Nouia

Okay, quick question, if a job application asks about traffic history, would you put a car/bike accident on there if you were not at fault and the driver was cited?

Its for a govt. job that involves a background check, and I don't want to lie but I assume "traffic incident" refers to motorized vehicle, yes?

mcclary

presuming you are the cyclist and not the driver and you didn't get written up for anything, I probably wouldn't list it on there.

my $.02

cjump

it was with a motor car so that would be "traffic" by your definition. i would put it on there. you can explain the situation and the fact you were not at fault if an issue is raised. i wouldn't lie for a gov't job. anything else i think i wouldn't put it on there.

andrewro

If you were hit by a car and it wasn't your fault, I don't see how disclosing this could adversely affect your hiring...

I would probably disclose it regardless, where I work (a public university), we hired a guy for some seasonal work and HR found out he had an arrest pending trial (not traffic-related, more serious) and he was terminated immediately for failure to disclose this up front.

Also, a friend of mine once was cited for an open container on his bike - he had an empty beer can in his bottle cage on his college campus. He forgot about it later, and we went into Canada on a band tour. He didn't disclose it when we were setting up our work permit, and it came up on the background check. They thought it was a dumb thing to be cited for, they laughed about it and gave us no hassle at all but we were sweating bullets when they asked him to speak in private.

Nouia

Thanks, I'll disclose it. I'm still not sure if that's considered a true accident but its better than it coming back to bite me down the road.

Shame, though, I really liked being able to check that "never" box under the traffic accident history, ha.

abeyance

It does count as an accident. When I hit a car with my bike (my fault), it affected my car insurance. Bikes are vehicles, just ask the advocacy and safety forum.

eMwolB

Check "yes" and explain - hit by car while riding bicycle.

G60

disclose it. they're going to find out no matter what, and if you don't they're going to wonder why in the hell you hid that from them.


govt. jobs find out about everything. my friend went through a govt background check process and they were pissed he didn't disclose to them when his dad called the police to report his bike stolen while he was 14 and in Jr. high.

Nouia

Yeah, I know it can get pretty intensive. One of my classmates has had a spook tracking down all of his landlords and high school teachers all month as part of his security clearance, ha.

I wasn't trying to hide anything really, I guess I was just wondering if getting hit by a car on a bike counts as an accident on a "driving" record. I'll put it on there from now on.