My accident...

[gambatte]

or tell plod you're mildly concerned with the commnication and wondered if it could be considered a threat to attempt to curtail any action? Could it be considered borderline 'interfering with a witness'?

 

[BimblingBee]

I'd be considering reviewing your current lighting system. From your vid even though its quite dark there is little, if any reflected light from you. Given the weather at the time I can't say I'm surprised they pulled out and given that 2 people said they didn't see you its even more concerning.

You are also correct that those night vision jackets are great... If light is being shone at them, otherwise you are just wearing a black jacket.

Glad you were unhurt and suffered little damage.

 

[Davidsw8]

Well, the vid is short so there's nothing to see the reflected light off of, it's very apparent later on in the full version when we're swapping numbers. As I say, 2 sets of lights flashing plus an extra light on my backpack should be sufficient.

However, I have now fitted an additional set of lights to my bike, so I now have THREE sets of lights on - if that ain't enough, God help us all

 

[adamangler]

blown out of proportion as usual, i dont blame the OP but he should have known posting this question on a cycling forum what the answer was going to be. so when i say this im not reffering to you OP in particular, rather the insensitive morons who have swayed you so...

bloke in car makes a mistake, no harm done, guy is pleasant and offers to pay for repairs.
guy get kick in bollocks for his efforts with police reports and threats of points/fines.
guy tries to defend himself with a counter claim, which to be fair is exactly what i would do to someone who stoops this low right or wrong.
some people have no conscience or empathy, its all me me me, i was wronged must get revenge, lets make someones life a misery because they made a mistake and showed remorse.
pathetic.

but thats just me

 

[Hip Priest]

I don't see what the OP has done wrong. We all make mistakes, but if I was the driver in this clip I'd have apologised profusely, and offered to pay for any damage. He clearly didn't look properly when leaving the junction.

 

[fossyant]

Wet weather really knocks light throw on the ground for a camera. In real life it doesn't for visibility. The driver was not paying attention.

I had a similar case, lit up quite well ( Cateye 510 x 2 and a Cree torch ) but was offed.

I had a total of 10 lights, 3 front, 3 back, and 4 flashers on the rucksack. On the deck. SMIDSY.

Now I run much brighter in your face lights - not necessary, but I do,

 

[HLaB]

I don't see what the OP has done wrong. We all make mistakes, but if I was the driver in this clip I'd have apologised profusely, and offered to pay for any damage. He clearly didn't look properly when leaving the junction.

Come on it should be obvious from the, the OP left an inconvenient shoe mark on the car's bumper, surely that deserves a counter sue, after all its on the same level as attempted man slaughter through negligence/ reckless endangerment [invent some charge]

 

[Hip Priest]

Come on it should be obvious from the, the OP left an inconvenient shoe mark on the car's bumper, surely that deserves a counter sue, after all its on the same level as attempted man slaughter through negligence/ reckless endangerment [invent some charge]

Too right. I mean, how can you be expected to see a bicycle with two lights coming towards you? They don't even pay road tax!

 

[Davidsw8]

blown out of proportion as usual, i dont blame the OP but he should have known posting this question on a cycling forum what the answer was going to be. so when i say this im not reffering to you OP in particular, rather the insensitive morons who have swayed you so...

bloke in car makes a mistake, no harm done, guy is pleasant and offers to pay for repairs.
guy get kick in bollocks for his efforts with police reports and threats of points/fines.
guy tries to defend himself with a counter claim, which to be fair is exactly what i would do to someone who stoops this low right or wrong.
some people have no conscience or empathy, its all me me me, i was wronged must get revenge, lets make someones life a misery because they made a mistake and showed remorse.
pathetic.

but thats just me

To spell it out, there are 2 reasons for reporting this accident:

1. Insurance - The collision happened on 19th Dec, I had a buckle to my front wheel and my front mudguard was out of kilter. I couldn't get my bike serviced until 27th Dec (8 days later) and had no idea how much the damage would cost to rectify. The only guarantee I had that any costs would be covered was from an individual who's first impression I have of is his car colliding with my front wheel and left shin. If there had been costs and he decided not to pay up, how seriously would the Police take a report issued 8 days after the fact? As it was, I paid for the bike service myself and the damage was fixed within that, I haven't asked for him to cover the service charge.

2. Statistical - ROSPA states that: 'Every year in this country around 19,000 cyclists are killed or injured in reported road accidents, including around 3,000 who are killed or seriously injured.' That's 'reported' road accidents, 19,000 will be a massive under-representation of the reality and until the real figures are known, nothing will be done to improve safety for cyclists.

I did text the guy the very next day to say: 'I just wanted to let you know that I'm not taking this any further than filing a collision report with the police for their stats and for insurance purposes only.' (so, the report should have come as no surprise) - his only concern at the time was that we settle this between us so as not to affect his no claims.

I don't want to make anyone's life a misery, I want him to be more careful next time. If that had been a pedestrian (and pedestrians don't tend to walk around with 2 sets of lights on) they'd have been a lot more hurt than I was. He clearly thinks he didn't do anything wrong but to collide with someone who has more than double the lights on they're legally obliged to, at such a slow speed, shows a total lack of observation... but that's just me

Ideally, I don't want the guy to be fined or issued points, I want the Police to tell him officially that he exercised very poor judgement and to be more careful in future - and for him to take that on board. Whether, I have that option, is out of my hands but I feel I've done the right thing here anyway so que sera sera.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I doubt Admin thought this site would be a cash cow when he first set it up and now look. Come to the site as a visitor and you're treated to ads of dating 'mature adults' and a link to a 'fitness singles' website.

And there's a clear message to join us and lose the ads. Most other sites I go to never lose the ads, so 'Rebecca' is always just 3 miles away.

 

[BimblingBee]

It's easy to say you've got x amount of lights but if they are as bright as a candle then you might as well not have them...

 

[glenn forger]

It makes me mad when idiot drivers try to evade responsibility. He also sounds quite thick.

 

[ComedyPilot]

People still don't seem to grasp why this happens (car pulling out from side street, cyclist approaching from right (driver's side))

Despite retina-burning lamps it will happen as long as cyclists don't appear to the driver to be moving, or not moving very fast.

Whenever I approach a junction like that (in the car or on the bike) I look for eye contact. If I don't get it I do 2 things, I prepare to stop, and I move right/left slightly. This simple action, in the eyes of the other driver, creates lateral movement in their vision, and helps them 'see' me. Before this I was just a object that they didn't see because I didn't seem to be moving (although I was).

Simple way to demonstrate it. Hold your finger out at arm length and move it towards you. It doesn't seem to move much because it is travelling towards you, then it will suddenly appear and get splatted all over your bonnet/nose.

Now do the same thing at the same speed, but this time move it right/left a little (same relative speed). Notice how quick you spotted the right/left movement? We're predators with bifocal vision, and this movement detection is very strong and deeply primeval. Yes we can also spot things coming towards us, but the right/left trick triggers our vision/reactions very effectively.

 

[Davidsw8]

It's easy to say you've got x amount of lights but if they are as bright as a candle then you might as well not have them...

According to the specs, the front light on the bike is as bright as 300 candles and the batteries had just been charged. I appreciate there are much stronger lights out there but I have to consider the 'fold', so I've got an extra set of Brompton lights to add to my existing set plus the set of frog lights I wear on my cycle helmet plus the frog light on my backpack.

 

[Davidsw8]

People still don't seem to grasp why this happens (car pulling out from side street, cyclist approaching from right (driver's side))

Despite retina-burning lamps it will happen as long as cyclists don't appear to the driver to be moving, or not moving very fast.

Whenever I approach a junction like that (in the car or on the bike) I look for eye contact. If I don't get it I do 2 things, I prepare to stop, and I move right/left slightly. This simple action, in the eyes of the other driver, creates lateral movement in their vision, and helps them 'see' me. Before this I was just a object that they didn't see because I didn't seem to be moving (although I was).

Simple way to demonstrate it. Hold your finger out at arm length and move it towards you. It doesn't seem to move much because it is travelling towards you, then it will suddenly appear and get splatted all over your bonnet/nose.

Now do the same thing at the same speed, but this time move it right/left a little (same relative speed). Notice how quick you spotted the right/left movement? We're predators with bifocal vision, and this movement detection is very strong and deeply primeval. Yes we can also spot things coming towards us, but the right/left trick triggers our vision/reactions very effectively.

Excellent advice CP, I try to make eye contact where I can but in this instance it was too dark but it's a very valuable piece of advice cos if you make eye contact and they still hit you, there's something seriously wrong.

Moving sideways a little is definitely a good ploy and I can totally see that would be more effective and I'm going to keep that in mind for the future. Though in this instance I was moving up the road as he was moving left to right to (eventually) cross me, so I guess to him, I would have been moving laterally...

He just wasn't looking, or he was looking for a car and not expecting a bike or pedestrian etc., the only thing I could've done to prevent this was to stop short and allow him to cross my path.