Distracted Rav4 nearly flips over / Hit and run

[GTA Driver]

 

[old4570]

Credit to the SUV driver for not panicking

 

[tk000]

And for once the BMW wasn't at fault

 

[Nigel]

Stupid place to park, especially with an all black car in the dark.
Also a lack of parking lights on the parked vehicle didn't help, and would probably put the legal blame on the owner of the parked car if it was in the UK.

 

[DaveS]

For the first it was a lit residential road, what on earth was the blue SUV driver looking at, wasn't the road!

 

[Gibson99]

Stupid place to park, especially with an all black car in the dark.
Also a lack of parking lights on the parked vehicle didn't help, and would probably put the legal blame on the owner of the parked car if it was in the UK.

don't cars in the UK have reflectors? they're required on the sides and rear (but strangely, not the front) of all cars sold in the US, and it's been that way at least 40-50 years.

nobody in the US intentionally leaves lights on while parked - it's not required, and would often end with a dead battery anyway.

 

[Nigel]

don't cars in the UK have reflectors? they're required on the sides and rear (but strangely, not the front) of all cars sold in the US, and it's been that way at least 40-50 years.

nobody in the US intentionally leaves lights on while parked - it's not required, and would often end with a dead battery anyway.

Yes, we have reflectors on the rear, not sure if they are required to be visible on the sides but the rear ones normally wrap around so are visible from the side and side indicators are normally reflective. Reflectors are not needed on the front because the law says that at night we must park facing the same direction as the traffic on that side of the road and thus our rear reflectors will be visible to approaching cars.

The law also says that we must leave parking lights on at night if the speed limit is above 30mph.
Some cars here only light the parking lights on the side of the car sticking out into the road, so that the battery doesn't go flat, that also requires that you park facing the correct direction.

 

[Gibson99]

since we don't usually have side markers/indicators on the fender/wing, the law requires an orange reflector somewhere on the front corner of the car, facing the side. also requires a red reflector on the side near the rear of the car, and 2 more red reflectors facing rear. most times these are integrated into existing light housings to have a cleaner design, but not always.

law here also states you must park in the same direction traffic is flowing. most (but somehow, not all) states also require a front license plate, and that's reflective, so it's better than nothing.

i learned about separate left and right parking lights after seeing separate fuses and relays on (i think) an older Jag, and asking about it.

IMHO, with today's bright headlights and bright retro-reflectors (their proper name), i don't see the need for actual illumination on a parked vehicle. just need to get drivers to focus on DRIVING instead of their phones or whatever.

 

[DT MI]

...nobody in the US intentionally leaves lights on while parked - it's not required, and would often end with a dead battery anyway.

There are some communities where it is required, or at least it used to be. Years ago I to lived in Kenosha, WI and the first night I left my car parked on the street it was ticketed for that reason. It was after that I noticed that every car on the street had a small light hanging from the RVM. Learned my lesson - and the court was lenient and waived the fine because I had just moved there.