[E92inNC]

So last night around 8:30PM I was cruising along a pretty dark street near my house. Three lanes a side, median and a break for turn traffic. I’m doing probably 35 in the middle lane with a car to my right one car length behind other wise no traffic. I’m passing by a hospital on the left hand side but even so the amount of street lights is pretty sparse. All of a sudden a 50s-ish dude in dark clothes appear in front of my headlights and I stomp on the brakes and am less than 5 feet from him as he panics and dashes past my car and then almost gets hit by the car next to me, who also slam on their brakes even though I’m sure they couldn’t see him.

At this point both of our cars had set off from a red light about a 1/4 mile ago and the guy has jaywalked more than half the road and has plenty of time to see us coming. More than that, we’re much easier for him to spot at night than he is for us to see.

I’m curious as to wether any liability or how much would have been to me in situations like this?

[UncleWede]

Ask the Google automatic cars, sounds just like when that one hit that lady

[cmyx6go]

Drives me nuts. Pedestrians in dark clothes on dark roads. WTF? I travel one lane curvey roads in the dark morning and night. They walk in the street instead of sidewalk. Cross the street in blind curves and give me a heart attack. What happened to personal responsibility? And with their face in their fing phone.

[ItsGary]

You know what's even worse? When they jaywalk, and start walking towards a crosswalk/intersection where they could SAFELY cross. Sometimes I joke around about the jaywalking tickets, but I feel like if you got one, you deserved it. Especially in busy areas, main road areas. Neighbourhoods are whatever.


Personally, I feel no sympathy towards young adults/elders that jaywalk and get killed. They should have the most common sense out of everyone.

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by sxyblue

So last night around 8:30PM I was cruising along a pretty dark street near my house. Three lanes a side, median and a break for turn traffic. I’m doing probably 35 in the middle lane with a car to my right one car length behind other wise no traffic. I’m passing by a hospital on the left hand side but even so the amount of street lights is pretty sparse. All of a sudden a 50s-ish dude in dark clothes appear in front of my headlights and I stomp on the brakes and am less than 5 feet from him as he panics and dashes past my car and then almost gets hit by the car next to me, who also slam on their brakes even though I’m sure they couldn’t see him.

At this point both of our cars had set off from a red light about a 1/4 mile ago and the guy has jaywalked more than half the road and has plenty of time to see us coming. More than that, we’re much easier for him to spot at night than he is for us to see.

I’m curious as to wether any liability or how much would have been to me in situations like this?

I'm no lawyer but I'd hazard to guess that if you had not spotted him in time and ended up hitting him, you would NOT be found liable given the circumstances with him J walking, wearing dark clothes, at night, etc. You were not speeding I'm assuming. If you were doing 35 in a 20, well, you could be found partially liable I'd think. Also, if you had hit him and did the rigth thing and stopped immediately, called 911, made an effort to help him, etc. I'd think you'd be fine.

[ItsGary]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

I'm no lawyer but I'd hazard to guess that if you had not spotted him in time and ended up hitting him, you would NOT be found liable given the circumstances with him J walking, wearing dark clothes, at night, etc. You were not speeding I'm assuming. If you were doing 35 in a 20, well, you could be found partially liable I'd think. Also, if you had hit him and did the rigth thing and stopped immediately, called 911, made an effort to help him, etc. I'd think you'd be fine.

Not sure how it is in the US, but here in British Columbia, if you're 7 years old and older, you're considered mature enough to know the basics of street crossing. In this case, I'd feel like they would say 50/50, they could claim he wasn't more aware of surroundings if he had hit the guy.

[Grumpy Old Man]

Like adult diapers.....Depends. Lots of factors, you may not be charged criminally or with some kind of moving violation but there are always lawyers who will happily litigate.

[dreamingat30fps]

Question is were you blind folded and using your parking sensor for guidance?

[Z K]

I have actually been in a situation like this... and I ended up hitting the pedestrian that was jay walking. She was drunk, running across the street to get to the other side. It was dark and there were no street lights at that section of the road. When she saw me, she froze in the middle of the road and I couldn't stop in time. The police came, ambulance etc. They all said it was not my fault and the police report said so as well.

But when I made the insurance claim to fix my car (the person crushed my hood, windshield and part of my roof), it was an accident and I was at fault. Apparently because the at fault party is not another vehicle, the insurance can not claim it from the other person's insurance. In any accident involving a person and your car, no matter what the police report says, they will put it as you at fault in your claim.

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

Drives me nuts. Pedestrians in dark clothes on dark roads. WTF? I travel one lane curvey roads in the dark morning and night. They walk in the street instead of sidewalk. Cross the street in blind curves and give me a heart attack. What happened to personal responsibility? And with their face in their fing phone.

runners who run at 5am in the morning on a dark road with nothing but a damn flash light on their heads. literally like a pack of them...every morning running in the middle of the road causing me to have to drive on the opposite side of the road

[1MOREMOD]

Someone close by my work tried to cross the freeway and got hit 3 times couple days ago.

[E92inNC]

Also, I could’ve sworn that in the first instant I saw him, he was looking ahead and at the ground before he realized what was happening and turned his head towards our cars. Another reason I’m thankful for the awesome brakes.
I’ve been jaywalking all my life and even as a kid I was smart enough to know that at night it’s all on me to avoid cars cause they’re not going to see me til they get pretty close.

[NickyC]

Even if eventually found not liable, I have to imagine your life is going to be seriously inconvenienced along with losing a substantial amount of time and money defending yourself to the ultimate conclusion.

[wrickem]

A woman I worked with got hit by a car while crossing the street in Princeton NJ. That afternoon while she was still in the hospital with a broken clavicle, the police came into her room and slapped her with a jaywalking summons.

The guy who hit her was smart enough to be proactive so he didn't set slapped with a billion dollar suit.


I'd say you'd have had a chance, but also glad you didn't hit him

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

runners who run at 5am in the morning on a dark road with nothing but a damn flash light on their heads. literally like a pack of them...every morning running in the middle of the road causing me to have to drive on the opposite side of the road

Be thankful they have flashlights on their heads.

There are constantly people walking in the area I live at seemingly all hours of the day. There are three older women who walk probably 5 times a day no matter how dark it is or what the weather conditions are. Always wearing dark clothing and walking three across on a blind corner.

Fucking idiots. How stupid can you be?

I've never come close to hitting a person, but have almost hit unleashed dogs running around on the street numerous times.

[Wolf 335]

Originally Posted by dreamingat30fps

Question is were you blind folded and using your parking sensor for guidance?

Maybe the guy jaywalking was doing the Bird Box challenge.

[eluded]

In California. Yes. Your guilty

[catcher22]

I hate it when people wear dark clothes while walking in the early evening in the winter.

I live in a heavily pedestrian area and it's a huge problem.

Most people doing this don't even realize that drivers CANT SEE THEM.

I don't know about others, but my safety is always my top priority and always on my mind.

[Mingwan]

It wouldn’t completely be your fault, but it’s possible that you could be partially at fault.

The law(s) is designed in such a way that I feel like you are at the mercy or inconveniences of other peoples’ stupidity.

[cmyx6go]

Just this morning.... I'm driving to work at 6:00 am, dark winding 2 lane roadway and thinking about this thread. Don't you know it, I come around a blind curve and here is some jerk taking his sweet time walking across the street with his jacket hood on, head down in his phone, never even looking for traffic. I had to nail the brakes and stopped inches from him. He never even acknowledged that I was there. Just took his freakin sweet time continuing across. I swear, I wanted to get out and slap him for giving me a heart attack. And for the record, I was not over the speed limit. It's a 30 mph road.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by cmyx6go

Just this morning.... I'm driving to work at 6:00 am, dark winding 2 lane roadway and thinking about this thread. Don't you know it, I come around a blind curve and here is some jerk taking his sweet time walking across the street with his jacket hood on, head down in his phone, never even looking for traffic. I had to nail the brakes and stopped inches from him. He never even acknowledged that I was there. Just took his freakin sweet time continuing across. I swear, I wanted to get out and slap him for giving me a heart attack. And for the record, I was not over the speed limit. It's a 30 mph road.

Do you have a dash cam?

















(because I find videos of older ladies just whaling on idiots with their purses or whatever comes to hand absolutely hilarious, and I'd have loved to see that).

[cmyx6go]

Originally Posted by Joekerr

Do you have a dash cam?

















(because I find videos of older ladies just whaling on idiots with their purses or whatever comes to hand absolutely hilarious, and I'd have loved to see that).

LOL, I'm reading this and thinking Ruth Buzzi beating the hell out of Artie Johnson with that purse. I'm not that old. And you guys probably aren't old enough to remember what I'm talking about.