Accident at the airport ... arghh

Well this sucks. I was parked in the departures with my DS front and rear doors open grabbing my bag from the back. A lady pulling out of departures didn't pull out far enough and basically ran through my rear and front door on the driver side bending them outward. My son and I were between the door and car so she was inches from us. She eventually stopped, but had bent our doors outward such that they were stuck. She had to reverse to relieve the pressure.

She didn't hit us so that's a win. You can see the bent body panels as I try to close the door. It now takes a decent amount of force to close each door. I had to catch a flight but my son quickly confirmed there is plenty of air flow coming into the cab.

... always something ... hopefully it's body panels and hinges and nothing more serious.



... yeah that's a jeep in the reflection ... f'ing jeeps

 

You and your son weren’t hurt, that’s a positive. Everything can be fixed

 

did you get a police report and exchange information?

 

Yes on the information. No police report (had to catch my flight) but the security guy on the curb watched it and I have his info. Filing with her insurance this afternoon.

 

Just a heads up, and I don't know if this would apply or if the rules would change when the roadway is on airport property (vs a "roadway") but in Washington state there is a code that would not be in your favor. Here, this usually is when a car is parallel parked next to a steady lane of flowing traffic, so an airport load zone/drive might be considered totally different.

RCW 43.61.620 - Opening and closing vehicle doors.
No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side adjacent to moving traffic unless and until it is reasonably safe to do so, and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic, nor shall any person leave a door open on the side of a vehicle adjacent to moving traffic for a period of time longer than necessary to load or unload passengers.​

I hope this isn't the case for you. If it were here, the other driver's insurance would give some grief or try to share the fault. Texas may have a similar code, "Sec. 545.418".

 

Fender and door(s) look done for. Not sure about what they mount to.

hopefully you can get JD inner fenders out of this.

I’ll make sure next time I’m at the airport to let everyone in the pick up and drop off zones to kindly enter/exit/load through their windows only.

they hit a parked truck in a low speed pick up drop off zone.

in a JGC with chrome bug visor that brings mental condition into question.

 

Maybe he got a really good deal on the chrome one.

 

It’s borderline ridiculous for you to have posted this. Your Washington code doesn’t apply in Texas. It wouldn’t have applied to a departures area at a Washington airport. The Texas code you posted doesn’t apply. Departures area is designed for multiple lanes of traffic to stop and disembark including doors opening and closing. The lady who bent the doors was not even driving by in the flow of traffic, she too was parked and then departed.

Bottom line you’re potentially introducing unneeded stress to the OP.

 

Lol come on man.

idk the code but it seems pretty clear to me that this is a code for people opening their doors into standard roadways by their use of "passengers" without any acknowledgment of luggage etc, not in a widely known and public loading zone. I think a judge would laugh this defense out of his courtroom. It would stand to reason that the OP opened his door when it was safe to do so without hindering traffic.

never mind the OP stated he and his son were in between the doors in question and the car, meaning they were still unloading from those doors. and further reinforcing that they had time to open their doors safely without impeding traffic.

never mind OP isn't in Washington

 

My apologies, I wasn't trying to cause undue stress! I just wanted to give the OP a heads up, since someone asked about getting a police report or witness and making sure it's documented - my experience is insurance will try to find any way reasonable or unreasonable to deflect blame. (The Texas code I noted is worded almost the exact same as ours here.)

This was not a hypothetical as I've seen it before, hence I was sharing the concern. Again, no intent to be ridiculous or appear troll like!

 

All good - no extra stress added. Insurances are now doing their thing. I’ll post back when I get an update. Hopefully later this week.

 

yeah it came with the lobotomy

 

UGH, tell me this fool wasn't on the phone. How oblivious..but thank goodness you and your son weren't injured, despite I'm sure a near heart attack!

 

Update -- I am happy to report that there is no question on liability. The other driver's insurance (State Farm) has taken responsibility so the fixes and rental will be covered. Thumbs up to State Farm. Each time i've called I've been talking to someone within a few minutes. They've been very helpful. There website for the claim is solid with good info. I have an appointment with a nearby shop to provide an estimate on Wednesday afternoon.

 

That is great news!