Accident Advice

On Wednesday afternoon I was cycling up the inside (left) of a line of stationary traffic on Balham High Road, when I "t-boned" a car that was allowed (flashed) through a gap, and drove out in front of me with less than a car lenght's warning. I wasn't going very fast, but still managed to do a nice somersault over the front of the car. I landed very heavily on my shoulder, banged my head and then slid along for a bit.

The police were called, took my statement and the drivers' and took me to A&E. Nothing is broken, but I have muscular damage to my right shoulder. The prognosis is that I will need 2-6 weeks to heal fully. After 3 days, my shoulder is getting much more mobile, but I still get some twinges and am on Ibuprofen/Codeine.

I have read Roxy's excellent post http://www.londonfgss.com/showthread.php?t=4213&highlight=accident and have most of the information. Unfortunately, I did not get the driver's insurance details, and the police didn't seem to take them either.

I am drafting a letter to the driver, asking for further info, and to outline how I would like to proceed. Can I ask for some advice/personal experience please.

1. Personal injury
   I called a solicitor who was recommended by the LCC. The first question was if I had been injured and if I was going to make a personal injury claim. This seems to be everybody's first question.
   
   

As far as I can tell, my injury is pretty minor. The pain is not constant, and I think I should be on my bike by the end of next week. This said, it is early days, and it may prove to be a little more long-term and I may need physio. I am employed full-time, so won't lose income for the 2 days I took off last week. My thoughts are to see how things go, and only get serious if things go bad. Any opinions?

1. Damaged clothes and equipment:
   I have a 3 week old Surly Steamroller, which stood up very well. The forks show no sign of damage, and the wheel (DT Swiss 1.2 32 hole laced to Phil Hub) is undamaged. The only signs of damage are paint compression on the top tube where the handlebar clipped it and on the down tube where the front brake made an impression. My lovely Brooks Swift has a minor battle scar. The worst of are my Ergon grips which took the brunt and are trashed. Otherwise, my helmet is scratched up and I have a rip in the knee of my thermal tights.
   
   

My initial thoughts are to to claim for the stuff I will need to replace i.e. helmet, grips and tights. I will take my bike to Brixton Cycles for a checkup, and claim if anything needs to be sorted. On further refection, should I claim for a respray, and replacement of the saddle. The bike would still be pristine if I hadn't gone flying. Again thoughts?

I'm not an angry litigious type of guy, and would like to get this little incident behind me with as little fuss as possible. I would however like to get myself and my bike back to the state we were in before Wednesday evening's fun and games.

I suffered similar injuries (except it only involved a large hill) to my left shoulder. I would follow the doctors' advice - don't get back on your bike yet. I got back on after a week, had to pull a tight manoeuvre, twinged my shoulder and was back off the bike again & in a lot of pain.

And by the way I'm a young and sprightly 19 year old, and you know how fast we heal.

[hijack]

Also, a similar thing has happened to me twice in the past few weeks - a car turning right, across my path, because a car heading the same direction as me flashed him to let him go. One time resulted in me hanging off a fence (the van driver apologised), but the other made me INCREDIBLY angry. I managed to swerve and avoid him, only to come under a torrent of abuse - apparently if a driver gives him right of way, then I have to somehow telepathically realise this and also give him right of way.

It's ignorance like that, behind the wheel of a car, which makes me absolutely fume. I nearly shoved my bike down his throat.

^ happened in brixton - go figure

[/hijack]

unless you feel like being charitable to the driver, and I don't see why you should, then you should really claim for the full extent of damage and personal injury.

I'm not suggesting being litigious by any means, but spare a thought for the countless poor sods who get maimed, brain damaged and killed by drivers who either do a runner or get off scott-free.

Regarding the bike:
any damaged parts should be replaced (helmet replacement is mandatory anyway) anything that might be repaired should be checked over.
get Ross or someone at BC to give the frame the complete once-over. if there is damage under the paint, not always visible at first glance, then you might end up with frame failure at a later date, when you're not expecting it, same with bars, stem, BB , seat post and cranks.

Was a personal injury lawyer for 10 years or so before I became a teacher - whisper me (can you still do that) if you'd like some advice about making a claim.

ok, I'm gonna risk sounding really dense here.... if you're riding on the inside of a lane of stationary traffic, and hit a car that's turning across you (as in this case), can the driver be held liable for your injuries / damage? Regardless of whether the driver has been waived on, don't the insurance companies and traffic police take a pretty dim view of the cyclist?

Well.... as I say, it's some years since I was dealing with personal injury claims. In UK law, negligence is determined as what can reasonably forseen by the the ordinary man. As such, each accident needs to be judged on its own merits. If for example, you were travelling down a cycle lane at 10mph past a queue of stationary cars and one turned into your path, you might argue that the driver owed you a duty of care and as such was fully responsible (he/she would need to ensure the road was clear before they completed their manouvere and should be aware of the cycle lane). On the other hand, you hacking down the inside of cars at 25mph might suggest that you shoul be mindful of the danger of cars turning ahead of you... no simple answer I'm afraid....

Well.... as I say, it's some years since I was dealing with personal injury claims. In UK law, negligence is determined as what can reasonably forseen by the the ordinary man. As such, each accident needs to be judged on its own merits. If for example, you were travelling down a cycle lane at 10mph past a queue of stationary cars and one turned into your path, you might argue that the driver owed you a duty of care and as such was fully responsible (he/she would need to ensure the road was clear before they completed their manouvere and should be aware of the cycle lane). On the other hand, you hacking down the inside of cars at 25mph might suggest that you shoul be mindful of the danger of cars turning ahead of you... no simple answer I'm afraid....

My thoughts exactly. I was probably going at around 15mph. There is no cycle lane on Balham High Road. The situation was pretty unlucky. As I said I had less than one car's length to stop. The driver was still essentially driving across a lane of traffic. The police were of the opinion that it is illegal to "flash" someone through traffic (not the drivers problem) and dangerous to accept the opportunity.

Thank you all for your advice. I will be sending a letter to the driver today.

It's a shame you didn't get the details of the driver who flashed his lights and allowed the other driver out. As far as I'm aware, that's directing the flow of traffic which is against the Highway Code, and only a police officer can do so.

I would claim for personal injury. It's not like you're claiming for something ridiculous like that is clearly your fault!

You may feel fine in a couple of days but the injury might manifest itself in the future, too. For example, both my Mum and friend were in two separate car crashes. Felt fine for months, but then both started noticing problems in the future.

And the bike: I'd do what RPM has said and it take it to Brixton Cycles, get their mechanics to sign something off on headed paper. Claim for all damage. As you said, it'd be in pristine condition if you hadn't been in the crash.

I'm not a lawyer, but common sense tells me that the driver shouldn't have flashed the other driver. That driver should have looked more carefully to check it was clear. However, the driver might say against you that you should not have filtered that quickly through the traffic (I don't know what this particular road is like, though, so it's difficult to comment).

Hope it works out for you.

It was a while ago now, bu I still recall being told by my driving instructor that waiving people over on crossings was a no no for exactly this type of reason. You can only be responsible for your car, not everyone else on the road...

I'd take them to the cleaners personally. If you were in a car and that happenend an insurance claim would be straight in so why should it be any different?

Just a warning, rotator cuff injuries can have long term implications. I really did mine a couple years ago and I'm left with a funny shoulder even after physio etc so don't back on it too quickly

Thanks mate.

It has been 6 days now. My shoulder is pretty mobile. Just twinges when I move to fast etc. I tripped yesterday evening, and put the wrong hand out. It hurt!

I sent a letter to the driver, asking for his details. Didn't get his insurance at the scene. I don't think I will do a personal injury claim (unless I have ongoing problems), but I do want to get my bike back to its original state.

I was hoping to do a slow pedal up to Brixton Cycles on Saturday to get my bike checked out...

i don't get all this sue the shit out him crap. you're in one piece, albeit a few scratches, your bike has a couple battle scars, so what. get back on your bike and ride. there are bigger issues in the world then claiming for a pair of grips. accidents are accidents. as riders we all know that we will hit a car at some time or have an accident.

also filtering through stationary traffic you should be 110% aware, ready to anticipate anything.

my 2p. get on with life.

Toughen the F**ck up!

Just for the record I meant claim if your bike was written off or whatever, not to get American on his ass and start sueing left right and centre. If it's just grips then surely that's no biggie.

As dogballs said, if you're okay then no worries, but make sure you do the physio if you need it.

Jaygee - did anything come off this? did you get any money back?

Same thing happened to me last week. I'm fine - just some bruises. But managed some to bend the down tube on my bike (old lugged 531 raleigh). So need a new frame. Drive phoned today to say she wouldn't be giving me any money as there was damage (not sure how much although I did arse plant the bonnet) to her car (a BMW) and she doesn't think she was to blame. I likewise didn't take enough details and only have her mobile number.. I'm so undecided about going further. One moment I side with the driver, the next I'm totally against her..

Any thoughts?

advice: join the lcc now. speak to their legal advice team.

I had a similar situation to JD. Had crash the other day that caused damage to my forks and minor damage to the car but otherwise I was unscathed except.

Driver and I exchanged numbers but today they suggested that given the damage to either of us was minor and insurance claims are tedious just to call it even - is there any risk of doing so?

Whose fault was the accident? If you were to blame, in whole or in part, it might be worth accepting the driver's offer. If he was at fault, the question is whether you wish to go to the effort of pursuing your claim for damages or whether you would be happier bearing the cost of repairs yourself (if minor) and letting sleeping dogs lie.

If you do decide to drop it, try ot have a record of the agreement in writing so that he cannot later change his mind.

or just get a no win no fee lawyer to help you out

If it's just my forks that need replacing am not too bothered as it's £60 quid all up. Time is money as they say so pursing it would cost more than £60 worth of my time.

Anyone knows how much it would roughly cost to fix this up :

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1237934/IMG_20110111_082239.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1237934/IMG_20110111_082250.jpg

I had a similar to jaygee's accident a few weeks ago, however in this case it was my fault as I went though red lights.

The road was very congested with stationary traffic and my view was blocked by HGV that was positioned just by the lights at the junction. As I went on the inside (left) of the lorry through the lights, that just switched from amber to red, the car managed to go through the gap in front of the HGV and I hit the left front side of the vehicle. The car kept going for another 20-30 meters and then stopped.
I smashed the mirror and bent the front left side of the car when I hit it.

Managed to escape unharmed with just a scratch on my knee, buckled front wheel and bent handlebar.

The driver was an old woman, she got out of the car and started checking the damage done to the car. I went over, admitted that it was my fault and apologised, left all contact details, took pictures of the damage done and left.
Still a bit angry she did not ask me if I was OK , but it was my fault so whatever...

She contacted me shortly after saying that we can either do it privately , or through her insurance company (she was in favour of the former for obvious reasons). I asked her to get a price estimate and get back to me.

Today I received an email from some relative asking for £400 with already applied discount of £50 because he knows someone (sounds like a bargain, right?).

I have replied asking for an official quote from the garage.
I never owned a car so I am clueless as to how much things cost but ebay says most expensive wing mirror is £80 that leaves £320 to fixup the body. Does this sound right?

Anyone been in a similar situation? Is private or insurance the best way to go?

Many thanks.

I know I will not be the only person thinking this and I don't want to come across as a prick given the situation you are in but: going up the inside of an HGV at a junction is always a bad idea.

I'll echo Will's comment, it's a very risky manoeuvre to undertake HGV and could possibly result in your untimely death.

hyperbole, go to at least 3 garage and ask them for a quote on how much this will set you back (armed with the photos), so you'll get a good idea of how much to pay.

it doesn't usually cost that much to 'undented' the body, especially when that second is usually made of plastic.

PDR (paintless dent repair) should cost from 70-120 per panel.

google someone local to the victim and email them pics.
They will usually travel to their place and do it.