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Muscle memory
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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You were 100% liable for hitting a cyclist and you cheerfully admit to paying them off with a pittance of the damage you caused and forcing them to sign away their rights? That's pretty fucking shitty.
At least your last paragraph makes it sound like you learnt from the behaviour that led to your mistake in the first place.
In America that waiver might have been unenforceable... Or one would hope.
Nope. It was enforceable. Consulted a lawyer. Standard for cash settlements actually. Any time you settle a claim outside of insurance you should have one. Otherwise they could file a claim immediately after getting the cash.
Same shit corps do with "out of court" settlements when someone sues and has a good case to win.
Seems crazy that you got to a bank and got a lawyer so fast. But it's stuff like this that convinced me to not ride on the sidewalk, even though it's legal where I live. Drivers just don't see you.
When a lady hit my brother doing the same thing (except we saw her not look in our direction) his bike was messed up but she just left and we were kids so we didn't know to do anything different.
These events happened over the course of two weeks. I didn't think I'd be scrutinized this much over sharing my experience.
Crashed into a cyclist while I was going 5 or 10 mph. No idea how fast she was going but I looked right and didn't see anyone. Then left and rolled forward. Then bent her front tire and she dismounted. My car got up to her front axle.
I immediately got out. Apologized. Asked if she was OK. Offered to call ambulance, taxi or friend. She was upset (rightfully so) but we exchanged info and I gave her my insurance. She turned down my offer to call anyone for assistance or give her a ride to her destination.
I opened a claim with my insurance immediately. Gabe my statement. Told them idk what she wants to do but I'm covering my basis.
I called her 3 days later. Asked how she was doing. She said she was a little sore but fine. Didn't go to the hospital. I told her I opened a claim and got a PIP if she needs medical attention. She reassured she was physically fine. I offered $200 to repair/replace the bicycle and she accepted. I told her I'd reach out to schedule it later andy insurance was going to call her for a statement. She agreed.
Told my family about the crash. Glad she was OK. Family warned me to be careful she doesn't continue the claim after getting cash. This is maybe a week later. I consulted a lawyer and they said a letter with XYZ would cover me legally. I also happened to run into a cop at a coffee shop and asked him his opinion. He said it was hard to say but from his perspective I wasn't at fault.
I scheduled a meet up a week after the accident. Set the location near her at a bank. Safe public place. Presented her with the money order and waiver of liability. She initially didn't want to sign so I explained my side.
It's just to cover me so she doesn't continue the insurance claim or sue me after the payment. If she's concerned about anything long term she can continue with the insurance claim or take a payment now with a waiver and we go our separate ways. She wasn't happy with signing a waiver buy wanted this behind her so she signed (notorized by the bank) and took the payment.
I really didn't want to say all that because it's a wall of text but being downvoted and attacked for sharing my experience is going to remind me to keep my damn mouth shut.
Idk why my reply didn't save but:
I did everything by the book. Gave her my info and insurance. I opened a claim and had them take a statement from her.
I offered her a $200 settlement to replace/repair her bike and she accepted. I surprised her with a waiver of liability and gave her the choice of $200 now or continue with the claim.
I think I handled it very responsibly as my first incident in my early 20s.
Do I feel guilty for hurting someone? Yes absolutely. At the same time I'm allowed to be glad to avoid insurance bs.
I immediately became a safer driver and I hope she was also more careful about going full speed on the sidewalk in the wrong direction of traffic.
Oh and BTW we even had bicycle lanes on the street. In my state you're treated as a car if you're riding the bike. She wasn't following the rules of the road and probably would have gotten nothing through insurance. Everyone told me not to pay her off.
Literally victim blaming. It's completely normal to travel in either direction on the footpath.
Paint is not infrastructure.
I'm done with this thread. Real nice skipping the part about me learning from the experience.
You've already made your stance clear and this is an event from literally 16 years ago.
~~I've been in exactly 2 at fault accidents in those 16 years. This includes driving for 10 hours a day for years working on the road.~~
Yeah I'm done.
Your defensiveness doesn’t make it feel like you learnt from it. You might have learnt how to avoid that kind of crash (crash, not accident) in the future, which is fantastic, but you haven’t internalised that it was because of your own inattentiveness in operating a dangerous vehicle that the crash occurred, and not because of the perfectly acceptable behaviour from a member of a vulnerable group. A vulnerable group that you victimised.
You have a valid stance and I was driving irresponsibly. I've I have been a cyclist for 35 years. Going on trips driving for miles, so I understand.
You're not going to change my feelings over our matter that happened 16 years ago and it's in the past. I literally forgot about it until this thread. I only shared my story as a cautionary tale to other readers.
Genuinely, I appreciate that. The importance of looking both ways when approaching an intersection, even if the road is one way, is critical, for the safety of cyclists and pedestrians. Your goal in sharing the story was a good one. It's just the tone of how you told the story that seemed rather off.
I appreciate your comment and understanding. It's really my fault for trying to write a concise summary while I'm in line at the grocer.
Next time I'll make sure I'll just wait until I'm back on my PC or keep my mouth shut.
At the end of the day, whether or not you're at fault or not, and whether or not you acknowledge as much, doesn't really matter nearly as much as the fact that you're a safer driver today. That's what actually matters.