Possibly needing legal advice

[JaBlue]

OK So I'm biking to BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) because I'm ecofriendly, poor, and live close to it. I am going pretty fast and am on the side of the street. A woman in her car pulls out very quickly out of a blind driveway where I can't see her coming out and she can't see me. She pulls out about 10 ft. in front of me. I slammed on the brakes but still smashed into her car. Needless to say, my bike and I are totally fine and her car has some nasty superficial damages. I give her my name and number and get hers. She's really nice and seems genuinely concerned about my health (she has a carseat in the back so I don't think this is faked so that I won't sue). I have no thoughts about suing her anyway because I'm not injured and I'm not a dick. However, it is possible that she will try to get me to pay for some of the damages. I live in CA and was told that there is some funky percentage car stuff where sometimes a court will rule that it is 30% driver A's fault and 70% driver B's fault or whatever. I really have no idea about this so I could be totally misquoting my friend.

Anyway, how likely is it that I'll have to pay something?

[daryn]

should have given her fake info. there's no way you should be paying if it was unavoidable.

[nothumb]

Terrible move. I can't imagine you were speeding on a bicycle, therefore there is no way this accident is in any way your fault. You should have either filed an accident report, or agreed not to report it. What you did is maybe the worst option.

NT

[Oski]

I wouldn't worry about it.

1. If your bike and you have no damages, I can't imagine her car has much. Her damages probably will not exceed her deductible.
2. Therefore, she will probably not be filing a claim with insurance.
3. If that is the case, the only way she could get money from you was to sue you in small claims court. Furthermore, most, if not all of the liability would be on her. Thus, she will only be (effectively) suing you for a small portion of her repairs.
4. The whole thing will not be worth her time.

By the way. If your bike is not damaged, and you are not hurt ... you have no business suing whether you are a dick or not.

[Boris]

Since you're broke she won't be able to find a laywer to take the case (not that she has one anyways). Don't worry about it.

[bennyk]

post this in advocacy/safety forum on www.bikeforums.net (http://www.bikeforums.net)

bk