Nessism

Two lane road, downhill, double yellow. I'm starting down the hill which dissects a golf course and up ahead I see a golf course service vehicle pull out into the road. Guy drives in the middle of the road for about 150' and then moves toward the shoulder, aiming towards a service road just ahead. I move my bike out into the LH part of the lane to give this guy a wide berth. Right as I'm about to pass he swerves straight left and then loops right aiming for the service road, only instead of proceeding onto the road he stops in the middle of the street. I swerved left myself but couldn't get out of the way and clipped the back end of his vehicle throwing myself on the ground. Got me some pretty nasty contusions but I'm going to be okay. The guy was nice and all but unapologetic, suggesting he doesn't take responsibility. There is a police report coming in a couple of weeks but was wondering what you folks feel about fault in this situation. What say ye?

Paul Barnard

So he's driving on the shoulder on your side of the road. You move left to give him a wide berth. He makes an unsignaled lane change from the shoulder into the travel lane then stops in front of you? Do I have that right? What story did he tell? My experience is that the police report will reflect what they believe happened not what really happened. If what you told them doesn't match their belief, you will find that they mischaracterize your statement or leave important parts out.

In most states it is illegal to drive on the shoulder, it is illegal to change lanes without signalling and it is illegal to depart from the lane you are driving in until it is safe to do so. I am trying to imagine how that would play out if it had been another motor vehicle instead of you.

Nessism

He was driving half way on the shoulder and half way into the RH side of the lane. He swerved left, staying inside the lane, and then looped back right, so his vehicle was pointing at about a 90* angle to side of the road so he can slip through a narrow break in the fence and hit the service road.

CliffordK

The general rule in driving is that you have to give enough following distance/buffer so that you can stop/react to the vehicle in front.

That means that if you didn't give the golf cart enough space, then you would be at fault, 100%.

You tried to anticipate the driver's actions, and anticipated wrongly. It is common to hit corners at as close to a right angle as possible, and especially if there is a significant slope. Stopping for gates?

It is also legal to stop when necessary.

The same would go for a car following a bicycle that swerved for a pot hole or storm drain. Or stopped for one reason or another. The laws require safe passing, and giving a passing buffer.

The only argument you could possibly use is that the vehicle was not licensed for road use, and had improper safety equipment (if that was the case). Nonetheless, it is not uncommon to see golf carts and service vehicles around a golf course, and short trips on the road are to be expected.

Paul Barnard

If he stayed entirely within his lane when he made that 90 degree right, you probably own the fault legally. I think from a practical standpoint, and that's if I have visualized what you are saying correctly, you had plenty of time to react. A truck doesn't go from being entirely within its own lane to close to a 90 degree orientation to the road without significant slowing first. Turn signals are always nice, but I doubt the lack of their use will play into assigning fault.

I interpreted a golf course service vehicle to be a truck used for course maintenance.

Nessism

The service vehicle is the size of a golf cart. He looped left and then back right very quickly. Nothing I could have done other than hang way back and not attempted to pass until he was off the road.

Hoopdriver

Determining fault won't make your injuries feel less painful. You've probably thought it over a few times and have told yourself that you could have managed it differently.

CliffordK

Was the oncoming traffic lane clear? Even with the double line?

How was the visibility of the oncoming traffic lane?

Nessism

Indeed.

Regarding the oncoming lane and whether or not it was open, I'm not sure. It all happened so fast.

SHBR

Hate to say it, unless there is a video that proves what you say, or a witness, it will probably be your fault.

You struck another vehicle that was in front of you, usually that means you didn't have enough time to stop or swerve out of the way.

If there was more than 2 seconds between the time you first saw the vehicle and the time you struck them, it probably was preventable.

Nessism

The police officer at the scene told me both my and the other guys stories matched. The cart driver steered erratically, however he may have been within his rights to do so. That's the question at hand. As for reacting within 2 seconds...sadly, I'm not a cat. I'm a flawed human being.

CliffordK

As @Hoopdriver suggested, if this is mainly road rash and bruises, no long hospital stay, no brain damage, etc... perhaps some bicycle damage.

Then it is probably time to ignore the fault question, and move on.

Lick the wounds, repair your bike, and consider what you could do better next time to avoid a similar fate.

Perhaps write a note to the golf course complaining, and suggesting that the carts should either drive in the middle of the lane, or on the shoulder, but not both. Make sure the carts that do venture out onto the roads are equipped with mirrors, and stop and turn signals.

5teve

Did he have a mirror on the thing? I wonder if he knew you were coming, not to say it was deliberate. But it does seem a bit careless if not intentional if he knew you were there. Also, is it a private (golf club) road? Liability may hinge on appropriate user interpretation if so.

Nessism

The cart doesn't have any safety equipment whatsoever; no turn signals, brake/tail light, mirrors, nothing. He claims the vehicle is legal to run on the road but shouldn't there be some rules? He didn't use hand signals or anything. If a biker made an erratic turn and caused an accident wouldn't the law come down on us for not signaling properly? Yes, yes, I'm just belly aching.

The course is private but the road is public.

And yes, I'm licking my wounds and moving on. I do know that the fault thing must be determined though because my insurance company will demand it. Anyone that has ever been in an accident knows that the paperwork will follow as the insurance company tries to find someone to share/transfer the costs to.

jefnvk

Lost of golf courses near me that have areas where they cross/utilize roads, and they are heavily signed and marked to alert to crossings and presence of carts on the road, indicating allowance by local government. He had the exact same safety equipment you had, and you are legal to be on the road, I don't see why there would be any more expectation for him.

Unfortunately for you, I agree with everything @CliffordK posted. The onus for safe passing is on the overtaking vehicle. I also agree with him WRT unless there are damages or injury to him or the cart the golf course wishes to pursue, I don't see much that fault really would matter for here. Chalk it up as a learning lesson and move on.

Clyde1820

Major responsibility is, IMO, on the one with the visibility and the perspective (the following vehicle), despite the assumptions that drove the following vehicle into a bad situation.

I think this is the core issue: assumption that he was going to simply go off the road when you thought he would, which turned out to be a bad assumption. You bet everything on that assumption.

No, the guy wasn't all that swift in how he was using the lane, but then (according to your description) it was a single-lane roadway on the RH side of the road, which he had full and complete rights to. Bummer, that he opted (for whatever reason) to halt in the road without fully exiting the lane. But, frankly, someone in such a single-lane road like that has every authority as a driver on that road to drive accordingly, so long as it's not blatantly dangerous to all others.

If coming up on another vehicle or occupant (ie, pedestrian, skateboarder, whatever) of a lane, if I'm going to treat that single lane as a multi-vehicle lane based on my assumptions about what's likely to occur, well then: what happens is on me. I'm the one with the visibility, with the knowledge the vehicle ahead is a slow one, with the lack of knowledge of what that other existing vehicle is actually going to do. What I'd hope he does doesn't change those things. It just makes it far riskier of a situation, if I take that assumption and run with it.

Whether one is in a Mack truck, or a car, on a bike, or jogging. Shouldn't really matter. The person behind who has the visibility has primary responsibility to not push a situation until it goes bad ... no matter how strangely the other vehicle ahead might behave in the lane.

Defensive Driving 101, basically.

JMO

CliffordK

If the cart was a "service vehicle" separate from the other golf carts, and regularly makes that turn onto the road, then it should at least have mirrors, and probably should have signals and brake lights.

But, since off-road vehicles are generally allowed limited access to roads, they may be in the prudent category rather than absolutely required category.

What damages are being sought?

For better or worse, if damages are less than say $500 or so, it is often better for everybody just to ignore them, including not necessarily calling the police, but then that would be a judgement call at the time of the accident which is tough. You might need the report if something is actually worse than you initially thought.

In theory, your insurance rates may go up to compensate for any losses incurred by the insurance company, or the expectation that you are an unsafe driver (even if you were on a bike).

Nessism

Bikes and cars share the road, including using the same lane, all the time. If one or the other drives erratically that's what causes problems. In this case the stupid cart driver swerved left before looping back, and then he stopped in the middle of the road. Yeah, I get it that the technical fault may be mine. But in my view his erratic driving lead to the accident. It would be like a biker that was riding on the edge of the road suddenly swerved left and an overtaking car clipped him. The driver may be technically at fault but if the biker kept to a straight line there wouldn't have been any issue.

jefnvk

If I were on my own personal time, maybe. If I am on company time, in company property, it is getting reported to cover my own behind, regardless of how seemingly insignificant.

Nessism

You want me to change lanes over the double yellow and into the oncoming traffic lane?

Dchiefransom

You are supposed to do exactly what you would have done if driving a car, pass safely. You need to account for what the vehicle in front might do, especially one that is driving halfway on the road. Almost everyone I see driving swerves to the opposite direction before they turn. Next time slow down and wait until you see what they do. If there was a deer standing next tot eh road would you blow by it or slow way down just in case?

beachball42

You said that he needed to fit through a narrow fence to get onto the service road. That is why he would have swung left before making the right. He needed to get a better angle to make the turn and fit through the fence. I tend to agree with others, you were the overtaking party in this situation and it is your responsibility to make sure you don't run into the person in front of you. From what you are describing of the turn I don't consider the swerve to the left to be erratic at all but rather a needed move to get the angle to fit through a narrow opening which I'm sure the driver does countless times each day. I guess the only think he could have done differently was perhaps to have taken the land and not hugged the right side of the road which might have at least limited the swerve left but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have had to slow down or even stop to complete the turn so you still would have needed to adjust your speed to account for him to have cleared the road.

Nessism

Okay, my fault. I can say though that he didn't need to swing left like he did to fit through the fence, and he certainly didn't need to stop in the road like he did. He swung left looped back and then stopped 30+ feet short of the vehicle he found in the service road. He could have easily pulled forward and got his cart off the road, which is exactly what he did after I collided with him.

Clyde1820

Consider it this way: If you're on a one-lane dirt road up to a dozen homes up the valley, with an other car ~200ft ahead of you making a 'wide swing' and 'stopping in the lane' maneuver as you describe, do you think you have every right to come alongside his left in order to squeeze through the gap between his door and the drop-off beside the dirt road? Should that type of driving be considered a bit reckless, at bare minimum driving too fast for the conditions that exist right then and there?

Not much difference between this hypothetical and what appears to have been the OP scenario. Same essential responsibility to co-occupy the roadway safely, to drive in basic accommodation of others, to drive in a manner recognizing they have as much right as the next person to come onto and off the roadway when turnoffs come along, etc.

Any number of situations arise weekly, for me, which are variants on the concept. Backing off a notch and accommodating others ends up being safest and least disrespectful mode of travel, in my experience. And, for the most part, it doesn't end up changing the elapsed time of the trip all that much, if at all.

WNCGoater

I place the responsibility of not being hit while cycling, on the vehicle overtaking me from behind, I mean, don't we all? By the same token, I take responsibility for driving my bike in a manner to not hit vehicles I approach. So if I drive my bike into a vehicle which is in front of me...well, do the math.

I have no control over what vehicles out there do, other than my own, and thus I NEVER assume they will be driven where and how I believe they will or should. So it is my responsibility to be ready to react and avoid any vehicles I approach, whether car, service vehicle, or other bicycle.