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If two cars are reversing from a carpark, one car is near to completely out of their carpark and the other car reverses into the first car. What can legally be done to resolve the issue?
Already Tried: I have offered obtained quotes for the damage and offered to pay for some of the damage to my car whilst the other person pay the majority and have given this person a significant amount of time to pay. Now considering taken the person to small claims court.
Hi Welcome to JustAnswer. My first response will follow shortly. Please feel free to follow up if anything is not clear
The duty of care when reversing is to take the utmost care. It has a higher duty than driving forward, because of the difficulty in seeing traffic behind you. This means you have to be very careful to avoid other traffic, travel at the appropriate speed and consciously look out for other vehicles. In this situation where the other driver is reversing, the driver who hit the other driver would be primarily liable. The other driver would only be liable if they were driving too fast in the circumstances. It is possible that they might be partly liable but only to a small extent if they travel too fast. In the Disputes Tribunal they may be liable up to say 10 to 20% at the most. The primary duty is always with the car who heads the other car and when you analyse what happened, the other driver may have contributed more to the accident. But those are the principles which you apply.
Experience: LLB MMgt FAMINZ 32 years qualified as lawyer