<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, Verdana">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by phantom:
Illinois. my 13 year old son rode his bike into the intersection of a six lane street. A car started making a right hand turn on arrow as my son was trying to get through the intersection at the crosswalk. He hit the car at the front quarterpanel and caused $1200 worth of damage. The insurance company has hired a lawyer who says the police report lists my son as the cause and I am required to pay. Am I or should I ignore hoping they are bluffing? Doesnt the pedestrian always have the right of way?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
My response:
I certainly hope your boy is alright. It's never easy, and often very scary, for a young person to be involved in an accident - - which is what this was, a mere accident.
However, the law is the same in Illinois as it is in most states: First, your son was not a pedestrian; rather, he was riding his bicycle, thereby imputing to him all of the same Rules of the Road as any other vehicle. Second, like any other vehicle, when your son "rode his bike into the intersection [and]hit the car" it's the same as if you were driving your car and you hit another car. Third, your son should have been walking his bike across the crosswalk and then he would have been a pedestrian (which is the meaning of pedestrian), and thereby would not have been liable.
Your son has an "at-fault" liability in this matter, and will be responsible for damages.
Below is a copy of your controlling Statute:
(625 ILCS 5/11-1502) Sec. 11-1502. Traffic laws apply to persons riding bicycles. Every person riding a bicycle upon a highway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this Code, except as to special regulations in this Article XV and except as to those provisions of this Code which by their nature can have no application. (Source: P.A. 82-132.)
IAAL
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