This morning's commute and other commuting stories

I've only ever used 'the people's poncho' brand. but its served me well for many years

Cyclists now texting while riding
Just fucking fuck off yeah?
Nearly taken out twice this week and it’s only Tuesday
Sheesh

this + cyclists riding in the middle of the bike path with massive fucking headphones on.

Hi all

Some advice/reassurance needed!

I was cycling home tonight and came to a crossroads about half a mile from home, lucky, as the heavens had opened. Although rare for me, I was on the inside of the carriage as was turning left at the T-junction - I usually go straight. Foot unclipped as its pretty busy, and roadworks + the rain. Then BANG, passenger decides to open rear door and try to exit the car she is in, luckily I stay upright but my Garmin is ejected and now toast, glasses and Garmin mount damaged and tyre also flat. Leg has quite a few cuts on it and is bruised, but shouldn't keep me off the bike. One bit of good news.

Main beef though is that the driver just drove off. I keep trying to tell myself that maybe they didn't hear/see, but the passenger had to sit back down in the car whilst I moved my bike, before she could get out. SO I am not sure what to make of it. The passenger did pass me my glasses which were on the floor and just said 'sorry, i didn't see you', then walked in to Tesco. By this point the car was gone, driven off into the distance over the junction and into the sunset. But I managed to get the reg. I have filed a police report, but I wont hold my breath.

Main question is, can I get the insurance details of the owner to try and make a claim? It's going to be a few hundred quid for a new Garmin, mount, tyre and glasses, money I am not keen to spend at the moment.

The human race can be very frustrating!

Definitely report it
Counts as a hit and run possibly?
Others with more legal skills can advise also
And yes, people in cars can be well shit

Driver shoulders responsibility, report it.

You'll have to request owner details from DVLA.
Might be quicker to use the askmid site. Looks like you can do a search for £10 to obtain insurer details:
https://www.askmid.com/

@crossedthread this is what I wondered, its a bit vague but I did think surely they should stop!

I have submitted it on the Surrey Police website.

@Pifko thats useful, its probably well worth the £10.

now that the Dutch reach is part of the highway code, I wonder would that make a difference to the police taking note of the report?

Riding home through leeds centre and theres a police car behind me. A few people, well everyobe else really went through red after red right in front of him, going past him. I asked him why he let them and he just said "we have no power over cyclists". Hes just one copper not 2, probs on his way home and seemed safe but it did make me laugh and in a way reconsider why the fuck I stop every 15 seconds every flipping day fs! God I feel like such a narc loool

Get a solicitor—they'll handle raising the claim, against MIB if necessary.

Any CCTV from Tesco to help with the claim ?

I am heading down there today at lunch to see if I can spot any cameras, then I may enquire. Its a Surrey high street though, not like your London type so I am not expecting the sort of coverage you might see in The Capture or anything like that!

It's essential that you have CCTV or a witness as proof, otherwise its your word against theirs. Just to manage your expectations/effort - there's no point you making any effort on this otherwise.

But yes as mentioned above dooring is 100% the drivers responsibility and should be a damages claim, but you need independent proof.

I got doored and got compensation for my injury from MIB with no driver details and no witnesses.

i'm going to contact one of the school's on my commute route about 'dooring' - had a couple of near misses since term started.
i'm not sure exactly what to write though without coming across as a knob.

Do kids cycle to school? I hope so...anyway, maybe mention the danger to kids and others and the Dutch reach in the new highway code, I know what you mean though about not wanting to be overly accusatory etc

How?

That would be an ecumenical matter.

Really though, my solicitor handled it on a no win no fee basis, in my case Levenes—I did have medical evidence where the car door speared my shoulder. Hit and run is a thing, so there are not always independent witnesses—the solicitor will decide if they think there's enough chance of making a case, a settlement with an insurer, & therefore a profit.

I didn't know you could even do this, nice.

I got doored by a passenger who decided to get out of minicab at London Bridge a few years ago. Not a stop or parking space, no signalling and car was in outside lane of 2 as I filtered up the inside as cars stationary at traffic light. I didn't break any bones but had a sprained wrist and buckled my front wheel beyond repair. I did explain to the driver of the cab he was responsible as he should not have just let his passengers get out in the middle of the road, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

Driver did stop and we exchanged details, about a month later I got a call to say he actually wasn't insured and there's nothing they can do.

I reported it to TFL as I thought it a bit shit that its even possible for them to grant a minicab licence for a driver who has no insurance, and driver actually had a passenger at the time, right by London Bridge, where there's a fuck ton of CCTV. And this way the day before the terror attack on London Bridge where the dude with narwol tusk took on the terrorist. So the CCTV around there must have been examined in the most forensic detail imaginable for about 24 hours before and after the incident. TFL did not even reply until I chased it up a month or so later, and then said they were not going to take any action or do anything. Absolutely fucking useless by TFL I thought, so fuck them.

a bit damp this morning, a bit warm this evening. Nice bike in front of me approaching Tooting Bec this evening; looked very on here.

Oh and not sure these large vans should be on a narrow two way cyclepath out east on CS3

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Yes, but a jury wouldn’t. This is why we need retesting every ten years for driving licenses.

Those van style bikes are specifically designed to fit in a standard cycle lane. I don't think they're much of an issue in themselves but they seem to be almost exclusively ridden by the most useless fuckers on the road.

My theory is that the companies can offload their shittiest drivers onto those while they are banned.

Couple of weeks ago I was behind a Fedex one who was doing 35km/h without much pedalling.

Those Icenis are decent bits of kit! I wouldn't want to do 35km/h on one though.