Opinions Please

[vickster]

Thanks for all the comments. Very useful to read other perspectives. Overall my view is my lad was crossing the bike lane and is therefore responsible for the collision. I do though feel the cyclist, though not directly responsible, was travelling too fast and not exercising enough caution at that particular moment. This contributed to the collision. Personally I wouldn't be riding in that manner under those conditions.

The image shows the bike's forks. Judging by the break they are carbon fibre from PlanetX? Anyone know more on this? I'm trying to advise my lad in a decision on losing his NCB or paying for the forks. This presumes the cyclist choses to take it further. I would do so.

An excellent point from @classic33 re can the cyclist use the bus lane? My lad is going to check signage and road markings at lunchtime. I imagine, but don't know, if cyclists are not permitted in the bike lane the situation changes though my son should perhaps have anticipated that as well?

Thanks for all the helpful remarks. Keep them coming.
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Either way, whether he claims or not, he must of course inform his insurers of the collision which will likely affect future premiums. The cyclist way nit have appeared injured, but something may come to pass in the next day's, weeks and months and he may choose to pursue an injury claim. Thus, your sobs insurers needs to be made aware

 

[PaulSB]

Either way, whether he claims or not, he must of course inform his insurers of the collision which will likely affect future premiums. The cyclist way nit have appeared injured, but something may come to pass in the next day's, weeks and months and he may choose to pursue an injury claim. Thus, your sobs insurers needs to be made aware

I'm pleased to say he swapped details, took limited photos and informed his insurers. I'm not surprised but knowing my lad if he had not done this it would have been through panic as he does not always cope in this type of situation.

My advice so far has been you've acted correctly now wait to see what happens.

We will be checking road signage and the LA view on bike lanes and cyclists. Not to avoid responsibility but to ensure when the insurers make a decision, if it gets that far, they have all the facts we can provide.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

As others have said, six of one half a dozen of the other, the cyclist should have been looking for traffic crossing the bus lane and been ready to stop if necesary, the driver, your son should have been expecting traffic in the bus lane and been ready to stop.

 

[Sharky]

Ten years ago, I was the cyclist in almost identical situation. Cycling along a single lane dual carriage way, with central reservation and a petrol station on the left. There was not a bus lane. I was cycling in a the middle of the road, almost at the same speed of the cars, following the car in front. The car waiting on the central reservation, assumed their was a gap between cars and drove across the lane, trying to get into the petrol station. They did not see me and took me out. I have no recollection of the collision and woke up in hospital after a ride in a helicopter. Broken bones and broken bike.

The police did not take any action against the driver - just said it was an "accident".
The insurance companies agreed a payment to me, covering the extent of damage to me and to the bike - about £9k.

My view is that as the cyclist, I was doing nothing wrong, had right of way and was just following the stream of traffic.
The driver must have been impatient and tried to drive through a gap in the moving traffic, without any anticipation for a cyclist following. Obviously a smaller obstacle than a car so less visible, but no excuse.

 

[mjr]

An excellent point from @classic33 re can the cyclist use the bus lane? My lad is going to check signage and road markings at lunchtime. I imagine, but don't know, if cyclists are not permitted in the bike lane the situation changes though my son should perhaps have anticipated that as well?

The cyclist not being allowed to use the bus lane would be unusual (I only remember seeing them in London and on motorways) and would probably not change liability much because I doubt your son would have seen a legal user like a bus, bus company repair van, council van or police car (often allowed even without lights and sirens). Probably all it will do is get the cyclist a fine from the police, add insult to injury and burn any goodwill. A wise man once said: when in hole, stop digging.

 

[mjr]

My view is that as the cyclist, I was doing nothing wrong, had right of way and was just following the stream of traffic.

That's not what "right of way" means. Please learn from it before another incident but ok, maybe you were a bit wrong but that driver was really really wrong. And ultimately, annoyingly, it doesn't really matter who's right or wrong when they're still sat in a comfy chair and we're the ones lying on the ground.

 

[helston90]

As others have said, six of one half a dozen of the other, the cyclist should have been looking for traffic crossing the bus lane and been ready to stop if necesary, the driver, your son should have been expecting traffic in the bus lane and been ready to stop.

I would say more like 9 of one and 3 of the other in favour of the cyclist. Yes exercising caution but if we all went around "ready to stop" we'd never get anywhere on our commutes and may as well be in a car.

 

[OldShep]

i don’t think you can judge the speed of the cyclist by the state of the forks. Blinded by the sun I once rode into a steel barrier at 5-7 mph and wrote the whole bike off. Bent forks and kinks in every tube. I have a real hate of people who think they are doing good by 'flashing' other motorists out often against the HC I’ve seen numerous near misses because of this.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

I would say more like 9 of one and 3 of the other in favour of the cyclist. Yes exercising caution but if we all went around "ready to stop" we'd never get anywhere on our commutes and may as well be in a car.

I'm retired now, I was commuting for over 30 years, I've been taken out by a turning car in similar circumstances, in the early 2000's I was carrying too much speed in a cycle lane on the left of slow moving traffic, after that I got in the habit of riding slow and checking gaps if I found myself in similar circumstances. It was a 50/50

 

[Arjimlad]

In Bristol, motorcyclists can use the bus lanes, and usually do.

I would imagine the damage would have been far worse had a motorbike doing say 30mph hit the car. Creep & peak, as said above, or preferably wait for the view to clear - wait for the high-sided vehicles to pass first ?

I would ride cautiously in this bus lane but I don't think that the cyclist is to blame for not being able to stop on a sixpence.

 

[BoldonLad]

I notice there has been mention of informing Insurance company, regardless of claim. Should accident also be reported to Police, since there was injury (bruises) and damage to property?

 

[classic33]

I've assumed that the cyclist was in a free moving lane, approaching a junction on one side with a line of slow moving/stationary traffic on his other side. Where was his/her attention?

I'd be bothered, enough to slow down, approaching the junction just in case someone in the line decided they'd had enough of waiting and turned off, into the junction, across in front of me.

 

[Electric_Andy]

if we all went around "ready to stop" we'd never get anywhere on our commutes

That's quite a dangerous view to have IMHO. Any road user should always be ready to stop, but around junctions/multi-lane roads with traffic crossing lanes, even more so. And if you're a more vulnerable road user than even more so x3. If I'm on a motorbike in a bus lane, I'm always checking. If cars have slowed ahead and I know there are crossings, I slow right down. Some drivers look but don't see, others can't see, and others don't look in the first place.

Hard to say who would be at fault, but the basic facts are that a cyclist was in a lane and a car pulled out in front with no visibility.

 

[PaulSB]

I've assumed that the cyclist was in a free moving lane, approaching a junction on one side with a line of slow moving/stationary traffic on his other side. Where was his/her attention?

I'd be bothered, enough to slow down, approaching the junction just in case someone in the line decided they'd had enough of waiting and turned off, into the junction, across in front of me.

Yes that's the case, the bus lane was empty. This is why without suggesting the cyclist is to blame I feel he has some responsibility.

I'm not looking to split hairs between blame and responsibility, I see them as two different things. There is no question my son turned across a bus lane. However I would not ride at speed or in a position which made me vulnerable to the action of other road users.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

We have no idea how quickly your son came across the bus lane, we know nothing about how much time the cyclist had to stop. We have no idea how fast the cyclist was travelling. What we do know is that your son crossed a lane, where he could not see the way was clear, or anything at all from the sounds of it. If I'd been the driver, I'd put the blame soley at my feet, suck it up, and learn from it.

As for the slow at every junction. In all my years of driving I have never seen the driver in front brake and slow for every junction they are passing. No one does that other than in a hypothetical discussion on an online forum. I've seen drivers try and blame cyclists for going too fast before, even when the cyclist was travelling far slower than the person in a car. The car and driver because of a mass approx 16 times that of the rider and bike, and higher speeds carries a lot more kinetic energy at least 20-30 times greater and therefore damage potential.