2010-04-06 - Rider Down

ok, today a van driver completely wiped me out and all observers have given testimony that the accident was entirely his fault, I am covered in road rash and the shifters on my race bike are screwed, but the cunt drove off before checking i was alright and no reg plate was noted down, so any advice on getting over the road rash and getting back on the bike?

CCTV? Quicksticks too before it gets wiped?

no CCTV in the area, it happened on an A road just between two towns

Shit, glad you're in one piece. Have a bath, put some savlon on the road rash and have a beer.

There's not much you can do if the plate wasn't seen and no CCTV.

The same thing happened to my dad with my then 3-year-old sister in the childseat. Van nearly went over the seat but didn't and drove off without even checking to see if every-one was ok. Some people...

Hopefully there's such thing as karma.

I have taken care of the recovery Guinness, and have sprayed lots of savlon onto the wounds, 'I shall have that bath to try and get myself a bit calmer, I'm just so annoyed that I have to pay for all my replacement parts, and 105 shifters aren't cheap,

Any insurance? Did you get any witness details or catch a glimpse of the van logo?

only anti-theft insurance, no breakages one and no-one saw the logo but we know what the van looked like, (colour, colour of logos etc)

You could head down and try and ID the van around the same time but from my experience of hunting down drivers your chances are slim (unless you live in a tin pot country town in remote Australia).
Hope you recover well and the bike is repairable.

the plan is to try some ID'ing and yes apart from the pound being so weak in japan and resulting in really expensive shimano stuff, the bike is repairable, ahh well i suppose i'll just have ride my fixed gear until its all sorted

Sorry to hear about your accident.

You may be able to get some compensation for your injuries from the Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB). This is a fund that all insurance premiums contribute towards, which covers people who are in accidents where the driver is untraced or uninsured. They do not generally cover the first £300 of damage to property.

You will need to report the accident to the police ASAP if you haven't already.

Let me know if you need any more details but their website is here:

http://www.mib.org.uk/Customer+Services/en/Accidents+in+the+UK/Untraced+Drivers+Agreement/Untraced+Driver+FAQs.htm

isn't this a hit and run? surely the police would be interested in that it involves dangerous driving causing injury? glad you're alive and okay though!

wish you a speedy recovery and easy fix of your bike. hope you catch the buggggers

yes report it to the police.

and cyclists touring club. they are keeping a log of smidsy incidents (sorry mate i didnt see you).

cctv in the next town ?

oh and get well soon.

What a tosser. Get back on the bike asap. You never know he may have been on a regular run and you may see the van again. The problem though is no one clocked the details... the police won't be able to help.

sorry to hear this dude
some people are cunts

reported to the police on the day, i have friends in the force that will be keepin their eyes out for the cunt but as you guys say at least i'm alive and well-ish, cheers for the kind words

Report it to the police then get in touch with The Motor Insurers Bureau - they're a gvt body set up to make claims against uninsured drivers and the kind of twats that don't stop, even when they can see a peddler going arse over tit in their mirrors.

Right we've found the company who's van it was. what now? report the company? speak to the company directly? or talk to the police guys i know and get them to check some things out?

Report to the police. If it were something minor that perhaps they may not have noticed I would contact the company first but if you were completely wiped out and have signs of injury and they driver failed to stop at a scene of an accident then that is a matter that should be handed to the police. If they then decide to do nothing pursue an indpendant claim against the insurers of the company.

I know quite a few policeman through my line of work, one is a great guy and is sorting all this out for me (on his week off) we've decided that the best way to sort it is for him to kindly "suggest" to the company that it would be wise for them to level out with me financially to fix my bike rather than have them publicly reported, so i'll update if anything happens

You deal with police regularly working in a bike shop?

yep, you'd be surprised how many policeman are avid ( and "proper") cyclists, the one i'm dealing with rides a cube attempt road bike, a pearson touche ss and is trying out a 6.9 madone Di2

Yeah I know there's been a few coppers on Willesden clubruns. One guy had a nice custom Roberts.

It's worth noting that a lot of companies running vans have trackers installed in them these days for insurance purposes. If they do, the driver concerned will be nailed with sattelite precision. That's if kharma hasn't already made his vehicle spontaneously flip over and violently burst into flames... ;)

Hope you feel better soon mate.