It's amazing how people will do stupid and dumb things ...all in the name of " Oh I just tried to be nice "... I've heard of a situation where a person was trying to save a dog that fell through the ice. The person drowned and the dog survived.

If her perception is clearly wrong, then she still shares fault.

+1

Is there some law prohibiting stopping in the road that I don't know about? Maybe a test for what constitutes a valid reason? Stopping in the road is often a required part of driving, as is watching for stopped vehicles. Your example puts the following driver at %100 fault.

I don't think so, If i slam on my brakes b/c I see a body in the road and someone hits me, but it later turns out the body was just a pile of clothes that I could have run over am I at fault?

I do agree that she contributed to the accident by not pulling out of traffic though.

That just happened to me over the weekend.I was cutting through a parking lot and I guess I wasn't going fast enough.The guy speeds around me and turns a blind corner,rear ending a car parked in the middle of the alley(another idiot).I was laughing as I went by.

There's no way I would stop unless I was involved in the accident.He shouldn't be staring at me anyway,you might want to watch where the h*ll your driving.

If I'm on my bike and slam into the back of a car,should everyone that saw it stop and be a witness.NOPE.

I agree. Yet it would be nice if everyone that saw it stopped to make sure you were OK and you didn't need assistance.
Similarly, the OP's post is a moral question, not a legal one.

It's not clear that the first driver was breaking the law. (The driver who hit her certainly was.)

Yes, both have some measure of blame. The truck driver is reponsible for being able to stop in time regardless of why the first driver stopped.

The mistake was made by the "woman at work", not the "waver".

If someone is "waving her on", that person is only indicating that they are yielding, nothing more (that's how it should be interpreted).

The driver always has the responsibility to make sure his way is clear (ie, he can't delegate this to somebody else).

(By the way, it's legal to yield one's right of way.)

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The dumb thing was the driver who did not look, not the "waver". It's an error to interprete "waving" as "all clear".

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This means that she "shares [partial] fault". The key thing is that the following driver is responsible for stopping even if the lead car does something stupid.

Stop. If a person is injured and you are able to render assistance - you really should. Assistance could be as simple as calling someone.

What if somebody witnesses another driver running you off the road? What about the driver in the OP that got hit?

Yes, but you're supporting the general point that you should always assume that the people around you are moronic and trying to get you killed through their foolishness.

What about love? Don't you want someone to care about you?

There was a person near here that was cited for improperly yielding the right of way which led to an accident. In general, it's not a good idea to change normal traffic patterns since the person behind you is never as nice as you are. There are limits to what you can do as far as yielding your right of way.

No good deed goes unpunished.

If you want to try and help, then do so. Just beware, like getting between two strangers in a fist fight you will end up being punched by one of them.

I won't be stopping as a witness or calling for help for any cager, ever.

Wow... that is all i can say

I have done both. And if there is a chance that someone will falsely blame you, then it is not worth trying to do the right thing and ending up in court defending yourself from some lying scumbag.

The first time I kept riding was a 1989 snow storm in Washington DC that they sent everyone home early. I had a 28 mile one way commute and wanted to get home before dark. I witnessed three car crashes that day (stupid people that do not know how to drive in snow safely and drove way too fast for conditions). With cops already tied up, if I stopped for each crash, I would have ended up hypothermic. The fourth crash I did not witness, but was a multi-car event that flipped at least one car and the State cops shut down the highway (except for the crazy cyclist which they allowed through).

The second event was in Hawaii at a section of highway that a freeway off-ramp merges onto. I continue in the travel lane as law requires, but too often motorist will try and squeeze by me without slowing by driving onto the shoulder and passing on my right to merge ahead of me. Often, they misjudge my speed and have to slam on their brakes to keep from hitting the overpass sidewall. On this occasion, that is exactly what happened, but this time a women behind us was not paying attention. When the right side shoulder passing motorist had to hit his brakes, I surged ahead, the woman behind now in the half merge/ half travel lane position slams into the right passers left rear bumper with her right front bumper. That shoves him into the right barrier and causes her to spin out left 540 degrees across 2 lanes, finally stopping facing the wrong way in the fast lane. Karma left me untouched in between the Y split of their paths. Do any of you not believe that both these reckless drivers would not have blamed the cyclist. Two against one. So yes, in this case I kept riding.

Read the stories of how motorist in Australia treat cyclist and then you might understand.

Thank you.

The moral, legal, and safety issues regarding the same situation are often at odds. Do what your conscience tells you to do.

the cagers are on their own in this case as far as i am concerned. i have no responsibility for the motorists inattentive driving, just because a bicyclist may have been a factor is by no means a compelling enough reason to stop riding.

i would only stop if there was assistance that needed to be rendered in an injury accident and there was some first aiding to be done.

I'm car-less & have been bike commuting in Melbourne, AU since 2005. Apart from a few minor road rage incidents its been quite nice.
I once saw a pedestrian get hit by a car. He just charged into the road as though the cars didn't exist! It was dark and he had earphones on. I stopped along with a few others and a cop took down my details as I actually saw the collision.

People, you either have a responsibility to be a good citizen and responsible to society, or not -- none of this "if someone was hurt", or "if it was a pedestrian" crap. Stop qualifying. Either do the right thing, or don't. You have to live with yourself.

I would stop. I'm a witness, and it would also give me the chance to MAKE SURE I'm not being blamed 'in absentia' for the accident. Make sure the police report reflects your statement that your were riding in compliance with the law THAT YOU ARE WELL-VERSED IN, and do the right thing. (Having a copy of the state/local laws on you helps with that impression.)

Fear of litigation is no excuse.

Most states have a statute that's under the category of "failure to render aid" that you can be charged with if you're at the scene of an accident and ignore it. Even if it's picking up a cell phone..., but to casually saunter away without doing anything is morally pathetic to say the least.

Good example involving a bicycle, although it was the driver that epic failed. : https://lubbockonline.com/stories/030...54329393.shtml

Most states the laws say that you are not required to stop, but if at the scene of the accident you are required to assist if possible. From there some of the various "Good Samaritan" laws apply.

There was one day last summer I heard the crunch of 2 fender-benders in one 5 km ride. Both were pretty much beside me. They could have been caused by pretty much anything, the visual distraction of myself included.

But if I stood around to give statements for every scratched bumper, I'd never get to work. I have been witness to a number of more serious accidents in which I stop to render aid, regardless of whether I'm driving or cycling (and in most cases I'm the only one that does) But it's (slightly)harder to get sued here than in other places.