Hit and Run Advice

[mcleeny]

Hi, apologies if this is not the proper forum to post this type of question… During a ride today in MontCo, a car very slightly clipped me while I was doing over 30 mph down a hill on River Rd. Controlled my bike enough where I avoided crashing but would of been in the ER otherwise. A second car caught the license plate of the car (which I now have) and is a witness to what happened. Does anyone know if there is legal recourse I could take? After talking with the MontCo police department support person, it sounds like this doesn’t classify as a “hit and run” because I wasn’t hurt. I plan on going to the police station and discussing with an officer in person but am also soliciting advice. Thanks in advance.

Topic

[MCL1981]

The call takers at ECC are not police officers. They do not have the authority or the training to tell you it isn’t a hit-and-run. I think it is. But I’m checking with my friend that is on the MoCo PoPo for a real answer. I’ll let you know shortly. Do you think the person that clipped you even realizes they did it? I have a feeling if they didn’t know they hit you, the police won’t be able to charge them with running away from something they didn’t know about. It would be very hard if not impossible to prove they did know. Lots of other charges could apply though.

You are very lucky. Going down on a pavement shoulder at 30mph would be a real problem.

[MCL1981]

I was right. There is a victim (you), a suspect (plate), and a witness (other driver). The police absolutely can take the report and absolutely can go after the jerk. Hit and run may not fly if the idiot didn’t know he hit you. However, there are numerous other charges such as reckless or negligent operation. The specific circumstances and opinion of the officer will dictate if and how the person is charged, so neither I nor my friend can tell you exactly how it will go down. However, I highly recommend you follow through with it. If you don’t, they’ll just keep doing it until someone gets killed.

[Greenbelt]

Maryland has a 3 foot minimum safe passing law. Make sure the police know about that too.

[MCL1981]

@Greenbelt 16686 wrote:

Maryland has a 3 foot minimum safe passing law. Make sure the police know about that too.

This is an obvious one. The mere fact you were struck (presuming it wasn’t you that swerved into the vehicle) constitutes an obvious violation of this law.

[creadinger]

Where exactly did this happen? I ride River Road all the time. Some of those hills are long and steep and like you said, a crash would have had severe consequences. I usually ride with a helmet mirror and I check behind me right before I head down any hills to see what I should expect to pass me soon. I’m planning on doing my bread and butter ride out to Poolesville and back on Thursday so I’ll ride with a bit more awareness this time.

It’s great that another motorist was able to get the plate and be a witness.

[mcleeny]

Hi all, thanks a ton for the advice and feedback. You guys are awesome. Just got back from the Bethesda police station and they are going to get back to me by Friday. The officer did not sound very optimistic about filing formal charges. I mentioned the 3 foot rule and he seemed to gloss over that. Overall, he was very nice, took all my info down, witness info, and tags and said he’ll get back to me. Told him ideally would like to have the driver cited for road violations (negligence, 3 foot rule, etc).

@creadinnger: It was the downhill before Esworthy riding towards Potomac/Beltway.

I can embellish more on details if you’re interested…did not want to reply with an essay. Thanks again.

[Terpfan]

@mcleeny 16752 wrote:

Hi all, thanks a ton for the advice and feedback. You guys are awesome. Just got back from the Bethesda police station and they are going to get back to me by Friday. The officer did not sound very optimistic about filing formal charges. I mentioned the 3 foot rule and he seemed to gloss over that. Overall, he was very nice, took all my info down, witness info, and tags and said he’ll get back to me. Told him ideally would like to have the driver cited for road violations (negligence, 3 foot rule, etc).

@creadinnger: It was the downhill before Esworthy riding towards Potomac/Beltway.

I can embellish more on details if you’re interested…did not want to reply with an essay. Thanks again.

Word to the wise, take what the police say with a grain of salt. They can press charges if they wish and my personaly belief, you should insist on it and if need be, go over the officer’s head. You should also let WABA know via their form http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/451/p/salsa/web/questionnaire/public/?questionnaire_KEY=1200 . Others have counseled wisely on these forums below that if this person did this once then they’re likely to do it again and next time someone may not be as skilled with his or her bike or as fortunate as you injury-wise and having this on record helps.

[consularrider]

@mcleeny 16752 wrote:

Hi all, thanks a ton for the advice and feedback. You guys are awesome. Just got back from the Bethesda police station and they are going to get back to me by Friday. The officer did not sound very optimistic about filing formal charges. I mentioned the 3 foot rule and he seemed to gloss over that. Overall, he was very nice, took all my info down, witness info, and tags and said he’ll get back to me. Told him ideally would like to have the driver cited for road violations (negligence, 3 foot rule, etc).

@creadinnger: It was the downhill before Esworthy riding towards Potomac/Beltway.

I can embellish more on details if you’re interested…did not want to reply with an essay. Thanks again.

Suggest you not get into it in any greater detail at this point. There is always a concern about saying too much on an open forum which may end up in court that could come back on you later in a negative manner.

[pfunkallstar]

Make sure that you were ENTIRELY in the clear before pursuing this further, otherwise go ahead and file a report.

[Author]

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