Liability

[Kos]

Don't know where I should post this but I'll try here. My wife parked her car briefly on double yellow lines this morning, with hazard lights flashing whilst she popped in for a newspaper. Whilst she was in the shop a car went in to the back of another on the road. The drivers of the 2 cars involved claim that my wife and the other 3 drivers similarly parked were responsible for the accident as they were parked illegally. Surely not?

[andy hughes]

As far as I am aware, the driver of any vehicle that rear-ends another is responsible, on the basis that they were too close to stop safely. I would suggest that trying to blame the drivers of parked cars is a no-go, so don't worry about it.

[LeMarchand]

andy is probably right, but I don't think it's that cut-and-dried. Double yellow lines are normally placed to prevent obstructions to the road, and parking on them (generally) causes an obstruction. On the other hand, your wife could have been stopped as she was at the back of a traffic queue. I think your best course of action would be to check with your insurers and/or the police. I don't think the "too close to stop safely" thinking necessarily applies, as your wife's car wasn't moving. A lot will depend on where the car was stopped (if it was on a bend, I don't think that it will be in her favour).

[Kos]

On speaking to the Insurance firm, they gave the same answer as Andy H, although our concerns were around what you thought LeMarchand. The insurers said that short-term illegal parking is a common practise and is only an offence if you get caught and ticketted. Otherwise the drivers could if they wanted incite anybody illegally parked in the vicinity and, as a colleague said, it is up to the drivers to be aware of the obstructions and to act accordingly.

[bernardo]

Partly your wife is to blame because she parked illegally.  Partly the drivers were to blame because they should, in the normal course of driving, have been on the look-out for hazards such as cars which have been illegally parked in stupid places by stupid selfish people.

[BenDToy]

It never fails to amuse me that hazard lights are so named. Much more appropriate would be "I know I am not allowed to park here, but I don't give a **** and I am going to anyway, because I am a selfish, self-important moron who doesn't care how much I inconvenience other people" lights.

[Kos]

Oooh. Get you!

[5029]

It's hard to know who the fault lay with without knowing exactly what happened, road layout etc.

 

People who park like that really annoy me.  Firstly they believe that they are within their rights to park where ever they want so long as they have their hazards on.  Hazard lights do not make you exempt from parking laws.

 

Also they do not seem to know what hazard lights are for.  They should be used only when a car is broken down, not when parking illegally or driving.

 

I totally agree with BenDToy.

[ianess]

Are some replies suggesting that it`s OK to drive with your eyes shut and if you hit something then it`s the other person`s fault?    GET REAL

[Miss Zippy]

All road users (including, of course, cyclists and pedestrians) owe a duty of care to others. As you would expect, a driver of a vehicle is obliged to park his or her vehicle  in a safe manner which will not endanger other road users.  Just because your wife was parked illegally on double yellow lines, however, does not mean she has breached her duty of care to other road users by parking unsafely.  99.9% of the time, if you go into the rear of someone�s vehicle it is your fault; it will demonstrate you were driving too fast for road/traffic conditions and/or simply not paying attention.  Obviously I don�t know the full facts and the road layout etc, but I cannot really see how your wife�s parked vehicle could have caused the driver of one car to slam into the rear of another. What are they alleging precisely?  Had your wife�s vehicle been parked in such a way as to obscure oncoming traffic resulting in a head on collision, that may be a different matter, but even then other road users are under a duty to remain aware of hazards that present themselves and take appropriate action.

[Kos]

Thank you Miss Zippy and Ianess- my thoughts exactly

[BenDToy]

Just to clarify, I was not suggesting that Mrs Kos was to blame for the accident. I can think of no circumstances where the "driver" of a stationary car can be held responsible for a crash, especially when they weren't even involved in the collision. In fact I would not even have bothered to talk to the insurance company because it is such a silly notion. I was merely making a general comment about the use of hazard lights. Not sure what ianess is going on about - who does he think suggested that?

[Kos]

Understood BenD.

I understood Ianess' comment as, despite bad parking (which I don't condone my wife for), drivers should always be aware and take action to avoid any hazards they may come across

[Kerplunk]

In our town drivers with a valid disabled badge can park on double yellows as long as they are not causing an obstruction.  So do those that think your wife was to blame think she would still be liable had she been displaying such a badge? 

[flanker]

Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of where or how the parked vehicles were parked, the fact of the matter is that a parked vehicle was hit by a moving vehicle, and therefore the driver of the moving vehicle is at fault. The fact that the parked car was parked illegally is, for the purposes of insurance, irrelevent.

 

FCII - Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Insurers 

[LeMarchand]

Kos - who's your insurance with? Not that I speed or drink drive, but surely (and unfortunately) they're both "common practise and is only an offence if you get caught and ticketted" ;-). Seriously, it would be nice to find an insurer that actually sticks up for their clients, which yours seems to be - any that I have had cause to deal with seem to be pretty weak.

[keltik]

its a screwed up country, anything coud happen. thats why i emigrated

[Kos]

Le Marchand- without naming them Mrs Kos' insurance company is the one that is named after a famous British WW2 leader!

[ianess]

To BenDToy......sorry for taking so long to respond to your post, but is it not the case that the driver who ran into the back of the other car involved was either travelling too fast, or wasn`t paying attention?  He/ She is the one who obviously didn`t see what was happening on the road in front and is trying to pass the blame on to an innocent shopper.