2008-05-25 - Rider Down, & bike winged

Hi all. Not quite my first post but still new on here.

Came a cropper against WhiteVanMan this afternoon in Ruckholt Rd in Leyton on my way to work.
Was in the cycle lane, stationary queueing traffic, guy suddenly turns left into side street without indicating.
I wasn't going that quick, had no time to reach brake, tried to swerve, but he must have hit my rear wheel.
Went tumbling and don't really remember what happened.
Legs battered and bruised, a bit dazed.
Driver got out to see if I was OK and was really apologetic saying he didn't see me (yeah that happens when you don't look).
Him being nice threw me a bit, but got his first name, number at work, and address (but no company name) reg of the van and name and phone number of a witness.
I rambled a bit about the cost of new wheels - said I would let him know.
Funny thing about it was he kept asking if I was OK, but when I asked for a lift home (2miles) 'cos my wheels were f***ed, he said it was too far!

Gutted 'cos it's my first bike v car/van incident in some 25yrs+ of riding.
And I'm even more gutted 'cos I've only been riding the bike a week and I was being extra careful.
I'm hoping all the bike needs are the wheels rebuilt and the guy has given me correct details and pays up.

Take care.

bad luck. Heal up.

shitty luck.

get the bike checked over, make sure you get recompense for your injuries, time off and damage to the bike.

heal fast, get riding again

this is happening way too much! hope you get better quickly.

Thanks.
Will let you know how I get on with compensation.

Bad luck, but with a rate of one hit every twenty five years you must be doing something right.

yup. i'm going to start a "i didn't get hit today" thread and post to it every time i complete a ride without getting mowed down. not to belittle the shittiness of being one of the occasional fallen, but y'know just to remind everyone that we're generally doing okay...

sorry to hear about your stack nankatsu, hope you're back and posting to the "i didn't get hit today" thread soon.

what's 365 times 2 times 25? lke 16,000+ commutes without injury or travelcard costs?

was that really inappropriate?

sorry mate,

get well soon.

You're the fourth I know of in 3 days. No more playing in traffic for me.

Hope you get the repairs paid for and heal up quick. Could be worse, my flatmate's work mate had knee reconstruction surgery today (bike vs bus), now that doesn't sound like much fun eh...

It's my personal belief that the only way to improve the safety of riders is to show car drivers that it is not beneficial to hit them.
Currently the best way to do this is with improving how the city looks at how safe it is for cyclists.
Many Cyclists don't report incidents like this because they were ok, or they made a deal with the driver or whatever... Thus the city has no way to gauge the commonality of these occurances. You can't blame the city for not doing something against it if they don't realize it's happening.

My short point is: Report it. Even if you don't intend on following up or going to any more effort. It adds one more tick in a box of driver vs. cyclist incidents.

If you do want to follow up or you have reported it and want help I can offer my best. But lots of my best is here already:
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread4213.html#post156144

gald your ok mate, i have one crash every 25 or less hours, so one every 25 years is a good reccord

My short point is: Report it. Even if you don't intend on following up or going to any more effort. It adds one more tick in a box of driver vs. cyclist incidents.

If you do want to follow up or you have reported it and want help I can offer my best. But lots of my best is here already:
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread4213.html#post156144

+1

Hit and run seem almost inevitable in London these days. I'm even considering joining the CTC for their (excellent, I'm told) legal team which is free of charge for members, and they'll chase cnuts like this one.

Didn't see this thread at the time.

Bad luck, mate. Have you found out if he gave you the correct details yet?

He did give me the correct details and has agreed to pay the costs of repairing the bike (which is taking a bit longer than I'd hoped).
He also gave me a bit of a sob-story about how he's bit short of cash for a couple of weeks so can't pay until the middle of the month.

I must admit I have been a bit easy on him.
He was very sorry afterwards and did seem genuinely concerned about my injuries.
Having gone through a recent no-fault claim with my car insurers I know how long and soul-destroying the whole process is so I didn't want to put him through it.

Thanks for the link Roxy.
If I'd been properly injured (just a monster bruise) I'd definitely take it further.
And you're right - if the real picture of how many of us are getting hurt out there then perhaps more would be done to protect us.

I think you did the right thing on this one. I hate blind left-turners as much as anyone, but it seems like he was properly apologetic and willing to make things right financially. Calling in the legals would have escalated things and could have cost him his job.

I reckon you should have billed him for ..ahem.. 're-building' that bling-bling Phil Wood wheelset or whatever you've always wanted. You get some payback for your bruise and nerves, he gets out cheaper than a hit to his insurance premiums, and the monetary incentive might make him a bit more likely to look out for cyclists next time.

Obviously if a driver hits you then treats you with anything but the utmost respect, all gloves are off..

UPDATE:
The driver has just come round with the cash: £100
I've let him off a bit lightly really - although I do kind of get a new front wheel out of the deal.

Anyway the deal's done, he was true to his word, and it's restored a little bit of my faith in the honesty of east London drivers.

I think in situation like this when the driver are aware and are actually geniunelly concerned, it's kinda ok not to report it especially since I'm sure the driver are more aware of the cyclist on the street after encoutering one recently.

Without sounding pushy (while being pushy), you can report the incident and ask for a record to be taken. You can say that you don't have the driver's details. They are never going to follow up. But say that you need a record number for your insurance, etc.. That way you have added one more cyclist hit by car to the year's tally.

No problems Roxy.
I'm all for giving a better picture of cycling RTAs
What's the most hassle-free way of reporting it?
Is it filling out a form at the local nick?