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Looks like you tried to cross a main road (certainly wider than the road you were on) without stopping or being mindful of other vehicles at a reasonably high speed for a residential area.

You're more at fault here than the rider if he has the right of way.

Better settle this amicably and pay up if they're asking for reasonable amounts of money. Could get ugly for you if this get's dragged to the police station or court!

At first, I'll say that you are lucky that scooter rider didn't suffer any severe injuries, going by the impact. Whatever helmet / hard hat he was wearing saved him. Other thing that probably helped was lower speeds of both vehicles.

Secondly, there was enough time for both of you to see each other and brake. In video, it seems like the scooter rider didn't notice you at all. Even at the moment of impact he was focused straight, oblivious to your presence (car headlights etc). You too seemed to be distracted not to notice him, probably focusing on LH rear view mirror to ensure you are clear of the bike you just overtook.

I may be wrong, but it seems you were driving in local colony lanes, while scooter was on a bigger (main) road. If that's the case, you'll be held responsible for the accident. In such scenario, l'll suggest that you settle for the small sum the opposite party is asking and keep the transaction in writing to avoid any hassle in future.

No main roads here, was all cross roads or by lanes as they are called.
Did you feel I had the right of way as I was going straight and the biker just darted across me?

Also I was not speeding but at 20kmph.
Is it better to pay up and close?

My vehicle has also had substantial damages, which have totally ignored for the sake of the bikers health

No doubt who is at fault here. Just give him the 6000 and be done with it. He might need that money to repair his scooter.

First you were overtaking before a crossing and drove on the wrong lane. A car could have turned left and hit you head on. You had no control over your car.

It was dark and your speed was way too high at the junction and you had to yield to crossing traffic.
Never overtake when there side roads. I follow this rule always.

Just curious why do you think you had right of way? Going by your words, the biker was also going straight and the car (you) just darted across him. The darkness probably is hiding any relevant road signs?

Yes. This is an impossible situation, probably common in many places here, certainly is in this city. There are no road markings whatsoever.

On my regular routes, I have an idea about which is the main road and which is the crossing road --- but there is absolutely no reason why someone crossing should not have the opposite idea. Who's to say which of our ideas is valid? Who's is the default responsibility in case of a collision? Are we supposed to get out and measure the roads? Or memorise some weird hierarchical naming convention?

The only thing we can do is to expect such a situation at every intersection. I guess this is one reason why I like to drive a car that is quite nippy: because I spend a lot of time slowing down for stuff!

It’s the scooter rider’s luck that he escaped with minor bruises. I don’t understand Kannada much, but I assume the conversation was like ‘you were correct’, which is not the case. Its an intersection and you should have done a ‘stop and go’, or at least slow down enough to react on time. I would suggest pay up the damages and move on. Your video itself can be taken as evidence for negligent driving.

Splitting medical expenses is a fair way to sort this out imo, and 6k is worth less than the time & headspace you'll spend in case of a legal tussle.

Also, while neither of you noticed each other, he was the one approaching from your right, so things are more likely to go his way in case the cops are involved.

Learn from this and move on :thumbs up

Although you had a clear right of way at the intersections, these speeds are not at all correct and legal. When you are approaching an intersection, it’s always advised and required by law to reduce the speeds. There was another scooter cutting across you in front. I am sure the biker failed to notice you as he was casual but chances are that due to your high speed, he failed to notice. You should have been more vigil and much slow passing through the city, especially at an intersection.

If it’s a highway, the legal speed limits cannot be over 40 or 50. Just by the video, you posted here and the speeds mentioned, this could have worked against you.

Even in most developed countries, wherever highway passes through the towns, speed limits are reduced, sometimes as low as 30.

I will see its simply ignorance of the rules. We can say that there is no sign of change in speed limits which maybe a fact also but I am sure you cannot drive through populated area at highway speeds, legally. Its simply wrong to assume that we are on highway and we can continue at highway speeds. I will fault the OP here, just due to the speeds he was driving.

In a RHD country like ours, at an intersection, the vehicle coming from your right hand side has the right of way. Reverse for LHD countries.

So since the bounce scooter was coming from your right, he has the right of way and you should have slowed down/avoided. Maybe you were distracted by something that you did not notice the biker?

This!

The scooter definitely had the right of way.

We keep having discussions on who has the right of way and sadly, many assume that Indian laws don't clarify this. They do. It's just that we don't make it a point to learn and inculcate the same.

Quoting my earlier post on this thread:


Please see above. Irrespective of whether the scooter was on a main road or not, as per the law the scooter had the right of way (since the intersection was unmanned/signal free). Unless OP themselves were on the major road (which doesn't look like it).

The dashcam video will not help you here as there are multiple things at fault here (as many BHPians have already pointed out). It is better to settle out of court and compensate the scooter rider. You are lucky nothing serious happened to him. It is a tough lesson, but hopefully something that'll make you better in the future.

Needless to say, you are already better than most of the drivers out there simply because you took the injured to hospital. So hold your chin up and take this as a learning. :)

Not just the right of way, the bigger problem is the importance we give to the size of the vehicle. Instead of slamming the brakes when you noticed the scooter is not slowing, you blew the horn. Would you have done similar if it was a Truck? I doubt. Subconsciously, our brain has got programmed to watch for bigger vehicles and ignore the smaller ones, expecting them to stop.

Bigger fault with the authorities, such intersections clearly need a 4 way Stop or a Stop sign in one direction at least to prioritise one side. If the authorities don’t even install such signs, how is the general public going to even get aware of the rules?

I remember 4 decades back, we used to have many Stop signs in our township and how everyone will at least slow down and look and then proceed, more like a Yield but still people used to look both sides. Unfortunately, rather than improving, we have gone down.

The importance of slowing down while driving -


In just the last week, I have seen at least three dashcam footages in this thread where the accident could have been avoided by simply slowing down. And over the past few years, I have seen many. While a handful of people were driving at way more than the legal speed limits, some of them were driving within the limits but still couldn't avoid the crash.

To begin with, the speed limit is the maximum speed at which you can drive. However, there are many reasons why you should be driving slower than that. For instance -

- Crossing an intersection - It is true that there are no speed limit markings or warnings to slow down before most intersections in India. However, that does not mean we can continue at the same road speed. Slow down.
- Passing through a village or town on a National Highway - At these intersections, the traffic is generally haphazard with a lot of people walking, crossing roads, bikers driving with no regard to safety, etc. It is imperative that we slow down irrespective of the speed limit.
- Slow-moving traffic ahead, especially in cities. Reduce the driving speed much earlier to avoid abrupt braking. Remember, the tempo or the biker guy behind you may not have as much braking power.
- Bikers ahead who are driving too close to your lane - slow down and give some margin of error to these guys. Do not give a clearance of 2 inches and assume they will drive in a straight line.
- Kids/cyclists in residential areas or apartment communities. Kids do what they are best at - being unpredictable. Slow down when you see them.
- Rains - The most important time to slow down. Poor visibility, poor braking, risk of aquaplaning, etc.
- Private buses, Travellers (mainly in Bangalore), RTC buses of some states - Stay at least 100 feet away from these. They can do unusual things which are beyond imagination.


While most of the above points appear to be basic commonsense, we see a lot of road users every day who seem to miss many of these.

In the end, if you can avoid an accident even though you are right, you must.

At Rs 6000 you are getting off too easy.

It may happen down the line that a petition and FIR are filed against you and the insurance company for 3rd party damages. The victim may cook up a story on how the crash caused him a temporary disability that resulted in a potential loss of pay. I have seen many such cases. All the victim needs is a motivated lawyer. I would suggest keeping a copy of the medical tests and diagnosis ready if such a claim arises.

Your insurer cannot do much without a 3rd party claim. At most, they can pay for your vehicle's damages.

While the Helmet point is valid, where do you see the baby? She is carrying her hand bag if I see it correctly. She not having any helmet could be because she wasn't required to have one when traveling by car and there wasn't one available immediately. But the rider should have had it. Helmet is usually ignored by folks in rural and semi-urban India.