on the correct side of the road. So you have lots of points to argue so don`t give in. Chances are they might not have insurance and the Japanese person would probably cop to 100% but don`t do that because they might start making ridiculous claims. If you feel they were in the wrong fight for it and drag it out. there is no hurry on your part to resolve it as long as you have paid her medical costs with your national insurance then you have shown willing to help her. And if your settle it privately it won`t go down on your record.

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That`s car tax you have to pay in may.

 

I believe the national insurance is paid at shaken.It is for issues like this or if you hit a traffic light or other pole etc. To cover damage to material things but also can be used for ambulance and hospital costs.

However it is compulsory and everyone has it when they get their shaken.

It covers up to 10 million yen I seem to recall.

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this thread has reinforced my philosophy of driving as little as possible in Japan, I ride my bike as much as possible or take the train and when we were a out as a family the good wife almost always drives while I chillax in the shotgun seat.

Driving here does my head in, it really shits my to tears, I am a festering road rage blister ready to pop at times - its best that I drive as little as possible especially when the consequences of even a minor accident could land you in world of shite.

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I just asked 3 japanese ppl who are all drivers and they said that in the eyes of the law it will be at least 90% your fault regardless of the situation because a cyclist is involved.

 

I dont think anyone here can judge you unless they were there, however ultimately you were going too fast to avoid hitting them and that will always be an argument the cyclist can use against you.

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It's oh so easy for us to come on here and lay down how we see it, only you will. Sorry to hear about it frannyo.

 

I can see how an accident can happen however slow you were going round a sharp corner if cyclists are coming towards side by side on your on the road. If that is the case seems a no-brainer to me that they are almost totally at fault for being such idiots.

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 Originally Posted By: bobby12
I just asked 3 japanese ppl who are all drivers and they said that in the eyes of the law it will be at least 90% your fault regardless of the situation because a cyclist is involved.

I dont think anyone here can judge you unless they were there, however ultimately you were going too fast to avoid hitting them and that will always be an argument the cyclist can use against you.



That maybe so but having been through it depending on what they did you can get it down to 60% and in my case I beat the cyclist but it was a special circumstance as he clipped me side on going above the speedlimit when I was only going about 10km/h.

However my insurance company told me I had to settle for 90% until I argued back(which the japanese don`t do) and then they started to say that maybe there were a few points that they could get it down to 70-30. The only time it is 100% if you hit a pedestrian(unless you can prove they tried to jump in front)

it all depends if they hit you head on ( this is better because you can argue from your cars damage that they hit you.) or sideswiped.
Most cyclists in this country behave with impunity and take ridiculous chances because they think it`s never their fault(but if a cyclist hits a pedestrian then it`s 100% the cyclists fault)
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