How incessant honking saved me from a personal & legal nightmare

Lesson learnt though. I will henceforth always check all four sides of my car before getting in & driving off.

BHPian theflyingguy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am possibly on the wrong side of this thread by being the bad driver myself.

I had a (lucky?) escape from what could have been a nightmare. I had parked the car (rental Innova) in a by-lane facing the main road and go for dinner. Came back after an hour. I was waiting for about a min while the kids were putting on the seat belts and settling in. The car was off the whole time.

I had a delivery tempo parked ahead of me and I would have had to reverse the car to go in the opposite direction as shown in the photo (the red car was mine). As I started the car and turned on the headlight, the blue car behind me started honking and flashing incessantly. I was unsure why and thought maybe a tire had a puncture or something similar. One guy on the right side of the road saw the commotion and came running to my window. He told me a drunk guy has passed out behind my car near the wall (highlighted in green). He may have gone there to take a leak but passed out.

Had I not been warned, I would have definitely run over this guy in reverse and would have had to face a possible legal issue. I came out and profusely thanked the guy who informed me and the guy in a blue car.

I was angry (on myself as well as the drunk guy), upset and unsettled by thinking of what could have happened. I never had a habit of checking all 4 sides of the car before getting in. Does that make me a bad driver?

Lesson learnt though. I would always check all four sides before getting in for the rest of my driving life and I don't think I would ever be able to forget this.

Here's what BHPian binand had to say on the matter:

We all learn from our own and others' experiences. It is this forum that taught me to go around the car when getting into it, making sure I'm aware of what's happening on all four sides.

So in this case, assuming I'm coming along the footpath from the main road at the top of your diagram I'd walk to the rear of the car, cross to the roadside between your and the blue cars, and only then entered the driver's seat.

Here's what BHPian krishnakumar had to say on the matter:

Thank you for sharing this. Don't beat yourself down.

I tried imagining the situation if I were there in your place and I don't think I would have either. Thanks to you, I'll be a slightly better driver from today.

Related question: Would the reverse parking sensors beep if someone is lying down on the ground next to the bumper? It's important to know that. In your case, I'm assuming there were no sensors since it was a rental car and I think it would have been a base variant?

Here's what BHPian Thad E Ginathom had to say on the matter:

Thank you. Absolutely, our own mistakes and lessons learned have a place here. They can be among the most valuable posts.

I hope to learn from your example. It is something I don't always do. Even when taking the car out of the house, it is important. A couple of years ago, I went out with a flat tyre: I should have checked. Luckily I was soon stopped by a helpful biker and went very slowly straight to the tyre shop.

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