What to do in the case of an accident (discussion)

ooosh, look after yerself

ooosh, look after yerself
Heh, I try... London is dangerous though.

Any good rides coming up? Saw the Randonee but don't think I'd be able to meet you guys as you'd start from a different spot.

Just spent 9 hours in hospital being prodded and x-rayed having been hit by a car in essex this morning. I was conscious but on the deck after the impact and know there were witnesses, and the policeman that was on the scene came to the hospital to tell me the driver had been charged with dangerous driving (he basically deliberately cut me up on a roundabout at speed) but I don't know what this means in terms of do I still have to chase them up/push for justice, or given that I was whisked off to hospital and clearly the victim, it should speak for itself? I've got the incident no. but obv. no witness details-can I get them from the police? I've yet to give an official statement so want to go through this thread in detail and get my shit together so this stupid prick gets the sentence he deserves.

I'm a bit edgy as I've always had the impression the police want nothing to do with these sorts of things, and the policeman went from saying 'the driver hit you' to 'the driver clipped your front wheel' (I remember pounding into bodywork, and my front wheel is fine as my pelvis and shoulder took the impact), and I'm freelance doing a physical job, so if I can't work for even a couple of weeks, I be fucked.

Studpidly been meaning to join CTC for ages and put it off. Will be joining tomorrow.

I had a crash at the Weekend on my old dawes, I wanted to get back on the road as soon as possible so have allowed the drivers father to buy me a replacement bike. Am i likely to have invalidated any claim by doing so?

Also i was filtering through traffic down the left hand side, when the vehicle coming in the opposite direction took a right turn into a minor road and collided with me. Is this going to be classed as my fault, her fault or a proportion of the blame going each way?

hi kompute

it will very much depend on the exact circumstances, but what you have described will often mean a 50/50 split on liability.

see this thread on the topic for more information:

http://www.lfgss.com/thread58935.html

Just spent 9 hours in hospital being prodded and x-rayed having been hit by a car in essex this morning. I was conscious but on the deck after the impact and know there were witnesses, and the policeman that was on the scene came to the hospital to tell me the driver had been charged with dangerous driving (he basically deliberately cut me up on a roundabout at speed) but I don't know what this means in terms of do I still have to chase them up/push for justice, or given that I was whisked off to hospital and clearly the victim, it should speak for itself? I've got the incident no. but obv. no witness details-can I get them from the police? I've yet to give an official statement so want to go through this thread in detail and get my shit together so this stupid prick gets the sentence he deserves.

I'm a bit edgy as I've always had the impression the police want nothing to do with these sorts of things, and the policeman went from saying 'the driver hit you' to 'the driver clipped your front wheel' (I remember pounding into bodywork, and my front wheel is fine as my pelvis and shoulder took the impact), and I'm freelance doing a physical job, so if I can't work for even a couple of weeks, I be fucked.

Studpidly been meaning to join CTC for ages and put it off. Will be joining tomorrow.

Read the thread and you will have your answers.

I had a crash at the Weekend on my old dawes, I wanted to get back on the road as soon as possible so have allowed the drivers father to buy me a replacement bike. Am i likely to have invalidated any claim by doing so?

Also i was filtering through traffic down the left hand side, when the vehicle coming in the opposite direction took a right turn into a minor road and collided with me. Is this going to be classed as my fault, her fault or a proportion of the blame going each way?

Probably partial blame on each party. I suspect that it depends how fast you were coming out from undertaking the car. I don't think anyone broke any laws in this case as the law is defined in the highway code as "MUST". It does say "stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left", but also "only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right, and there is room to do so".

If you accepted any money for injury or loss of time then this will have invalidated any claim. Accepting a replacement bike may be "acceptance of liability" from the driver or "acceptance of settlement" from you, or both. You're best off contacting some specialist solicitors because this is quite a complex case. What kind of injuries do you have?

Edit: By the way, if you're each 50% liable then the driver is 50% liable for your injuries and bike damage, and you're 50% liable for the driver's car damage (presumably no injury). With "50%" meaning 50% of what you would pay if it was entirely your fault.

Just an update on my incident, Drivers dad offered me 1k to settle out of court. Took it. I was back on my bike 3 days later doing my 17 mile commute and have had no injuries other than bruising. Pretty damn happy.

Good decision... Hope you get another sweet bike with the money :)

just got the letter from my lawyer at russell jones and walker, settled 80/20 split in my favour, got to wait anywhere from 2-8wks for the cheque/money to hit my account, for an accident that happened back in august 2009. 3.5k payout.
new ti frame will be ordered as soon as the money is in my grasp.

Good stuff, Corny!

Good decision... Hope you get another sweet bike with the money :)

Yep Pinarello in the post. Remainder may end up in the pockets of Rapha.

Got knocked off my bike last summer, a woman overtook, pulled in front of me then stopped dead for no reason. I went into the back of her. She hung around for a few minutes then drove off and parked up. Witnesses said that she was driving dangerously so I self-reported it the following day.

6 months later, the police got in touch saying they were going to prosecute, so I was in the witness stand last week.

She was done for driving without due care and attention, £150 fine, £15 victim surcharge, £50 costs, 4 penalty points.

I followed advice from LCC membership and contacted Levenes who are progressing a Civil case for me. Hopefully that should roll into action now.

Good to hear that, Julia. It's amazing sometimes which prosecutions happen and which ones don't.

On thing that might be worth adding to the OP is something about lights/visibility. In my crash (and also a few others on here) the driver said I didn't have any lights on, and by the time the police had turned up I'd turned them off. In fact it was only because a witness had retrieved one from the road for me that cops agreed I had them.

So in shot my advice is to make it know to cops and witnesses that you had lights on, even in twilight. Pointing out any other high vis stuff can't hurt if you wear it.

Some very good information on this thread.

Hi all, long time lurker and rare poster here begging for advice.

Last Sunday I was involved in a road traffic accident, the details of which are below.

I was cycling to work on Sunday 14th August and at approximately 11:35am was hit but what I think was a taxi on the Northern side of Westminster bridge. For those of you who don't know the junction, there are two lanes of traffic that turn left alongside the Houses of Parliament, and a bus lane that runs parallel to these lanes in between them and two lanes of traffic flowing in the opposite direction (a bus lane essentially sandwiched between a dual carriage way). As I entered the bus lane having come off the bridge I began braking towards a red light at the junction (the bus lane allows traffic to turn right onto Whitehall), so was travelling at a relatively slow pace in what was an empty lane (no traffic between myself and the lights) and was position on the left hand side of the bus lane perhaps two feet from the unbroken line marking the lane. From what I recall what I think was a taxi pulled out sharply from the adjacent lane of waiting traffic on my left into the bus lane, and hit me (I assume he didn't look, or that when he did I was in his blind spot). I was knocked unconscious immediately, but was informed by the police that the driver stayed with me until they and an ambulance crew arrived. I have a hazy recollection of being loaded into an ambulance, but only really recall waking up in St. Thomas' hospital with a neck brace on. I am OK but fairly bruised and cut, and required a small amount of plastic surgery on my ear the following day (reconstructive, I ain't that vain). My bike is more or less written off (completely buckled front wheel and bent hub, bent forks and cracked down tube).

Having called the police this morning, I was told that I have been issued a crime number and a case officer who will send me a letter regarding the incident in a couple of days.

My main concerns are these:

1. I have no idea whether or not I have witnesses (having been unconscious)

2. I assume the police have the driver's insurance details, but besides this know nothing about him/her, their vehicle, etc.

Any comments or suggestions as to action I should take? I have taken photographs of my injuries and damage to the bike, and have fairly comprehensive documentation of my hospitalisation, but not much more. I'm a little bit concerned that I may not have enough to go on in order to receive compensation for the damage done to my bike/my face.

Is it advisable to get in touch with a solicitor sooner rather than later? And should I set about trying to retrieve CCTV footage?

Thanks in advance guys!

Get legal advice first--a solicitor will be able to tell you if you need them to handle it. I suspect they will say yes, but I'm not a lawyer (and so are few other people on here, although there are some). There are some recommended solicitors on here, like ojeffcott. The LCC uses Levenes, the CTC Russell, Jones & Walker. Take your pick and good luck with the proceedings.

When I was knocked off last year, it was all thankfully settled as amicably it can be with the driver buying a new bike. I think he was just glad he hadn't done more damage...

Just been knocked off my bike. I was about to turn right off Westbourne Park Road into Great West Road and a car exiting Great West Road turning right onto WPR just drove straight into the side of me. Fortunately he was going slowly. Will check the frame out in the morning but seems like I got away with this one. Just a bit shaken up. Got his contacts and reg number in case there is damage to the bike and I need to make a claim - will report it to the police in the morning.

Just checked the bike and it generally seems to have come out of this unscathed - a missing bar end seems to be the extent of damages. I, however, am very sore and can see some bruising on my right shoulder and right leg. I will visit the GP this afternoon but does anybody know how quickly I need to report this to the police if I have sustained more than a superficial injuries - can it wait till tomorrow or after I have seen a doctor?

Got doored in covent garden after the restraps/boikzmoind event on Friday night. Was cycling at a reasonable speed, parked cars to the left of me and slow moving traffic on the right (i was on the left hand side of the lane, not the primary position). Door opened suddenly from one of the cars in the line of traffic that had slowed to a halt, no more than a foot in front of me, it may have even opened into me as I passed it, I certainly didn't have any time to stop or try and evade it. Ended up with bruised head, minor cuts to my ear, grazed knee (ripping jeans in the process) and pretty bad bruising to my thighs. My phone was in my pocket and that got slammed against something, bent the casing, cracked the glass in the camera and damaged the screen slightly. Also managed to get a pretty bad dent in the top tube, ripped my bar grips and potentially done something to the forks. Was pretty shaken up, after speaking to the guy who opened the door it turned out that he wasn't driving, he was a passenger. He also turned out to be the son of a well known club owner (i'm avoiding names at this point), so I got his business card. Gave him a ring this evening and he's only willing to pay for anything on the bike, saying it's not his responsibility where I put my phone. Tried to scare me saying that I wasn't paying attention and that he would get in touch with the council to get the cctv tapes.

Don't really know what to do cos I'm only a student and cant really see me taking him to court. Thinking about calling his bluff and contacting the council about the cctv. Any advice? I'm not sure what the deal is with him not being the driver etc not really looking for a injury compensation, just to cover my bike, jeans, phone.

if the door opened "no more than a foot in front" of you then no amount of attention would have avoided the collision, realistically, and the door opener is liable for the accident. he sounds like a slippery guy, so you should get the CCTV to preserve the evidence, as most councils scrub the CCTV after about 28 days and private CCTV footage may be much less.

If you do not get the CCTV footage, as you did not, by the sounds of it, inform the police, you have no evidence of the accident and will struggle proving it happened if he later denies it. Call the relevant borough and insist that they tell you the name of the CCTV camera that would capture the footage, and insist that they send you the footage. They usually say they cant release this but they have to under the freedom of information act.

although he was not the driver, you would probably be able to claim against the car insurance policy anyway.or the guy would be personally liable for any damaged property.

hope this helps.

bit irrelevant but dont skip lights. for one reason, i just did and got a 30£ fine for it from a unmarked police car behind me covered in spy cameras, bit annoying especially being in education with an income of 0 but spose i broke the law or whatever.

t.b. Don't let him scare you. See the first post of this thread. It's an offense to open a car door without due care so that it endangers another road user, let alone actually causing them harm and/or damage to their belongings. As Ojeffcott says, if he waited till you were 1 ft in front then it's difficult to see what you could have done about it. CCTV footage would only help your cause at this point, so definitely try to get a hold of it. He's likely calling your bluff saying he'll call in CCTV footage to prove his point so that you'll drop it. Don't. It's not acceptable behaviour.

t.b.:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069860?CID=TAT&PLA=url_mon&CRE=highwaycode_parking
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1986/1078/regulation/105/made
http://www.freeadvice.com/law-questions/is-a-driver-responsible-f-40657.htm (not uk, but i think similar applies)

I wish I'd read this thread a few years ago when I got T-boned by a red light jumper, was in too much shock to really do anything but kick the guys door in.