Experience of an accident with a biker; whose fault was it

I hit my brakes hard as it was most evident I was about to hit him. I had to swerve to the left to save the delivery guy from getting hit.

BHPian chiro3110 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Recently I was involved in a minor accident. I was driving my aunt’s car (S-Cross 2021) in Kolkata, returning home after a hospital visit. It was about 9 pm in the night and since the night curfew was to begin at 10 PM the roads were mostly empty. I was doing around 50 kmph which is in allowable limits. There was a traffic intersection coming up. When I glanced, it was blinking yellow and in front there was a Zomato delivery bike. With the yellow blink I decided to pass the intersection. Suddenly the delivery guy applied sudden brake and stopped at the traffic light. He was straight in front of me.

I hit my brakes hard as it was most evident I was about to hit him. I had to swerve to the left to save the delivery guy from getting hit. At the end, I was able to stop (my car’s bonnet was around the middle of the bike which was on my right) and also I had not breached the traffic light’s stop line. In a second I heard a loud thud on my car and when I looked to the left, I see a bike had rammed into my car and apparently the guy fell down as well. I got down from my car to see what happened.

By the time I reached the left of my car, some by-standers were helping the guy up and also getting the bike up. The first communication I had with the guy, was about my action of sudden braking followed by asking if he was alright. I saw he had hurt his finger and it was bleeding. In the mean time crowd was starting to swell up in the place. The bike guy, now started to blame me and kept repeating and asking what I did, why I didn’t kept going, why I came on left etc. I did not answer anything but just asked if he was alright. Since I saw him bleeding, I started to tell him to come with me and I would take him to the emergency room. One bystander parked his bike, I took him to my car and seated him.

In the car I gave some cotton to help him with the wound. I asked him which hospital he wanted to go. We finally agreed and went to a government hospital which was also the closest. I helped him all throughout the process in the emergency room. An X-Ray was done as well. The attending doctor said that the X-Ray is clear, no fractures and it’s only a laceration and putting stitches also was optional. The doctor brought the stitching kit. Now, the attending doctor was an intern and the bike guy said he doesn’t want to get stitched by an intern. He started asking for a senior doctor, or an orthopedic doctor etc.

Now, I’m not sure how much liability I hold here, but I told him that I can take him to one of best plastic surgeon in the region. He agreed to it. This was doable since my wife worked in his clinic. After we left the hospital I took him to his house, another guy joined him. I then took both of them to the accident spot where his bike was still parked. On the bike, the only things damaged were a small bend on the number plate and the rear view mirror’s bolt had come loose. Both were fixed there (by hand). After this they drove off and I went back to my home. Where as on my car, the rear lamp was broken and the rear bumper had damages as well.

After I reached home, I started lamenting on all the things that happened. In my own judgement I found that I had braked to save someone and I saved my vehicle as well. It was evident that the bike guy was also coming at a good speed which didn’t allow him to stop. I was like, yea, may be I had some fault, but the bike guy was not innocent as well and over that I had tend to him as humanely as possible.

The next day, he called me. He asked when I was coming to pick him up to go to the plastic surgeon. I told him that I’m not able to pick him (since my family member was in a hospital and I need to tend to them in priority) to take him but instead I had already spoken to the clinic and mentioned that he will be taken care of and the doctor will do consultation (and sutures if required) free of cost but he must arrange his transportation. The bike guy then started to demand reimbursement of cab fares. I found this very unreasonable and then went into an argument as well. I strongly mentioned that he will be taken care of at the clinic and my liability ends here. Some search on Vahaan also concluded that neither the bike belonged to him nor did it have insurance. Also he had put a doctor sticker on the bike when he “claimed” he was a second year medical student.

Now, why I wrote in the forum. I wanted to seek your opinion on the incident and like whose fault would you think it actually is (nothing legal, just your opinion and advice).

P.S. Later I went to the Nexa service station, they quoted 25k to repair the damages on the car. But thankfully our insurance will cover it wholly.

Here’s what BHPian GrammarNazi had to say on the matter:

• Glad you’re safe.
• Yellow Blink = Stop – check and proceed, especially late night. If signals are fully functioning with Red-Yellow-Green, prudent to cross if you have already crossed the white line.
• Legally, you’ve done your part by taking the biker to the hospital. Your responsibility ends there.
• Morally, you’ve gone further to compassionately offer a plastic surgeons services (!) for a minor laceration which didn’t actually need stitches anyway. Good on you, you’ve redeemed yourself beyond reasonable measure. But maybe make it clear to him that he isn’t medically unfit as such & can’t make claims against you.
• The car insurance would lose its No Claim Bonus in the next term.

Here’s what BHPian Torque250 had to say on the matter:

In most circumstances, sudden braking is not a crime that makes you liable for the accident behind you. When following a vehicle, the driver behind needs to keep a safe distance. In fact, the medical student should be held responsible for the rear-end collision of your car.

 
It is a recipe for disaster to drive 50 kph at an intersection with yellow lights. A recipe delivered instantly to you by a Zomato guy.

Here’s what BHPian PaddleShifter had to say on the matter:

I have seen a T-bone accident video between 2 SUVs (Fortuners or maybe one was an Endeavour) posted by Chandigarh Traffic Police a few years ago.

Reason for accident: Both drivers kept on driving at a constant pace of 60ish kmph at night when the signal was blinking yellow.

As far as the accident is concerned, the person who hits from behind is at fault as per rules. Period. Police however tends to harrass the “bigger car owner” compared to a two wheeler.

Back in 2011, I had come across a case of accident where a school teacher driving a Santro rammed into a two wheeler driving on the wrong side. When I was summoned for cross examination, I spoke to the investigating officer (IO), who told me that regardless of the circumstantial evidence (biker driving on wrong side), the car owner is being held guilty by the “system” unless he shows some video proof that bike was on the wrong side. The biker’s mother had suffered an open fracture of the thigh in this accident. So the punishment would have been for grievous hurt.

Regarding your event, consider yourself lucky that the biker did not suffer any fracture etc or a more severe injury. And driving at 50kmph through an intersection that is blinking yellow could have been much more dangerous. Maybe the biker in front also stopped because he spotted some fast approaching vehicle.

Edit: Surprised to see a 25k quote to fix the car. The non LED (zeta variant) tail light costs around 1000-1500 and bumper replacement and painting should not cost more than 10k or something along with labour charges. Can you share the approx. price or items that will be replaced (whenever you have this info).

Here’s what BHPian Samba had to say on the matter:

Few facts:

• When it’s yellow, you should start to slow down.
• Never accelerate keeping in mind, that the vehicle in front of you will accelerate. Accelerate only when the road in front of you is clear. Depend on others driving skills (braking/accelerating) as low a possible.
• As you decided to go faster and cross the signal, even when the Zomato guy braked, you should have swerved and accelerated out instead of braking hard if the road in front of you was still clear.
• Always look at the orvm before coming to a sudden halt. Suppose you decide to stop, but someone is tailgating you closely, then it’s better to brake slowly even if it violates the stop line. It’s better to pay a small fine than getting involved in an accident.
• Always keep a safe distance from the vehicle going in front of you. Even if he brakes hard, you get enough time to stop.

Lastly you did your job as a responsible person. Do not allow the biker to exploit you. Just say a firm ‘No’ to his further demands. You have done your part & at the end it’s an accident, so do not feel guilty.

Keyword: Experience of an accident with a biker; whose fault was it