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The hitee could have claimed he was just stepping out to hail a cab and sued the moving violator for a billion dollars or so.
Every conflict doesn’t end with war.
Only one fail and that’s the bike rider who is going the wrong way on a one-way street.
Why do bike messengers have such entitlement issues? Too bad it wasn’t a car pulling out.
That is an interesting scenario. Suppose one or the other fell and suffered major brain damage and suppose further both parties are “rich.”
Usually if you are violating the law and cause an injury YOU are responsible no matter what the other person is doing====except here when the other person is also violating the law?
Assuming both actions are misdemeanors is there an “equity” difference between the two meaning one should win, or win a higher percentage than the other?
I can order the words to make an argument for either person, but neither rings true.
Would a court actually rule that both are 50% responsible just as the parties here did? Nice hypo.
Well if that happened in the UK, the guy crossing the road would not have been doing anything wrong (except not using common sence and looking both ways, even on a one way street.)
The cyclist probebly would have been arrested for dangerouse driving.
WTF, of course, the biker is responsible for any damages because of him going the wrong way. He was reckless for much longer than the pedestrian. Pedestrians are usually only at fault when no one else is violating a statute and an injury occurs. e.g. walking out into the legal speed limit flow of traffic. If a car was exceeding the speed limit and hits the pedestrian, that violation trumps the pedestrian’s violation. The biker obviously had a gunslinger quick response so it has happened before. How did this video make it to the internet? If I was the biker, I would have deleted it post haste. Is it normal for messenger services to videotape their employees like this?
Them rubber streets in New York are all the rage!
My personal preference is that the bigger, faster mode of transportation must always yield to the smaller (more primitive) mode.
So, biker needs to watch out for pedestrian. Car needs to watch out for biker. But lower forms of transportation must live in the real world and watch out for larger transportation, just to stay alive.
From a liability perspective, biker going wrong way should be penalized. In reality, it does not always work that way. My 8 year old nephew who was riding his bike on the side of a country road was struck and killed by a man in a car going within the legal speed limit. Not a thing was done to him. So, sometimes accidents happen. But riding the wrong way in my book makes him in the wrong. Pedestrians who step out onto that street can logically assume most all threats would come from that of the prevailing one way traffic. So, the most reasonable person would be conditioned to put 95% of their concern to that man’s right side. Of course asteroids, bike messengers and radically islam hijackers ruin a great many reasonable assumptions.
Being negligent for a longer period of time sounds interesting. But what if the messenger had just taken off one car away while the jay walker had been going for a few minutes in and out in an S pattern around the parked cars? If the liability switches to the jay walker, then the rule stands?
Faster Heavier Mode of Transport must yield even in view of other traffic negligence? Yes, thats a good one too. Like oil tankers, the jay walker looked heavier but slower than the other traffic.
I was also of the mind that the jay walker should be expected to look for the legal traffic flow.
Ok. I’m convinced. So the Messenger was wrong and obviously has done this before with his rapid fire “you’re wrong too.” So the more interesting question is why did the jay walker give in so fast especially in NYC? I’ll bet he had a pound of coke in his back pocket and didn’t want the police called.
Good reason to always look both ways, even when crossing one way streets.
That cyclist is a damn idiot and wrong. He is damn lucky he didn’t really hurt the pedestrian.
Just another asshole riding a bicycle with no regard for anyone else. It’s almost becoming a law of nature: Ride a bicycle in the city and become an asshole.
It’s Philadelphia.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=39.954144,-75.169481&spn=0.000566,0.001293&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=39.954144,-75.169481&panoid=0VJFooAvb3hXw8OT1b_NBg&cbp=12,185.11,,0,-5.1
Would have been a lot funnier if he’d hit a cop – negligent riding, audio recording of a cop without his permission, breathing without a permit, being a jerk without the requisite signage, etc.
Pretty clear the bicyclist was in the wrong.
He failed the “who hit who” test and as pointed out, was going the wrong way.
The bicyclist was riding the wrong way with A VIDEO CAMERA strapped to his helmet. The assertive bicyclist is the most annoying road asshole.
A fifteen foot wide piece of pavement was obviously designed for a guy in overly tight shorts.
Most cities have developed trails which function as bicycle commuter routes. Roads are still filled with cars, though. Any city cyclist who operates on any other priority than basic personal safety is insane or has a death wish.
when two people attempt to occupy the same physical time, dimension and place, all other things being equal, this is the typical result.
whats the big deal?
-s
Pedestrians always have the right of way. Beside, if the bald guy was going around the parked car to get into the passenger side of the car… My back…sue big time. He could have sued anyway. The guy on the bike could have been a carrier for a big law firm….sue $$$!!!
I was hoping the bicyclist would get hit by a car.
Anyway, have been in NYC several times and it still it sucks to be a bicyclist rider there even after they have “transformed” the city to a more bike friendly one. It’s a major issue I must say.
Of cause the carrier shouldn’t ride a one way street like he did her, but he is forced because of lack of alternatives. It should be possible to ride your bike reverse on this street after all.
I just gets funnier every time I watch it!
Ahhh…. “salmoning” at its finest!
The bike rider all the way.
The bike is going the wrong way on a one way street. Judging from the camera, he is also all over the road. He forced an SUV out of his lane. Nope, can’t do that.
The pedestrian isn’t breaking any laws. As long as he is not impeding traffic, it doesn’t matter if he is at a crosswalk or middle of the block.
The bike rider needs an explanation of the law before he ends up beside a bug on some taxi’s windshield.