I was on my bicycle on the road trying to go home, when all of a sudden a woman appears from behind an Electrical panel trying to cross the street while texting on her phone. Since she came out from behind an Electrical panel along the curb, I did not see her and could not stop in time. So we collided. There was no crosswalk where she stepped out, so I could not predict that any pedestrian would cross the street at her location.
Now she wants compensation for a few bruises and scrapes, even though she was the one who refused to use the crosswalk and tried to cross a street while texting on her phone.
I talked with a Japanese lawyer, and they said that she is the victim regardless and I could be charged as a criminal. Is this right????
What should I do?
28 comments
Do you have bicycle insurance?
Find a camera in the area, detail it, tell the cops to get the video. If she was on her phone, it might help your case.
I got bike insurance for this reason. Someone explained it to me as if your on a bike and you hit someone walking basically the police treat it the same as a car hitting a pedestrian. Basically biker has majority of fault. If the police filed a report on the scene you probably will end up paying some of her hospital visit co pay.
I recommend buying a camera off of amazon. I always have mine on specifically for any accidents because without it….no one is going to believe you.
Dude you’re at fault. Don’t ride faster than your eyes can see and treat it as a learning experience.
I’m sorry to hear that.
However, what the lawyer said is unfortunately true.
Everybody understands that it’s her fault and you’re never wrong but she’s the victim in this case.
You could be charged as a criminal when she claimed it. It is also true.
You might have to pay some for her injury.
We sometimes joke about it too, like pedestrians are the strongest.
You’re best off paying her compensation and demand her sign an agreement so that she won’t come back asking for more later on.
TLDR
Larger vehicle at fault but not 100% negotiate
Ask for all proof.
Don’t make this a cake walk but be agreeable or this could get serious.
Negotiate
They police will not take sides.
Been in this exact situation.
Pedestrian not looking where she was walking as she popped out from behind a van to cross where there was no cross walk.
Cyclist is at fault no matter how absent minded the pedestrian is.
I but the brakes so hard I don’t think I hit her. I feel over the handle in place.
But she fell and played dead.
Her accomplis called an ambulance and road accident police. She was carted away still pretending she was injured.
The police asked me the details.
As I had a Garmin I knew my speed. 35kph.
Police said the speed limit doesn’t apply to bicycles and oddly lowered my speed to something more believable ie 20kph in the official report.
She claimed injury.
She claimed to have to take a week off work.
She claimed her dress was damaged.
I was not buying this bs.
I asked her for proof.
Got her to send me a pic of the dress. As she said she threw it away already (sounded bs)
She wanted me to pay for her week off work.
So I made her send me her pay stub. (Which included her work address and all details, just in case I needed the info)
A terrible lawyer I went to, said to ignore her request and maybe shell forget.
She didn’t.
She tried to pressure for money like a good scam artist.
I scared her off a little saying my lawyer is advising me on the matter.
Then I continued on mentioning the law isn’t only on the side of the pedestrian. I mentioned that she was too blame for this but as I’m the bigger “vehicle” I would take the larger part of the 60/40 blame. Which up to then she wanted 100% and then some.
As my bike was slightly damaged from the non impact but crashing into the road.
It was her claims.
Dress+work week+some other bs
Minus my claims.
And at 60%.
This was an agreement with between myself and her via SMS which terrible lawyer said was binding.
Before paying I stalled some more saying I had no money but I’d pay half and half.
Then a week later sent her a final SMS In which the wording was in such that with any payment this would finalize this money grab forever.
I think she was happy her scam worked and accepted the terms.
I got insurance the next day. Cycling cameras.
Expensive mistake.
✔️ Edit to clarify and spell check
Unfortunately the larger vehicle is always responsible… best to have insurance to cover it.
Did you buy insurance for your bike? I know that sounds weird but I remember there’s similar case in the past and no matter how wrong the pedestrian is, you still have certain amount of responsibility.
If a lawyer said you’re fucked, you’re fucked. Pedestrians have the right away even though sometimes they’re morons. You’re either going to have to accept paying her or leave the country I guess. Also, you weren’t “jumped”.
In Japan, pedestrian > bicycle > car > trucks/buses, regardless whose fault it actually is.
Yes, it sucks big time, and it’s not fair, which makes most pedestrians shit heads, they never look before they turn, go side ways, or anything. You can fight it, but afaik pedestrians win in many cases.
You pay , smile nicely, apologize, hope your ok ? , apologize again and leave.
You will not win this fight and yes they can make this a lot worse for you.
My friend was stopped dead in her car/ Japanese. A lady drove up on her bike and hit the car. My friend had to pay for everything, everything!
Pedestrians have ultimate rights everywhere except highways. When you ride a vehicle (even a bicycle) you have to assume responsibility for everyone on the road, this is just the way it is. The lawyer you talked to is right. Focus on getting the victim to be reasonable and fair with you and avoid escalation.
You seem like a nice person, but look, you weren’t jumped. Respectfully, pedestrians walking don’t and shouldn’t have to watch out for bikes. Yeah there’s common sense, but they’ll always have right of way.
As a dad, I can tell you that kids don’t look out for bikes when walking and playing and they will dash out of nowhere too. You gotta watch out for people. Sorry. It sucks, but it’s part of being a responsible bicyclist. You ARE the vehicle.
>I talked with a Japanese lawyer, and they said that she is the victim regardless and I could be charged as a criminal. Is this right????
Yes
>What should I do?
Have your lawyer negotiate payment to her.
Isn’t bicycle insurance mandatory in Tokyo now just because of stuff like this? If you’re outside of Tokyo or have your bike longer than 2-3 years you might be f’d.
Work on your thread titles.
Wait… y’all are telling me that even though it is illegal to jaywalk here, if a pedestrian willingly breaks the law to jaywalk, and steps off of the sidewalk, down into the road, and in front of an oncoming bicycle or car, then the car or bicycle is at fault?
Even though the pedestrian was the one breaking the law?
Edit: seems like there is at least some precedent for this kind of thing going in favor of the car: https://japantoday.com/category/crime/driver-who-killed-cyclist-in-crosswalk-accident-found-not-guilty
You’re expected to pay medical fees, and the cost of emotional distress either 150,000 yen to 300,000 yen, or 500,000 yen. Can’t remember which one for the life of me, but I do remember the sum depends on the magnitude of the damage.
Like the other comments yeah you need to find a 防犯カメラin the area if she’s pressing charges cause pedestrians have the right of way regardless if they’re looking at their phones or abruptly taking a shit in the middle of an intersection.
I think it was some kind of mandatory thing to get a bicycle insurance in Tokyo too, saw this thing on tv about a Japanese woman colliding with a car on her bicycle and getting sued for damages to the car when she was the one who broke her arm and got hurt badly. Kinda fucked if u ask me:(
lol, on bicyle,,,this is just crazy
this is how romance usually starts in movies but not this time i guess
So many people haven’t driven in Japan and it shows
This is why they’ve started implementing bicycle insurance. Cos same as vehicles, the pedestrian is almost always considered the victim.
Hopefully you have some sort of bicycle insurance
Call your bicycle insurance company and have them take care of it.
You **DO** have bicycle insurance, right? It’s required by law in most if not all prefectures now, and has been for a while.
If you have car insurance it may be included as part of that. If you have homeowner insurance (or even renter’s insurance), it may be a part of that.
Anyone reading this who does not have bicycle insurance, **GET IT**. It’s a few bucks a month and in cases like this can save you a huge amount of money. If you hit someone, you can be responsible for 100% of their medical bills, and they can be very high when NHI isn’t paying.
Sorry for my bad English.
First: *You must always notify the police in the case of an accident*, regardless of the accident’s severity. Lastly, you should contact your insurance company to inform them. However just because there is a collision does not mean you are criminally at fault. Often the police will tell you to work it out between yourselves if it is not serious and force the two parties to go to Civil court.
The pedestrian here always has the right of way in criminal court. But if you are not doing anything specifically wrong this will often just mean a fine. Which brings me to my two parts of advice.
#1: Offer her what you think it’s worth, if she wants MORE let her take you to court.
#2: If you don’t want to do that, tell her that if she tries to take you to criminal court you will take her to civil court. In Criminal court, they will not give you much more than a fine if you were not doing anything irresponsible. In civil court they will give you damages, it is possible that the idea of civil court is enough to make her give up.
Oh also, if you don’t have Bike Insurance.. You should pay her what ever she is asking, It’s required and you are breaking the law by not having it.
Pedestrians in Japan and Tokyo specifically are fucking morons. The fact more aren’t killed each day is nothing short of a fukcing miracle.
People simply don’t look crossing roads etc – it’s insane.
Cars have rules and are therefore predictable , pedestrians don’t and therefore aren’t.
Generally speaking if there is a bicycle and a pedestrian, the pedestrian is more vulnerable to traffic, so in a traffic accident involving a bicycle and a pedestrian, the bicycle is more likely to be held liable for compensation.
**However**, pedestrians **cannot** willy-nilly walk recklessly wherever they want to.
If a pedestrian inadvertently injures another person, the pedestrian is obligated to compensate for the damage to you and for your bicycle (if any).
This is legally based on tort liability under Article 709 of the Civil Code.
Google 民法709条の不法行為責任 for details.
https://www.daylight-law.jp/accident/qa/faq92_1/
And BTW, change lawyer.