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Re: Driving Pet Peeves



Tom Holub (doosh@netcom.com) wrote:
: In article <3rs0h2$ik4@park.rdcs.kodak.com>,
: KP <batten@newsserver.rdcs.Kodak.COM> wrote:
: )In article <3rq805$o78@gap.cco.caltech.edu> bradley@seismo.gps.caltech.edu (Brad Woods) writes:
: )
: ) Its not uncommon for them critters to come flying through the     
: )windshield.. BUT, there are other ways of suffering damage. EVEN if you are
: )in the wrong (I know thats impossible because ONLY car drivers can be in the
: )wrong.. right?) if the police blotter says the bicycle was completely at fault,
: )all witnesses say the biker was at fault, the BICYCLST says he was at fault,
: )guess who gets to pay the medical bills.

: The bicyclist, or rather, his insurance company, if any.

Please tell me in what states a bicyclist is required to carry liability 
insurance.

: ) Guess who stands the chance of getting
: )sued...

: If you are not at fault, you cannot be successfully sued.

: )  I'm not saying this is gosple in all states, but.. from what I've been told,
: )while a biker is to be treated like any other vehicle on the road, when they
: )are in an accident they are treated as a pedistian.

: This is not true.

: ) From personal experience
: )I know what our state says about auto vs. pedistrian accidents, even when 
: )as stated above EVERY one says there was no way possible for the auto to avoid
: )the accident and it was 100% the pedestrians fault.

: This is also not true; in fact it's contradicted even in the vehicle code.
: See 21950(b):

: 21950.  (a) The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to
: a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or
: within any unmarked crosswalk at an intersection, except as otherwise
: provided in this chapter.
:    (b) The provisions of this section shall not relieve a pedestrian
: from the duty of using due care for his or her safety.  No pedestrian
: shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run
: into the path of a vehicle which is so close as to constitute an
: immediate hazard.  No pedestrian shall unnecessarily stop or delay
: traffic while in a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
:  -Tom

I'm sorry Tom, but you're point falls a little short of the mark.  Yes, 
the law still perceives the cyclist as a vehicle, but the insurance 
companies don't.  Therefore the driver's liability insurance pays for any 
and all medical bills incurred even at the fault of the cyclist.  On top 
of which, becuase the cyclist doesn't carry liablity, any damage 
occurring to the car is paid for by the drivers collision insurance.  No 
matter what in this situation, the driver pays.

BTW I commute daily by bicycle.  I have no overt love for commuting by 
car, buy I don't hate them either.  I just hate the drivers.  Just like 
the computer, it is not the machine that creates or causes a problem, it 
is the person who is operating it.



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