A Bicycle hit my car!

[amfizzle]

What is the name of your state? Washington

Yesterday afternoon, I was trying to turn left into my apartment complex from the left lane of a two lane street, with a large shoulder on the sidewalk side of each lane for extra parking (its a downtown suburban area) A sheriff in the right lane waved me on, so I proceeded to turn left into my complex and was completely out of the lane of traffic, but not quite into the parking lot when a man on a bicycle came basically out of nowhere and slammed into the door of my car, hitting his helmeted head on my windsheild destroying it, and signifigantly denting the door of my car.

At the scene he was suffering from what seemed to be a seperated shoulder, yet was okay enough to start demanding that I be held accountable for not only his medical bills but also his bike repairs and a new helmet because "as a professional cyclist, this is a $3000 dollar bike you just destroyed" as he told me.

I have several questions:
1) I've always been told that if you wave another driver on, and they get into an accident, you are at fault because you are never allowed to tell another driver to go, and in this case it was a county sheriff who waved me on.
2) Am I really at fault because in the end, yes I didn't see him, but he slammed full speed into my car when I was already completely straightened out and had already executed my turn, which should have left him time to see me and stop for himself if he had been paying attention.
3) Now my auto insurance is coming into question because my company is saying that I missed a payment and they discontinued coverage... which is a problem unto itself, but if he doesn't end up having his medical bills covered by my insurance company, can he sue me? Can he also sue me for his "professional $3000 dollar bicycle"?
4) Even if he DOES sue me, I'm a 19 year old full time student, with no job and no assets whatsoever other than my car that is registered in my name (that is valued at under $2000) so what will happen if he is awarded a certain judgement, and I have no way of paying for this?

 

[Happy Trails]

What is the name of your state? Washington

Yesterday afternoon, I was trying to turn left into my apartment complex from the left lane of a two lane street, with a large shoulder on the sidewalk side of each lane for extra parking (its a downtown suburban area) A sheriff in the right lane waved me on, so I proceeded to turn left into my complex and was completely out of the lane of traffic, but not quite into the parking lot when a man on a bicycle came basically out of nowhere and slammed into the door of my car, hitting his helmeted head on my windsheild destroying it, and signifigantly denting the door of my car.

At the scene he was suffering from what seemed to be a seperated shoulder, yet was okay enough to start demanding that I be held accountable for not only his medical bills but also his bike repairs and a new helmet because "as a professional cyclist, this is a $3000 dollar bike you just destroyed" as he told me.

I have several questions:
1) I've always been told that if you wave another driver on, and they get into an accident, you are at fault because you are never allowed to tell another driver to go, and in this case it was a county sheriff who waved me on.
2) Am I really at fault because in the end, yes I didn't see him, but he slammed full speed into my car when I was already completely straightened out and had already executed my turn, which should have left him time to see me and stop for himself if he had been paying attention.
3) Now my auto insurance is coming into question because my company is saying that I missed a payment and they discontinued coverage... which is a problem unto itself, but if he doesn't end up having his medical bills covered by my insurance company, can he sue me? Can he also sue me for his "professional $3000 dollar bicycle"?
4) Even if he DOES sue me, I'm a 19 year old full time student, with no job and no assets whatsoever other than my car that is registered in my name (that is valued at under $2000) so what will happen if he is awarded a certain judgement, and I have no way of paying for this?

What did the county sheriff say about the accident?

He can sue, whether he will be successful is another question. If he sues and wins then you will have a judgement against you. He would have to find a way to collect from you (such as garnishing wages, liens and writ of execution).

 

[amfizzle]

What did the county sheriff say about the accident?

He can sue, whether he will be successful is another question. If he sues and wins then you will have a judgement against you. He would have to find a way to collect from you (such as garnishing wages, liens and writ of execution).

The sheriff told the police officer that he waved me on (I heard him tell her this, and also watched him re-enact the hand motion, of the waving itself) but then after I brought this up to the police officer, she says he didn't mention anything about waving me on... so I'm sure she was covering for him in some way, but I guess that doesn't neccessarily matter anyway, or does it?

Apparently my neighbor told me that something such as this happened to him last year (except there was no question as to the fact he was uninsured, and he hit a woman in her car) and he declared bankruptcy (spelling? sorry) and the woman who sued him just ended up out of luck. Would this be an option? Obviously it would destroy my credit, but I don't even have a credit car so I'm not concerned about that I don't think.

Would any attorney even waste his time suing a 19 year old with absolutely NOTHING of real value to her name when he/she knew there wasn't really anything to gain?

 

[Happy Trails]

The sheriff told the police officer that he waved me on (I heard him tell her this, and also watched him re-enact the hand motion, of the waving itself) but then after I brought this up to the police officer, she says he didn't mention anything about waving me on... so I'm sure she was covering for him in some way, but I guess that doesn't neccessarily matter anyway, or does it?

Apparently my neighbor told me that something such as this happened to him last year (except there was no question as to the fact he was uninsured, and he hit a woman in her car) and he declared bankruptcy (spelling? sorry) and the woman who sued him just ended up out of luck. Would this be an option? Obviously it would destroy my credit, but I don't even have a credit car so I'm not concerned about that I don't think.

Would any attorney even waste his time suing a 19 year old with absolutely NOTHING of real value to her name when he/she knew there wasn't really anything to gain?

Did the police cite either of you? Did they write up any kind of a report?

If he sued he would probably take you to small claims court. The maximum amount in Washington is $4000 and you are not required to get a lawyer.

Why don't you wait and see what he does and if he is successful at getting a judgement against you. Then you can come back and post your question in the bankruptcy forum.

 

[stephenk]

was the bike being ridden in the street or on the sidewalk? Was the bike going with traffic or against traffic? He hit which door of your car?

 

[amfizzle]

was the bike being ridden in the street or on the sidewalk? Was the bike going with traffic or against traffic? He hit which door of your car?

He was riding on the street (we have large shoulders on my street to provide parking to the downtown area) and he was going with traffic. He hit my passenger side door.

I looked up bicycle laws in Washington State and apparently bicycles are required to follow all laws that motorized vehicles must, including "following the flow of traffic" Does this mean that since the "flow of traffic" was stopped, yet he continued to go he was in fact breaking the law himself and he should have been the one ticketed?

My citation was for "failure to yield" by the way, as the officer told me that he as a bicycle had the right of way, but she also told me to take the ticket to court because I was basically only getting that ticket because I technically caused some accident that required police response.

 

[teflon_jones]

1) I've always been told that if you wave another driver on, and they get into an accident, you are at fault because you are never allowed to tell another driver to go, and in this case it was a county sheriff who waved me on.

Whoever has told you this has no idea what they're talking about. Whether the person waving you to go is a sheriff, FBI agent, postman, mental patient, or whatever else has absolutely no bearing in this case. It is your responsibility to ensure there is no oncoming traffic before you make your turn. The bicycle had the right of way and you should not have made the turn until you were sure it was clear. The sheriff was only telling you that you could turn across his lane. What was happening in the other lanes is up to you to watch for.
As for the "flow of traffic", it was not stopped. The sheriff's car was stopped, but the bicycle is also part of the flow of traffic and was not stopped. Therefore the flow of traffic as a whole was still moving.

2) Am I really at fault because in the end, yes I didn't see him, but he slammed full speed into my car when I was already completely straightened out and had already executed my turn, which should have left him time to see me and stop for himself if he had been paying attention.

Yes, you are absolutely at fault. Whether you're 1% done with your turn or 99% done doesn't matter. And if you had been paying attention, you would not have turned in front of him.

3) Now my auto insurance is coming into question because my company is saying that I missed a payment and they discontinued coverage... which is a problem unto itself, but if he doesn't end up having his medical bills covered by my insurance company, can he sue me? Can he also sue me for his "professional $3000 dollar bicycle"?

Yes, he can sue you for both his medical bills and the damage to both his bicycle, helmet, and anything else.

4) Even if he DOES sue me, I'm a 19 year old full time student, with no job and no assets whatsoever other than my car that is registered in my name (that is valued at under $2000) so what will happen if he is awarded a certain judgement, and I have no way of paying for this?

You will need to arrange for a payment plan.