Would I be at fault if I hit a guy on a bike with my car?

If you were turning left you have to yield to all straight through traffic. An easy way to judge this is “if it had been a car, would I have had the right of way?”

Bicycles are vehicles that are to be on the roadway, not the sidewalk, and they have an equal right to take the lane if there is insufficient width to have cars pass safely without crossing the center of the road.

Be careful and watch for bicycles!

What @zenvelo says is true – but with that said, the bicyclists are supposed to follow the same rules of the road as car, motorcycles and mopeds/scooters, but many do not. One big rule they ignore is staying on the right side of the road with the flow of traffic. So ask, if the bike was a car, would it have been traveling the same direction and angle that the bicyclist came from? Then, if the answer is yes you ask which of you would have had the right of way.

But what if I was already driving straight coming to a crosswalk?

The mini crosswalk was in the middle of the street by the way.

<—- Listening to this intently.

I was heading North on a 4 lane rd., waiting southbound traffic to break so I could make a left turn. when it was safe, I made the turn and was almost all the way into the lane heading West when there was a Bam! on my left rear quarter pane. A bicyclist was on the ground.
He got up and said no worries it was his fault and left. Meanwhile I have the dent and scratches on my car. (Certainly below the deductible.) Who was responsible?.

@hearkat

I am not a bicyclist but from experience I would say its a bit safer to bike on the wrong side. Instead of getting hit from the back, you can see the cars coming from the front and avoid becoming roadkill.

The laws in MOST states @raven860 require the bicycle to act like an auto and drive with the flow of traffic. They “pinch” people that are driving against the flow of traffic. Walking however, should be facing the traffic.

Bikes are street vehicles. They are to use the streets. You need to watch out for them.

@raven860 Riding against traffic is illegal and much more dangerous. You face head on crashes from not being part of the traffic flow and you make it unpredictable for other vehicles.

@LuckyGuy It sounds like you got hit and run by a cyclist that should have given you his info.

@chelle21689 The mini crosswalk has nothing to do with a bicycle. This is really a matter of lane placement and if you were on your own side of the road. To paraphrase what I said before, if the cyclist had been a small car or a motorcycle, would you have been in the right or in the wrong?

@chelle21689: It sounds like you already made the turn and were proceeding straight and the bike swerved in front of you. Correct? It sounds to me like if that were the case, he was wrong for swerving into your lane.

In the case of @LuckyGuy, I’d be pissed, if I were him, to have a dented car that I’d now be responsible for, but on the other hand, somewhat grateful that the bike rider were not going to try to sue me and make me look like it was my fault (not that it was but it would be an issue that would involve cops, lawyers, all kinds of not-fun stuff).

@chelle21689 It’s difficult to tell what actually happened from your description. The bike did not come “out of nowhere”, and where it came from is probably what is keeping us from understanding what happened.

@zenvelo‘s question is the one that really matters. If the bike had been a car, would you or ithe bike have had the right of way? The bike is supposed to be behaving like a car. If it followed the rules that a car would, then you were in the wrong for proceeding. But if a car would be breaking the rules by doing what the bike did, then you did nothing wrong.

In general, though, it is in everyone’s best interests (drivers’ and cyclists’) to be aware of bikes on the road, so that even if they are breaking the rules, no one gets hurt. The road is no place for putting “being right” above “being safe”.

@jca yeah that’s what I’m trying to say. It’s not like I was turning as he was crossing. I was already going straight for a while until he came into my path and I immediately stopped as he swerved

@chelle21689 But were you turning in to the lane that the bike was already travelling in? And were you aware that he was even there? If you were both in the same lane, what do you think the bike should have done? Stop in the middle of traffic?

Or, were the two of you travelling perpendicular to each other? Did either of you have a stop sign or light? Could the bike possibly have stopped in time for you to turn? If he were a car, would you have expected him to stop?

Was the bike using the crosswalk to cross the street? Is there a sign that says to yield to people in the crosswalk? I am getting the impression that he was using the crosswalk, which may change things a bit.

It depends on the laws in the area and the situation. For example, a car once hit a friend of mine as she biked past a mid-block alleyway. Her skull was broken in a few places. The driver actually sued her because there’s a little-known law in the town that bicyclists must dismount and walk their bikes past all alleyways. Impossible to do in a town where each block has an alley…

If the cyclist was riding the bike, he is bound by vehicular laws. If a rider dismounts to walk the bike across a crosswalk, they are considered a pedestrian.

@raven860 – that is why pedestrians are told to walk on the opposite side of the road. But bicycles move much faster and therefore must follow the vehicular laws – as @zenvelo points out, these laws exist for the purpose of having order and predicability on the roads. Too many cyclists are erratic and that causes accidents.

@LuckyGuy The bicyclist was right, it was his fault. You were presumably in the left lane with your turn indicator on, the bicyclist should have determined it was not safe to pass on that side.

@dabbler Clearly it was his fault. There were plenty of witnesses. He was heading the wrong direction on the street and was riding fast. I was well into my turn and he hit me almost broad-side. But, he is the smaller vehicle and I thought pedestrians always had the right of way.

Isn’t it sad that my first reaction was fear that I was going to be sued by this jerk? i was happy he left without giving me his name or asking for mine.