Backing Up in a Parking Lot

[MouthingOff]

I was in accident were I was backing up. I was 75% backed up when I was hit in the parking lot. I was a stopped and could see the other car coming.

They didn't see me until collision. The speed limit in the parking lot is posted as 5 miles per hour, and they were going faster than that. The other car went over a speed bump less than 5 feet from my car.

They had a child in the car.

My questions,
How can I prove they were distracted?
Is there case law in Washington State regarding case law and backing up, parking lots and distracted drivers?

I truly believe the other driver is at fault despite I was in the process of backing up. The place of impact was my passenger side bumper which was pulled away from my truck.

Any help with establishing evidence, legal precedent and/or case law.

Thanks.

[blewis]

I don't understand -- were you issued a citation or told that you would receive one in the mail? Because that's ONE issue. The other issue is how your and the other driver's insurance companies will assess fault -- which has little or nothing to do with the citations.

As far as a citation is concerned, the law in WA states:

(1) The driver of a vehicle shall not back the same unless such movement can be made with safety and without interfering with other traffic.

However, RCW 46.61.005 states that "provisions of this chapter" ONLY apply to "highways".

A highway is defined (in RCW 46.04.197) as a "publicly maintained" way open to public travel. MOST parking lots are NOT publicly maintained (except for parks, government lots, etc.).

What that means is that, basically, it would be hard to issue a ticket to either driver, unless it can be shown that the parking lot does, indeed, fall under the definition of a "highway".

As far as the insurance companies go, they assess fault almost independently of the law, although they do take it into account. In most cases, it does NOT pay an insurance company to FIGHT, so they usually end up compromising. I did a quick search and could not find ANY case law concerning this issue. That's actually quite understandable when you consider that MOST parking lot accidents usually result in minimal damage, whereas the cost of hiring an attorney, going to trial and then a subsequent appeal would cost MANY THOUSANDS of dollars.

Sorry I couldn't be more help,
Barry

[tigerdog]

They had a child in the car.

My questions,
How can I prove they were distracted?

Please tell me that you are NOT trying to prove the other driver was distracted based SOLELY on the fact that there was a child in the vehicle.

[MouthingOff]

I did not receive a citation for the accident.

I believed the damage was minor, my car's damage was under 500 but later she claimed PIP and 1800ish in damage to her car. The amount now is 9500K

BTW - The reason I believe she was distracted is two fold: 1st she should have been able to avoid my car, I was stopped it was a straight away. 2nd, She snapped at her kid, saying something like 'not now, later. Stay in the car' Also the kid was 9ish was in the front seat.

I am still looking for case law with regards to backing up.

[aaron]

You can search recent cases here, and (subject to some disclaimers) historic cases here.