The Human Car

The crosswalk laws I am familiar say something to the effect "yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk." With no mention of bicyclists. So bicyclists are not afforded the same legal protection in a crosswalk as pedestrains. To give cyclists legal protection some places try to enforce dismount and walk. This is what leads to the misconception that it is illegal to ride in a crosswalk, it's not but cyclists have no legal right of way either in a crosswalk... use the road and utilize a vehicle right-of-way or get off and walk, those are your options.

mulveyr 

According to the OP's description of the actual point of contact: "hitting my son directly in the middle of her car. " If that means the bike and the car came into contact between the front and back seats on the side of the car... then HE hit HER, not the other way around. The OP also indicated that the car was stopped at the stop sign, implying that it wasn't a rolling stop.

Regardless of whether it's legal to ride on the sidewalk or through the crosswalk where she lives, I'm failing to see how the cyclist doesn't get the bulk of the blame for the incident if he's going so fast though a crosswalk with a vehicle stopped at the intersection that he can't stop if the vehicle moves.

This is why I teach my kids that when they're on the sidewalk, they NEVER cross in front of a car unless they get an active acknowledgement from a driver that they have been seen.

BlazingPedals

I don't know about the OP's locale, but here it is a requirement that all injury accidents require a police report. Here, that driver could have been cited, post-facto, for hit-and-run (regardless of fault,) and the police officer would be disciplined for not making a report.

The other side of the coin was, the kids shouldn't have been riding that way. Drivers expect to see pedestrians in crosswalks, not bikes going 2x or 3x that fast.

njkayaker

I suspect that, if bicycles are allowed on the sidewalks and crosswalks, they are effectively pedestrians in those places. (Keep in mind that small children riding bicycles on sidewalks are not treated as "drivers of vehicles".) Laws about riding on the sidewalk are different and vary by city. Often, it's not allowed for adults.

If the bicyclist is on the road, then bicycles are always/everywhere treated as vehicles.

PaulRivers

That's what I thought myself upon the first and second reading of the post, but the op also said that both the front and back wheel were both damaged, suggesting that perhaps the op meant the hit occurred in the front middle of the vehicle.

It is rather ambiguous, though...

njkayaker

A driver isn't supposed to determine whether or not the thing in the cross walk is walking or riding a bicycle.

Considering, especially, that it's often small children who are riding bicycles on sidewalks, the driver is obviously required to yield to anything in the crosswalk.

The common mistake that people make is thinking that people on the sidewalk are not required to take traffic into account before they enter the crosswalk. Actually, sidewalk users are not really allowed to leap into the crosswalk without looking.

Once the person is in the crosswalk, drivers have to yield to them. That is, the default behavior required by the driver is to avoid a collision by always stopping. Keep in mind that the requirement to yield isn't changed by how the person happens to get into crossway. That is, drivers have to also yield to stupid/careless crosswalk users.

The problem with bicycles on sidewalks is that they can move faster than drivers expect and be hard to see (if they are moving quickly). That is, if a bicyclist enters into a crosswalk too quickly, it may not be possible for a driver to yield to them.

Anyway, the standard practice for entering crosswalks is to stop first (and look for traffic). People who fail to do this are practically (if not legally) partly to blame.

njkayaker

Do you really think that riding into a crosswalk without stopping is a safe practice?

TiberiusBTkirk

What advise is the OP actually looking for?
since it's a child, in some places they are allowed to ride on the sidewalk.
if it's medical expenses, NYS has the No Fault law that covers that. you can still file a police report.

PaulRivers

I think partly the OP is wondering wth is going on with the police department - first the officer doesn't file a report, they say that his son can file a report later, then the person at the police station says there's nothing to be done except contacting the insurance company (who will, in all likelyhood, ask for a copy of the police report).

I'm sure the OP might appreciate any experience on this bit.

mulveyr 

Absolutely. One of the things that I see on A&S, in particular, is the mentality that it's always the driver's fault when a cyclist gets hit. They expect drivers to never, ever do anything that could possibly endanger anyone, anywhere, under any circumstances. Apparently they've never been in situations where they've been driving and come around a curve and suddenly been blinded by sun glare, or been at an intersection when a teenager with a sense of invincibility shoots across in front of them, or the cyclist simply gets lost in the visual noise of streetlamps, signs, large mailboxes, etc.

Everyone on the road and sidewalks needs to assume that everyone else is distracted and doesn't see them. And even then, sometimes crap just happens.

mulveyr 

I can't see that any reasonable person would be able to interpret this as a hit-and-run; By the OP's own description, the driver got out, a police officer became involved, and then he sent everyone on their way.

Dean7

Wow. I'm glad your son is OK! Things could have gone much differently.

KD5NRH

Are you sure that's what they say?

(To make matters worse, that sign is right in front of a school.)

But remember; some states consider a human powered vehicle in the crosswalk to be a pedestrian. Or do you think that it's fine to run over a baby stroller as long as you don't hit the walker pushing it?

The Human Car

Without the exchange of insurance information it could well be considered a hit and run. The fact that the police seemed to facilitate this I find disturbing. Sure the police can have policies about no report unless serious injury or over $XXX amount of property damage but that does not relive the duty to exchange insurance information.

The Human Car

I am not saying I agree with the crosswalk laws but riding in crosswalks can offer cyclists complications in court. If you don't like it change the laws.

PaulRivers

That's ridiculous, and you're just playing word games now. If the person doing the hitting stops, checks that the person is alright, and doesn't leave until after the cop gets there, it's not a "hit and run" unless perhaps if the other person asks them for their information and they refuse to give it. Even then - that's a whole lot morally better than someone who drives off, possibly leaving the victim unconscious on the side of the road. (Let's be fair though - this scenario plays out with car on car crashes even more than with bikes)

We see enough actual hit and run incidents on this board that involve someone hitting someone and driving off, leaving the person to fend for themselves, it's ridiculous to try to compare that to someone who wasn't asked for their insurance info and left only after the police arrived (and assumably told them it was ok to leave).

The only part I agree with is that if the police are there, especially in an accident involving someone underage, that the police should make sure to get the personal info for both parties.

BlazingPedals

I know it sounds crazy, but as I wrote, it's not an issue of fault, it's an issue of filing a police report. The point is, a police report can be filed after-the-fact. And if injuries show up later, the driver, if she can be tracked down, can be held liable - not because it was her fault but because procedures weren't followed.

Rex G

If the jurisdiction requires reporting of racial data, there may be some record of this encounter in the PD's records. OTOH, not all such states/jurisdictions call for full contact information. Since this was a collision, and therefore equivalent to a call for service, not a traffic stop, it may fall outside the requirement for the data to be collected. Still, it is a possible source of information.

One possibility as to why no report was made, is that this might have been a double-fault collision. Another factor might be whether it met a property damage threshold requirement for being a reportable collision. If neither party wanted a report made, and either or both of these factors were present, then the officer may have just let it go. (To be clear, I would have made a crash report, based on the injury, or likelihood thereof!)

Edited to add: I just noticed that this happened Saturday. Perhaps the report has yet to be submitted? I tell folks to allow ten working days for a crash report to be available. At my PD, a crash report is first submitted to a sergeant, and then it is sent to the traffic & accident division folks, who review it when they get to it, and only then does it become an official record.

TiberiusBTkirk

OK, I was a State Insurance examiner for four years and was in hospital patient accounts for four years. I've seen lots of MVA police reports and I've requested just as many.
Go now, get a motor vehicle accident report. Get copies of your ER admitting record or chart stating your son was in a motor vehicle accident. Get the other driver's insurance info. Start the ball rolling because everything is time sensitive.
You never know when your son needs additional medical care due to this accident. No-fault will cover it, either yours or the other drivers. If you don't have a car another insurance fund from the state will cover medical. I think that's the uninsured driver coverage.
No-fault coverage does not assign fault, it gets your medical expenses and other expenses paid. Eventually cases may go to Subrogation.

njkayaker

No, it clearly was not a "hit and run".

njkayaker

None was made (see following).

You can make a report at the police station "after the fact" but that won't get you the information about the other driver.

The Human Car

And neither was this since the cop stopped and handed the cyclists some tissues.

Oh wait it was leaving a scene of an accident.

njkayaker

You can't be serious. You are making even less sense here.

Kimmitt 

I think that A&S is a great place for this line of thinking.

njkayaker

It seems quite appropriate for this thread (where ever it is) too!