So last night she was driving home from the gym and went round a corner and a guy was crossing the road, not using a crossing so he was jaywalking, she almost hit the guy and obviously wasn't her fault, but as he had just left bunnings and had a bucket in his hands, took a swing at her car and hit it, didn't mark it or do any damage but that's not the point really is it. She was very upset and shaken as you'd expect. I think if she had not restrained herself she might have chase the guy down but reason took over and she went home. The guy saw her get out (to check for damage) and just ran.

I told her that she should report it. What do you think, is it worth the trouble? My only thought is that they could access the CCTV footage and maybe ID the guy but they probably have better things to do. The concern is if he took her number down and may tell a different tale, at least if she reports it then its on record.

Thoughts?

She wouldn't get in trouble for it.

From your story,

1: she didn't do anything wrong (didn't hit the guy)
2: She pulled over to check for damage (didn't leave the scene of what wasn't even an acident, only a near miss) whilst the other guy fled (which is illegal to flee a scene of an acident)
3: The guy was illegally crossing a road where he should give way to cars
4: He took a swing, its illegal to damage someone elses property. It wasn't self defense, it was him having a spat.

In my opinion he won't have a leg to stand on if he plays hard ball. And besides, it was only a near miss, nothing actually happened. Even if you did run him over, it would have been merely an acident, no charges would be laid and your CTP would cover his medical costs (or funeral)...

If something ever came of it, you'd simply be approached by your friendly local police officer and they would want to hear you side of the story, then they'll make judgements.

Your wife could have been in a bit of trouble if she had hit the bloke, and he kicked the bucket.

LoL

I can tell you that the police will do NOTHING if there is no one injured and no damage has been done.

Events such as these occur on the road all the time. See a motorist driivng at 160kph and report the rego number. Police wont charge the driver- no solid evidence unless they catch them. It's life really- humans being humans. Jaywalking is an offence but to police it is only chargable (like a lot of offences) when they have a blitz after someone gets killed. This is what's wrong with modern policing. Too much emphasis on speed and not any on other behaviours.

Had there been damage to the car then reporting is justified. Had she hit the man with her car the same goes. Advise her to let it slide and treat the event as one of life's experiences.

Trouble is that from what I understand is that pedestrians have right of way...regardless. I'm not saying your wife wasn't paying attention but drivers ALWAYS have the responsibility to drive with care. As a result sometimes a driver can get in trouble even if someone walks out infront of them...It sh*ts me because people just walk out without looking..Numerous times I have had to avoid an accident. 2+ tonne Land Landcruisers don't like stopping at the best of times and pray it isnt in the wet!

In this circumstance I don't think the Police would proceed and even if for some reason he could be identified, without witnesses it would be your wife's word against his sadly.

As for jaywalking it depends on the state. And where in the street.

It is illegal to cross any road within 20 m of an intersection with pedestrian lights or within 20m of any pedestrian crossing (including a zebra crossing, school crossing, or any other pedestrian crossing ) - Australian Road Rules Feb 2012, Part 14 Section 231(2).

I hope your wife is ok and not too shaken up

I feel for your lady pfillery, must have shook her up a bit.
The bottom line is that if you hit a pedestrian with your vehicle then you have a damned hard time proving the pedestrian is / was at fault, I have gone close on two occasions, both early in the morning on my way to work, close to my home, when the efing idiots walk on the road instead of the perfectly good footpath, I had a seriouse talk to another clown walking on the road early in the morning just on sun up, dark cloths and all, don't think I convinced him he was a farkn idiot, all he said was that his doctor told him he had to walk for exercise. I really would like the police to do a clamp down on these idiots, I've even seen a young girl pushing one of those prams with the big wheels while holding a small dog on a lead jogging down the road on the traffic side of parked cars, had she no sense that she was putting all three in danger?, the human race is doomed if too many of these clowns get their genes into the gene pool.

Too late, donn.

I digress a little but you guys should look up the books entitled 'The Darwin Awards'. There are 2 editions that I know of (maybe more) describing various ways idiots have killed themselves - most likely a website too.There are a bunch of rules in order to qualify but you will be amazed by the stupidity of man!They don't take long to read but it's quite entertaining...

One of my favourite quotes is 'The tree of life is self-pruning'...

Bunnings 99 cent buckets
Surprised it didn't break into a thousand pieces.

erm car vs pedestrian.. car driver is always at fault..
police, why bother yourselves, nothing happened.. he was probably pissed and wouldn't remember it anyhows
let sleeping dogs lie and move on..
glad no one got hurt..
im heading out to invest in 99c buckets.. they've changed

Quote:

Originally posted by h erm car vs pedestrian.. car driver is always at fault.. police, why bother yourselves, nothing happened.. he was probably pissed and wouldn't remember it anyhows let sleeping dogs lie and move on.. glad no one got hurt.. im heading out to invest in 99c buckets.. they've changed

leave it and move on.

Probably a waste of time.