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Bike accident, advise

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Akshay

Cruising
Mar 19, 2017
7
0
Hello,

A few weeks back, I rear-ended into a moving Taxi in Shibuya. Wasn't such a big deal; ended up with a bruised knee and a small dent on the trunk of the car, with no paint wear etc.

I'm not entirely sure who was at fault; I noticed him slowing down and turned behind to check for oncoming vehicles, and move past him. It was all a blur, but next thing I know, I hit him unexpectedly and down on the tarmac I go.

Considering how Taxis just swoop in across lanes and stop in a flash for a customer (this has happened multiple times before), he may just have stopped abruptly to pick someone. No idea.

Okay, so then the policeman came and god knows what he wrote down in the report. I don't speak Japanese, so I'm not sure what I agreed to. Now I get a letter in the mail saying I owe them ~ 100K Yen.

This seems ludicrous. What recourse do I have ?

(Sorry this has to be my first post here).

Akshay
 
Hope you are mended after the accident.
Who did you get the letter from? Do you have bike insurance?
 
Thanks :) It wasn't really a serious incident; had trouble walking for a week or so, but in hindsight
may be I should've went to the doctor. I got the letter from a law office. I don't have bike insurance;
does having a house insurance help ?
 
I don't speak Japanese; it wasn't clear who was at fault then (as it is now), and my bike was fine.
The taxi driver called the police, and I may have inadvertently accepted to take the entire blame.
 
You should never have signed anything without knowing what it was. The cop would have assigned blame and it sounds like he assigned it all to you.
If you have no medical issues then you have no costs. So you should have gone to the doctor at least.

You are right about taxis and usually they will get 80% of the blame if they are deemed to have swerved in to get a passenger without giving the correct amount of distance. It sounds like however the taxi driver has told them this want the case and you may have inadvertently agreed.

You can get a copy of the police report from the cop station and find out. You can also get free legal advise from the Tokyo metropolitan building in English and maybe other languages.

You should probably do that before you say or do anything further. (Except getting the police report, without that everything is just speculation)

As far as the cost goes it's BS, they have their own affiliated shops that jack up the price.

Best of luck.
 
Sorry to hear of your situation. Not sure if you're a resident of Shibuya-ku but the following is from the Shibuya ward office website.
Traffic accident advisory services
The City Public Relations Division provides counseling regarding compensatory damage issues and out-of-court settlements.

Hours: Thursdays from 1 to 4:45 p.m. (Appointments can be made by phone from 9 a.m. A counseling session is 30 minutes long.)
Public Relations Division, Chief of Complaint & Advisory Services
Phone: 3463-1290

They will give you a neutral assessment of the situation and advise you on your options. They should be able to provide translation as well.
All ward offices in Tokyo have a similar service. I used the Taito-ku version 5 years ago when I was hit by a taxi and found it very useful. Best of luck with it.
 
Akshay said:
A few weeks back, I rear-ended into a moving Taxi in Shibuya. Wasn't such a big deal; ended up with a bruised knee and a small dent on the trunk of the car, with no paint wear etc.

I'm not entirely sure who was at fault; I noticed him slowing down and turned behind to check for oncoming vehicles, and move past him. It was all a blur, but next thing I know, I hit him unexpectedly and down on the tarmac I go.
Click to expand...

I ride, but I drive, too. Sorry, but if someone runs into the back of me (be it car, or bike) they're at fault, not me. If I rear-ended someone with my car--even just a little bit--I'd be at fault. How is being on a bike different?

Akshay said:
(a) Considering how Taxis just swoop in across lanes and stop in a flash for a customer (this has happened multiple times before), (b) he may just have stopped abruptly to pick someone. No idea.
Click to expand...

(a) is irrelevant. (or maybe not--you say you know taxis do that, and then there you are, following a taxi, without keeping that in mind)

(b) you admit you have no idea.

In my experience, police accident reports do not assign fault & responsibility. That's for the respective insurance companies to hash out.

You might offer something less, but without an insurance company on your side, and no japanese...
 
Get the legal advice, best outcome maybe haggling down the cost of damages.? TBH you did damage the car.
JDD has a point about rear enders. How long do you plan being in Japan? Just asking....
 
jdd said:
I ride, but I drive, too. Sorry, but if someone runs into the back of me (be it car, or bike) they're at fault, not me. If I rear-ended someone with my car--even just a little bit--I'd be at fault. How is being on a bike different?
Click to expand...
AFAIK even if you rear-end, both parties share blame in Japan.


@OP
You may be right about taxi drivers (just yesterday, I almost got hit twice — by the same guy who apparently has a problem with cyclists).

But what counts at the end of the day is proof. Have you taken pictures of the damage to the car and to your bike? The situation here is very asymmetric, and if you don't have insurance and know no Japanese, this is going to be tough. You should definitely be honest, so if you don't know, say I don't know. Your best bet is to consider the evidence that you have: if the taxi driver wants his front bumper repainted, that's an indication he hit you from behind. If he wants his back bumper painted, then the evidence says that you ran into his car. Moreover, if you think his estimate is overinflated, negotiate with him to get another estimate.

For the future: you can get bike insurance very cheaply, e. g. Softbank offers it for a few hundred yen per month (at least if you have a cell phone contract with them). The insurance covers damage to others in case of an accident. If you ride regularly, you should get it for situations like these.

Also, in my experience, culturally Japanese are wired to want to avoid blame. I remember a guy on another bicycle who rear-ended me, and he was willing to cover 49 % of the costs, but not 50. (It was a mama chari and a new back wheel for it cost about ¥3,000, so I simply paid for all of the damage and put a deposit in my savings account for life experiences.)
 
1st. Get a copy of the report (@theBlob)
2nd. Get the free legal advice for foreigners at the Metropolitan building.(@theBlob) Workout if you agree whats in the report regarding your level of culpability. If you don't agree see if you have any grounds for contesting it.
3rd. Traffic Accident Advisory services(@Otenko)

And try not to waste emotional energy speculating and worrying about the outcomes. Easier said than done. After 1,2, and 3 all will be clear.
 
This is not correct. In Japan if the taxi driver swerved in without proper signals then it will be assigned as his fault. I've been through this on a motorbike and that was the result. 80-20 to him.
In my case he signaled but failed to give the proper distance before changing lane.


jdd said:
I ride, but I drive, too. Sorry, but if someone runs into the back of me (be it car, or bike) they're at fault, not me. If I rear-ended someone with my car--even just a little bit--I'd be at fault. How is being on a bike different?
..
Click to expand...
 
Obviously I haven't seen the extent of the damage to the taxi but personally, I don't think 100,000 yen is an unreasonable amount to ask. A small dent most probably means a whole new bumper, which won't be cheap. Then there is labour plus loss of revenue. Don't forget that a taxi is a business and the amount of time that taxi will be out of service, being fixed will most probably be passed on to you.
I know someone who crashed into a coach (limousine bus, as they like to call them here). They billed him the (well, his insurance company) the best part of 2million yen for loss of revenue while it was being fixed.
Thank your lucky stars you aren't in the States or UK where the taxi driver would most likely try to sue you for emotional distress and whiplash .
 
theBlob said:
This is not correct. In Japan if the taxi driver swerved in without proper signals then it will be assigned as his fault. I've been through this on a motorbike and that was the result. 80-20 to him.
In my case he signaled but failed to give the proper distance before changing lane.
Click to expand...
You are of course right, but the question in this situation is what the evidentiary record is. Part of the problem is that very often if you get involved in an accident you are under shock and don't act rationally. That has happened to me. That's why whenever I have witnessed an accident, I leave my contact information, just in case.
 
I am just in the process of renewing my insurance and I guess the main message here is get insurance, the best you can afford so you can just pass the incident and the police report on to them and let them deal with it. Last year with HFC we had an incident of a rider going into to back of someone on the fast descent to Hadano, no injuries, the car driver kicked up a terrible fuss over his broken tail light, trying it on for other damage to the other side of the car which was clearly unrelated, police came, the cyclist had insurance and I heard they dealt with the whole thing. No hassle. Costs can escalate terribly in this country. Good luck @Akshay take up the free Ward Office advice asap
 
Also, if you can get someone who can speak Japanese to go with you to the police office would help a lot. When I hitted another cyclist (the blame wa 50-50, but I got most of it as he was old and faked an injury), my boss got down with me to talk with them and tried to explain to them I had just arrived and get this dealt with as fast as possible. The police officers usually sees you trying to deal with it fast as you being worried and committed to adjust your error and you can then latter negotiate a better share on the blame.

If you do not have anyone go get the legal help and go to the police even if you need to use google translator or whatever to help you but go there to show that you are worried and wants to make ammendend.

Also see your country consulate, they might have legal help services
 
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