Son's bike damaged WWYD?

[sookie]

This is an interesting conversation everyone's having. I am curious....if you did have damage to your vehicle would you have expected them to pay for the damage to your car? My second question would be if you ran over a small child who was trying to retrieve their ball that rolled under your car causing them injury would you still go after the parents for the damage to your vehicle?

While I can understand that a person might assume there is nothing behind them because they are in their driveway where there should not be anything behind them, we can not lower our guard just because we are in our own driveway when we are operating a two ton piece of machinery. Trust me, twice I backed into my husbands tractor that was not "supposed" to be there. While I would have liked to blame him, unfortunately it was my fault.

i love this quote!!!!
and i love it because i have SEEN IT FRIGGIN HAPPEN!!!!! well, sort of like that - but same senario. lets just say that people are amazing.

 

[here757]

Just curious...for those that say it's the 16 yr old's fault...where should he have put his bike if not on the driveway??

the grass

 

[luvsJack]

Go put a bike flat on the ground just outside your garage door.

Then get in the car, open the garage door, and look in your rearview mirror.

You can't see the bike. Period.

Thats why all sensible children are taught not to leave their toys in the driveway.

Its called walking behind your car. I do it every day. Too many kids and too many bikes, skateboards, scooters around not to. Besides, since this was a guest chances are he was not parked in a garage.

If a guest was at my house and ran over MY kids bike which should be parked in the garage, then I would expect my kid to take full responsibility. Not the case here. This kid did not live at the house and had no where besides the driveway to park his bike (except maybe the grass which many people would get upset about).

 

[cm8]

Some kid left their bike in our driveway, which is steep. Even looking out the back and using the backup camera, I still could not see the bike until I heard the "crunch".

Luckily I always go slowly out of the driveway (again, because it's so steep), so I don't worry much about hitting kids. You'd have to be really, really stupid not to see my big SUV rolling down the hill at you.

Pulled the bike out from underneath the truck, dropped it in the gutter, and went on my merry way. Good thing it didn't hurt my vehicle.

, I felt every bit of emotion in your words.

 

[cbg1027]

I think the driver should pay half the cost of the repair on the bike. Your son should not have left his bike in the driveway, but at the same time, a responsible driver would look behind the vehicle before backing out.

 

[Leajess99]

That's pretty funny. Most motocycles weigh in excess of 400 lbs, and are about 36-45 inches tall. I think we'd notice if we backed into one

A bike lying flat on the ground maybe has a vertical visibility of what, 6 inches?

If you had a kid lying flat on the ground in the driveway, then I'd say the fault probably still lies with the idiot parent who let their kid lay in a driveway.
As for pets, well, that's just Darwin if they can't get out of the way of a reversing car-what is it, 5 mph is the maximum speed for reverse gear?

I guess you don't have small kids because they don't have to be lying down to be backed over by a car. Just ask many of the drivers who have accidentally ran over a child and killed them because they did not physically check before they backed up. The mirrors are only an aid but if you fail to do the most responsible thing in walking behind your vehicle to make sure it is clear than you are at fault. Oh and small kids do sometimes run behind a vehicle without thinking as well.

 

[allison443]

Your son is at fault. Nobody owes him a penny. I'd give him lots of sympathy...but nothing else.

My parents taught us that lesson the hard way...if we were caught laying a bike down instead of using a kickstand, or leaving it anywhere except next to the house, we lost the use of the bike for a week.

I'm not that tough on my kids, but they know that if a bike is left laying down, it goes away for the day. Ditto leaving anywhere except for in it's spot on the porch or in the garage.

Teaching kids to take proper care of their belongings is common sense. Letting them suffer the consequences when they don't is common sense, too.

I'll admit to being totally befuddled by the folks here who can't tell the difference between a car or motorcycle and a bike. I don't know any motorcyclists who lay their motorcycle on the ground, but, if they did, and it got run over, tough cookies. I don't know of any cars so small that you can't see them from a car's mirrors. I'm going to guess that some people here just like to argue and don't care how illogical a point of view they have to take to do so.

Actually the point of view that a driver has the responsiblity of checking to make sure he can back the car up safely is based on legal principles of liability. A driver has the responsiblity of making sure the way is clear before he goes. It is not unforseeable that something may be behind the car that cannot be seen with the mirrors. Not sure what you consider illogical about it. Legally, liability exists whether the person backs up over a bike, a pet, a child....obviously it is the damages that are significantly different.

I am basing this on 25 years of experience in defense litigation and working for insurance companies, not on my own opinion of what a kid should or shouldn't do with his bicycle.

That said, I don't think there's anything wrong with OP's son having to pay for his own bicycle repairs.

 

[allison443]

I guess you don't have small kids because they don't have to be lying down to be backed over by a car. Just ask many of the drivers who have accidentally ran over a child and killed them because they did not physically check before they backed up. The mirrors are only an aid but if you fail to do the most responsible thing in walking behind your vehicle to make sure it is clear than you are at fault. Oh and small kids do sometimes run behind a vehicle without thinking as well.

Yes, I agree with you. I would think it's obvious that especially in a minivan or SUV, where your rear window is a certain height off the ground, you would not be able to see a child who is shorter than that window. The child wouldn't have to be lying on the ground to be unseen.

 

[allison443]

I don't know where OP lives, but here is a New York law which some may find interesting.

VTL ¶ 1162 “No person shall move a vehicle which is stopped, standing or parked unless such movement can be made with reasonable safety.”

It is the New York Vehicle and Traffic Law.

If you ran over something behind you, isn't it clear that it wasn't safe to proceed?

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

Can a bicycle be safe or unsafe? It wasn't a child, it was a bike that some kid who should know better left behind a vehicle. Who did he think should move his toy? Sometimes when you do something stupid you have to take responsibility for it.

 

[mom2boys77]

I didn't read the rest of the responses yet but my ds is 14 and I would say it was his own fault and I would not expect them to pay anything.

 

[mjkacmom]

Do people really circle their vehicles before getting in them? I've never seen that before. When my kids leave their bikes or scooters in the driveway, I tell them to move them, so they don't get run over.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

In thinking, just because the law might favor something doesn't make it right. The law protects burglars who break an arm stealing your stuff. Much about the law is not right, imo.

 

[polineedyan]

Your son is at fault. Nobody owes him a penny. I'd give him lots of sympathy...but nothing else.

My parents taught us that lesson the hard way...if we were caught laying a bike down instead of using a kickstand, or leaving it anywhere except next to the house, we lost the use of the bike for a week.

I'm not that tough on my kids, but they know that if a bike is left laying down, it goes away for the day. Ditto leaving anywhere except for in it's spot on the porch or in the garage.

Teaching kids to take proper care of their belongings is common sense. Letting them suffer the consequences when they don't is common sense, too.

I'll admit to being totally befuddled by the folks here who can't tell the difference between a car or motorcycle and a bike. I don't know any motorcyclists who lay their motorcycle on the ground, but, if they did, and it got run over, tough cookies. I don't know of any cars so small that you can't see them from a car's mirrors. I'm going to guess that some people here just like to argue and don't care how illogical a point of view they have to take to do so.

Thats a pretty absolute point of view. If theres something in the driveway and I hit it with my car, its anybody but my fault..To say the driver has no share in the responsibility is peculiar, imo.

 

[jagafen]

Before you reverse you are responsible for making sure it is clear and safe to do so. If the driver had run over a young child or a family pet would be looking at this different?

In this case, it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that their small child, who cannont be seen in mirrors when behind a car, is safely in tow. While a tragic accident, if a child is walking in a parking lot and not being properly attended to by an adult, it is an accident (as when children dart from between parked cars into traffic...not the fault of the driver), not the driver's responsibility...but you can't compare apples to oranges.

A 16 year old should be responsible enough to tend to his belongings when he is a guest at someone's house. If his own parent had backed over his bike (instead of a friend's relative) would his parents blame themselves, or him for being careless?

 

[kaytieeldr]

Can a bicycle be safe or unsafe? It wasn't a child, it was a bike that some kid who should know better left behind a vehicle. Who did he think should move his toy? Sometimes when you do something stupid you have to take responsibility for it.

A bicycle isn't a toy. It's a means of transportation. In most areas, a bicycle rider is subject to the same traffic laws and rules of the road as any motor vehicle driver: ride on the right with the flow of traffic, stay off the sidewalks, obey all traffic signs and signals...

Sure, the OP's son should/could have left the bike upright on the kickstand if his bike had one that works. Since it is transportation, it makes perfect sense to place it where other modes of transportation not in current use/operation are placed, i.e. a driveway. Especially if the bike was left at a distance far enough from the car where a reasonable person could be expected to see it at some point - before entering the vehicle or in a rear- or side-view mirror before putting the car in gear - I can't see how the bicycle owner can be at anything but the tiniest percentage of fault.

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

I think its the Son. Maybe he should of parked it in the glass right near the drive away.

 

[seashoreCM]

The driver of the car should pay for the damage to the bike and receive no compensation from the owner of the bike for damage to his car.

And

The owner of the bike should receive some punishment or sanctions for leaning his bike against the car or otherwise leaving it in an unsafe or obstructing place*.

This is easy to accomplish when the owner of the bike is still a dependent child.

*Considerable discretion is needed here if the grass is roped off or the homeowner has rules about walking on the grass.

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Based on many of the replies, I hope my car is never parked behind one of your cars since you will blame it on me if you back into my car.

 

[DISNEY1975]

If the kid with the bike put it down in his own driveway and his own parent ran over the bike, Im sure the parent wouldnt be apologizing to the kid and buying him a new bike. I know I would be yelling at my son and asking why he left the bike there.

Funny how someone else owes the teen 1/2 a bike and an apology.