“Careless Driving After Accident”

Hi,

I just had an accident and was charged with careless driving. I am a new driver and only got my G2 license about a month ago.

A guy parked at the side of the road opened his door wide in front of my car a split second before I hit it. The door came off his car onto my bonnet and I was blinded and got a shock from impact, my windscreen also got cracked. With the shock if impact, my hand turned the steering wheel and the car hit the two cars parked in front of the car that opened the door.

The person who opened the door has minor cuts and did not need medical assistance.

Cops came and were very nice at first and asked me what happened. One asked if he opened the door why did you hit other cars and I explained that I moved the wheel from the shock and couldn't see.

He then told me I should have avoided the door and should not have turned into other cars and gave a careless driving ticket.

Which option should I chose and do I stand a chance or getting this removed? My friend got careless driving for rear ending a car and successfully got it reduced to following to closely I think. Will this really double my rates? I have pictures of the incident and damaged door. The door sort of came up vertically like some sports car Ferrari's open, when I hit it.

What should I have done in this situation?

Just so you are aware, your license will be suspended for 30 days if you are convicted. As a G2 driver, you are subject you Novice Driver Escalating Sanctions. If you are convicted of 4 or more points on a single charge, you will automatically be suspended.

If you got pictures of the scene, post them (no need for closeup damage pictures). The fact you got a careless driving charge and the car you hit having vertical doors has me intrigued.

bend wrote:Just so you are aware, your license will be suspended for 30 days if you are convicted. As a G2 driver, you are subject you Novice Driver Escalating Sanctions. If you are convicted of 4 or more points on a single charge, you will automatically be suspended.

If you got pictures of the scene, post them (no need for closeup damage pictures). The fact you got a careless driving charge and the car you hit having vertical doors has me intrigued.

Not vertical doors. The door opened as any door would. On impact it came of and flew on my bonnet. I'm not really willing to post pictures and I just have closeup damage pictures. The person and driver admit opening the door and they got a ticket for that as well.

I got a ticket I think because I steered towards the next 2 cars after hitting the door. But this happened as an aftershock as on impact my hand moved.

Do I have chance of fighting it? Insurance person said I should not be at fault.

Anyone else has advice? Why did I get careless driving for this?

Im also surprised you were charged in the incident. The HTA requires persons opening their vehicle doors to check and see if its safe to do so.

165. No person shall,

(a) open the door of a motor vehicle on a highway without first taking due precautions to ensure that his or her act will not interfere with the movement of or endanger any other person or vehicle; or

(b) leave a door of a motor vehicle on a highway open on the side of the vehicle available to moving traffic for a period of time longer than is necessary to load or unload passengers.

I think you have very good grounds to fight your charge. In my opinion the person opening their door is at fault for the initial accident, which could have plausibly caused you to lose control.

MsDeeya wrote:Anyone else has advice? Why did I get careless driving for this?

It wasn't for hitting the door. You're not at fault when someone opens their door on you, but it sounds like it's for the accident afterwords. When in an accident, you have to maintain reasonable control of your vehicle. Some people panic when in an accident and do stuff like hit the gas instead of the brake and hit anything and everything till they come to a stop. If I had to guess, it would be that the officer thinks your reaction was unreasonable in proportion to the factors (speed limit, location of the other vehicles, the damage from the impact). Not saying this is the case, but i'm trying to imagine a scenario where the officer feels he was justified handing down the charge.

That being said, I don't know how inconsistent it would be to think that someone who has a door open on them and come up their hood may end up hitting the other vehicles in front of that car. It sounds like you have a good case unless there's something we're missing.

bend wrote:

MsDeeya wrote:Anyone else has advice? Why did I get careless driving for this?

It wasn't for hitting the door. You're not at fault when someone opens their door on you, but it sounds like it's for the accident afterwords. When in an accident, you have to maintain reasonable control of your vehicle. Some people panic when in an accident and do stuff like hit the gas instead of the brake and hit anything and everything till they come to a stop. If I had to guess, it would be that the officer thinks your reaction was unreasonable in proportion to the factors (speed limit, location of the other vehicles, the damage from the impact). Not saying this is the case, but i'm trying to imagine a scenario where the officer feels he was justified handing down the charge.

That being said, I don't know how inconsistent it would be to think that someone who has a door open on them and come up their hood may end up hitting the other vehicles in front of that car. It sounds like you have a good case unless there's something we're missing.

Stanton wrote:Im also surprised you were charged in the incident. The HTA requires persons opening their vehicle doors to check and see if its safe to do so.

165. No person shall,

(a) open the door of a motor vehicle on a highway without first taking due precautions to ensure that his or her act will not interfere with the movement of or endanger any other person or vehicle; or

(b) leave a door of a motor vehicle on a highway open on the side of the vehicle available to moving traffic for a period of time longer than is necessary to load or unload passengers.

I think you have very good grounds to fight your charge. In my opinion the person opening their door is at fault for the initial accident, which could have plausibly caused you to lose control.

Ok thanks then.The car that opened the door also got a ticket. After the jolt of the impact, my car started turning towards the other parked cars. I think my hands might have moved the steering wheel on impact with the door.