Yesterday I was in a YouBike-Scooter accident and I'm terrified

So yesterday I was riding a YouBike in Nangang district. While attempting to cross the road in a crosswalk (no traffic or stop/walk light) a scooter approaching at fast speed swerved to avoid me, overcorrected, and went down. Mirror broke off his scooter, his pants leg is ripped, and his leg is injured enough that the ambulance took him to the hospital. The scooter made no contact with my bicycle, I was uninjured.

I went to Nangang Police Station and the foreign affairs officer translated my story with to the traffic officer filling out the report. Then she told me to sign the report, which I refused to do since it was in Chinese. A bilingual friend is going with me to the police station tomorrow to verify what is written in the report before I sign.

I guess I’m asking what I should expect going forward… not sure if I’ll be sued, if I’ll be fined, if I’m facing jailtime, or what’s going to happen.

Edit: I was riding the bicycle in the crosswalk which I realize may be a moving violation so I’m expecting to get fined for that.

EDIT:

Article 74

In the event of any of the followings, the driver of a slow-moving vehicle shall be fined from NT$300 to NT$600:

5. Riding on sidewalks or fast-moving vehicle lanes.

1. You can’t ride your bike on the side walk.

Wait, what? Your heard right, it is technically illegal to ride your bicycle on a sidewalk or pedestrian crosswalk if there aren’t markings for a bike lane. This offense can carry a fine of 300NT- 600NT. While I won’t condone breaking this law, I will assert the honest observation that biking on the sidewalk is very common in Taiwan, and I have never seen anyone punished for doing so. If your worried about breaking this law, walking alongside your bike when on a sidewalk or pedestrian crosswalk is a simple solution.

https://www.taipeibiketours.com/post/2017/06/06/8-laws-every-cyclist-in-taiwan-should-know

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Fully expecting to have to pay that fine which isn’t a huge deal. I’m much more worried that the guy is going to sue me for his injured lag and damaged scooter, or that I’m looking at jailtime for causing an accident resulting in injury because I violated a traffic law. I’m having panic attacks on an hourly basis imagining all of the worst case scenarios.

I think the scooter driver will be deemed more at fault than you, but it depends on the details. Based on how much % you are at fault, you will have to cover that %amount of his damages (scooter repair, hospital bill).

You at fault 40%, you pay 40% of his damages.

First there will be mediation meeting to avoid court. If you do not agree with the other party on the settlement then the court will decide.

Don’t worry. No jail.

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Jail time? Hardly likely.

Sister-in-law drove scooter without license on the road (practicing shortly before getting license). Had accident and was not at fault. Paid the fine, but having no license was not considered in the settlement which the other party had to pay.

Read from here in that thread

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so you were crossing the road at a place with no actual crossing? was there a crossing nearby? was this a place where its normal to cross the road without a crossing? if so why would you be in the wrong?

Cycling across a road in front of traffic leading to an accident would generally result in one being considered in the wrong!

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The scene of the accident. I was crossing the street from the left side of the picture to the right.

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for me looks like is the scooter fault , since there is a zebra crossing with the blue sign of Pedestrians and bicycles only , also a Special flashing yellow light which means the scooter / cars need to slow down

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Hi Matthew,

Hope you’re doing OK. Know that there’s support here for you :slight_smile:

I used to live in Nangang and am somewhat familiar with this intersection. All along Songhe St you get a range of traffic using it as a ‘back street speedway’ alternative to Nangang/Chongyang Rd. The police are no doubt aware of this. Additionally, since there is (as @chydals mentions) a special flashing yellow light - the fact that the motorcylist came off at high speed will not sit well with authorities.

One thing that might be of interest is that, somewhat unusually for Taipei, the section of the footpath on the right side of the image is a shared-use path: bikes are allowed to cycle on it. As you know, on the left side, you’re coming directly from the riverside bikeway. So, you’re moving from one bike path to another across a regular roadway. Do that 1cm to the side of the zebra stripes and you’re following the road rules. Is it possible that you swerved onto the crossing in an attempt to avoid the speeding bike . . .

You’ve made a good move seeking out a Chinese-fluent friend to check the report - that is an important input into whatever comes next. Do make sure it’s accurate :slight_smile:

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fifieldt, thank you for your reply. I told the police that I was in the crosswalk, because, to the best of my memory that is the honest truth. I’m not sure if that f***s me or not here.

Thankfully the friend-of-a-friend going with me tomorrow is a Taiwanese police officer.

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Sounds like a good person to go with.

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and yea it seems it was something like this. a crossing without a light, so the scooter should definitely be in the wrong here.

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I doubt you can prove the scooter was going fast, that is subjective as he will say he was within the speed limit. I thought cycle riders have to dismount at those crossings? Anyway you won’t go to jail.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience. You’ll need to pay more attention when out. Traffic in Taiwan, I heard, isn’t the best on the planet.

Cycling on a zebra crossing is illegal, in the same way riding a motorcycle on a zebra crossing is illegal, although it seems few riders of either know or care about the fact. Pedestrians on zebra crossings have right of way, cyclists do not.

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If you zoom in on the blue sign, it has a cyclist at the bottom and a frail old man and his grandchild at the top. If it’s illegal to cross, what’s the point of the sign?

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ok fair enough. i never knew that. i would assume its because its a hassle to other people walking. if theres nobody walking it shouldn’t be a big deal. so i would still put a speeding, dangerous scooter rider who doesn’t make observations as zebra crossings clearly in the wrong, but thats just me.

That’s a shared sidewalk sign, indicating pedestrians have priority, it’s not connected to the zebra crossing.

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