Just because you’re a pedestrian, that does NOT mean that you don’t need to follow the LAWS here!!! From the Front Page Sections, translated…
The Runner & Driver Accused One Another, He’d Claimed: The Pavements of the Sidewalks Were Uneven, the Pets Were Walking, He Can Only Run on the Streets, He’d Rebutted: Running on the Streets, More Responsibilities in Causing the Accident…Both Were Guilty.
Those who are used to running on the roads need to be more careful now! Hsu went out running on the streets one evening in early May, was hit from behind by a motorist, Kuo, both fell down and were injured, the courts believed that Hsu “had broken the laws”, and charged him with physical injuries, gave him forty days in jail, Kuo was sentenced to two months in prison, both men can pay the fines, but because they’d reached a settlement outside of court, they both received two years’ probation.
The jogger, Hsu insisted on his own innocence, claimed, that he didn’t decide to run on the roads, but it was because of how uneven the pavement of the sidewalks was, there were other pedestrians, pets, runners are normally used to running by the side of the roads, that Kuo the motorist, should drive on another lane, but instead, had gone to the shoulders, and ran into him, that he should be taking full responsibilities. Kuo accused Hsu of running on the roads, that he was more responsible.
The Tainan District Court believed, that based off of the safety laws, the pedestrians (including the joggers), should run on the sidewalks, and if there weren’t any sidewalks, they should run in the shoulders, instead of anywhere else, and the runners should NOT run all over the streets, or conduct themselves in any other ways that can obstruct the traffic flow, the accident happened next to a park, there were the running areas, that Hsu didn’t need to run on the roads where there are oncoming traffic.
The car accident forensics also showed that Kuo was the primary cause of the accident, Hus being the secondary, so both men were at fault.
The verdict pointed out, that on the evening of a day of the start of May, Hsu started running on the shoulders, on the motorcycle lanes, between the sidewalk, on the shoulders, was hit from behind by Kuo, the both fell and were both injured, and they’d accused one another of negligence, the first trial gave Hsu forty days in prison, and Kuo two months, both men can pay a fine and not served the time, later they’d reached a settlement, the second trials maintained the rulings of the first, but both were on probation for two years.
And so, in this case, BOTH were at fault! The jogger should NOT have been running on the streets, there are, sidewalks that he can run on, and the motorist should’ve watched where he was heading, so, both men were found guilty, of breaking the traffic laws here.