No injury/damage collision - report or not?

[Eep]

Is there any point in reporting this to the police: cycling about 50cm from verge at 12-13mph (uphill) on a NSL road, heading towards a 40mph village zone; lorry just leaving that zone coming in opposite lane so presumably doing 30-40mph, which was overtaken by a car doing 40--50mph who seemingly had no awareness at all that I was there and struck my handlebar with their wing mirror (eep). No injury or damage, but a couple of inches over, or a gust of wind, and it would have been a very different story. It was pretty much over before I realised what was happening. Driver came back to give details, said he never saw me (there was no reduction of speed before the collision, which implies he never saw me at all). No evidence or witnesses.

Would the police do anything about the driver? Would it appear on any stats anywhere? It's Scotland if it makes a difference.

This link shows the view of the road the driver would have had (long and empty apart from me), and if anything conditions were brighter than this image as there was some blue sky about. http://goo.gl/maps/QemXp
Part of me is wondering that I was wearing black leggings and a dark grey top, and that this might have made me difficult to spot (but it was a bright morning), but I think it's likely that the driver got stuck behind the lorry through the village, and then got overexcited in trying to pass it.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Read this other thread and you'll see that even if you did, some people (a jury) will accept the driver has no responsibilty. Not even if the collision killed you.

GC

 

[Spinney]

I think that the driver coming back to give details is impressive - most would not.
What was his attitude? If he sounded like he might try harder to see cyclists in the future, I think that's as much as you can hope for - getting the police involved wouldn't change his attitude.

 

[4F]

Part of me is wondering that I was wearing black leggings and a dark grey top, and that this might have made me difficult to spot (but it was a bright morning), but I think it's likely that the driver got stuck behind the lorry through the village, and then got overexcited in trying to pass it.

I am sure that if it had been a grey / black car then they would have spotted it. Typical impatient pass without looking properly, I cannot see the police doing anything

 

[Eep]

I think that the driver coming back to give details is impressive - most would not.
What was his attitude? If he sounded like he might try harder to see cyclists in the future, I think that's as much as you can hope for - getting the police involved wouldn't change his attitude.

This makes a lot of sense. Phoned the guy, and it sounded like he's had a harder time than me over the last few days, so he realised it could have been much worse. Mentioned my dark clothing (which I had thought about, but there was no braking so it's not like he saw me from even 20 yards away) and the dip in the road (there's no major dip that I can see from the streetview link, certainly nothing that would have hidden me from view at short range) but he was obviously mortified it had happened so we'll leave it there.

From my side I'll think twice about wearing all one dark colour, and will make sure I look way ahead more regularly so I can bail out if something similar happens again.

 

[gaz]

From my side I'll think twice about wearing all one dark colour, and will make sure I look way ahead more regularly so I can bail out if something similar happens again.

Don't think twice about it. Just use a good quality light all the time and you can wear what you want.

As for reporting it, might be worth reporting but request it not going any further. For statistical purposes.

 

[semislickstick]

I had an old guy do something similar, I had to jump out the way. I noticed that he was still concentrating on the corner ahead of him, didn't see me at all(he was overtaking parked cars and it going to be a head on). I wish I'd gone to the police just to raise concerns about his eye sight, not to get him into trouble, its just these things creep up on us all slowly.

 

[fimm]

I reported a very-low-speed rear-end (car into bike) collision to the police, and they took the report without any issue, saying they wouldn't be taking any further action which I was happy with (my driver likewise stopped and is paying for the replacement rear rack). So I would report it just for the statistics.

 

[davefb]

so he overtook without looking properly "didnt see you"

yeah report.. if there was a dip in the road, to stop him seeing that there WAS SOMEONE then he shouldnt have overtook.. years ago a work colleague on his motorbike was killed by a driver overtaking on a blind summit..