Taken out by WVM, and not to dinner

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Cycling home last Thursday, lovely ride so far...

Rounded a sweeping left hand bend (no obstructions, clear view of road from all around) just after some lights (which I stopped at as they were red) to approach a queue of traffic waiting at the next lights some 150m down the road.

Decided to use the cycle lane and filter past them on the LHS, no side roads leading onto this stretch, so no worried about turning vehicles etc.

Just as I'm starting to filter past a WVM decides he desperately needs to mount the pavement in front of me. No indication. Turns across the cycle lane leaving me about 3m or so to take evasive action. All I had time to do was shout "Whooooah" and start to jam the anchors on whilst hoping for the best.

I hit the side of his van, clipped his wing mirror with my side and bounced up the kerb still slipped into my pedals. Fortunately one foot came loose (from the pedal, not my leg) and I somehow managed to avoid hitting the wall there, simply ending up in a bit of a heap on the pavement.

Bloke (late teens/early 20's possibly?) gets out all apologetic and says he was trying to pull over to make a phone call.

We exchange details and get contact details from a woman who I nearly hit on the pavement whilst crashing, and a car driver who stopped too. He then gives me a lift home.

My question is this - should I follow through with all the insurance gubbins in order to get a compensation payout, or (as his Boss has offered) accept a cheque from them paying for any damage etc.?

What sort of payout are we looking at if this goes via the insurance company, given that he crossed a cycle lane to get to the pavement (to park up illegally!), had no main nearside mirror to actually check for other vehicles, and pulled out of stationary traffic without checking first or indicating....

If I have some idea of ballpark figures for this sort of thing I may pitch my costs in that region, and if he baulks at the idea then get prepared for a longer delay doing it via the insurance.

I'm not injured in any 'long term' way (as far as I can tell) and my bike looks okay (it's in the LBS getting checked though) so I feel a bit of a fraud if I go for a huge payout for such a small accident.

On the other hand though he was driving without due care in a non-road worthy vehicle.

Comments welcome, more details if required.

 

[biking_fox]

Hope you're OK. It's a very nasty shock when this osrt of thing happens.

Technically you've every right to report to police and go through insurance etc. I've no idea of the amounts likely.

However: I'm not a big fan of today's litagous society. If you're not hurt, and the bike's basically ok, I'd accept a cheque from them. Pad it for whatever you think fair - travel costs whilst you are bikeless etc, and if they're reasonable about it, that's the end of it.

I'm sure lots of people on here will say sue'em to an inch of their lives, but we can all appreciate a smoother life, which comes from not being too stressed over accidents. Even accidents that were completely avoidable as this one sounds like.

I'd personally leave the sueing until there was malice involved or they weren't offering fair restitution.

 

[mary-jane]

definately report it and almost definately claim.
it needs to be part of accident statistics demonstrating the danger riders are in.

 

[domtyler]

Take the cheque, bird in the hand etc. You could be waiting for more than a year to go through the insurance. Add a few quid on for emotional distress too.

 

[davidwalton]

1. Report the matter to the police.

2. Go through the insurance route - do not accept a payout from his boss.

As long as there are witnesses that are willing, and saw everything. Otherwise, you could end up with a battle with their insurance company for the next few years.

If no damage to you, I would ask for £100 in personal damages, plus twice the cost of any repair that makes the bike exactly as it was. However, this would have to be agreed now and paid to you directly.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Thanks for the replies guys. It has been reported to the Police who will, I am assured, be following it up as the vehicle was not legally road-worthy (missing the nearside mirror).

I also visited A&E on Friday morning when things had gotten worse (i.e. left calf was very painful and knee wouldn't bend properly) but there's no permanent damage, just deep muscle bruising etc.

I'm back at work now and feel generally okay, my side still hurts (and looks like a beaten up nectarine) but everything else is fine.

I'm missing my bike too.

 

[davidtq]

Not sure the near side mirror is a legal requirement, might be one of those things where if it was originally fitted then it has to be there, but many cars were never fitted with near side mirrors! Perfectly MOT legal on cars which never had them, dont know the situation if a vehicle previously had them and theyve been removed.

 

[fossyant]

Depends upon the damage - if the other party is offering to put it right, and you aren't injured - i.e. you don't start getting pains etc in the next few days, your bike is then put right, clothing replaced, then I'd go that route.

If you do get pains and so on, then off to doctors and through insurance.

Only you will know how bad the impact was...and how you are !

I got WVM'ed some years back - similar - two lanes of traffic, me in primary on the inside, van on outside, he suddenly turns left crossing my lane - I took out wing mirror, and somersaulted the roads width - bike smashed on scaffolding, I missed it, but broke a bone in my hand. He buggered off sharpish. In that cast it would have been an insurance job.

 

[magnatom]

Mmmm. It's a difficult one, but, reporting it is probably he right thing to do.

This backs up my view that filtering down the left should be avoided where ever possible. Cycle lanes that encourage this are, IMO dangerous.

Of course I would never say never, there is the odd instance where I do it, but you should always take great care if you have to do it (I'm not suggesting you weren't taking carehere).

 

[02GF74]

report to police, like you have done.

make sure you have the witrness details.

go to hostpital/doctor for check up and assessment of injuriers.

see on of theose legal adviseers where you have 1/2 hour or so free type of consulation as to wht you can claim.

then claim

the only way these idiot will learn is by the pocket, hopefully police will give hime a few points to but the good thing is you have walked, or limped away; it so easily could have been a lot worse.

 

[Arch]

Not sure the near side mirror is a legal requirement, might be one of those things where if it was originally fitted then it has to be there, but many cars were never fitted with near side mirrors! Perfectly MOT legal on cars which never had them, dont know the situation if a vehicle previously had them and theyve been removed.

I'd be surpised if it wasn't a legal requirement, unless the van was pretty elderly in modern vehicle terms... Cars are one thing, they have rear view mirrors inside, but I'm sure I remember Transits having nearside mirrors in the 70's when I rode in my Dad's work van occasionally.

If it wasn't for the mirror bit, I might be tempted to settle out of court so to speak, I'm no fan of the over litigatious stuff either, but for someone to be driving a van without sufficient mirrors, and to make a move like that, I'm afraid they need to learn a lesson.

I wonder if the police will ask the chap if he intended to turn his engine off before answering the call, as I believe unless he does, he's still technically breaking the law on that count too?

 

[Tynan]

if you're sure you're only short term hurt and you know the cost to the bike then I'd get a bill to them pronto and get their cheque cleared, don't let them dilly and dally

if you go insurance route it'll take ages, I'm still waiting for my bread and butter insurance claim from September with no end in sight

your claim relates only to damage to you and the bike, the rest is irrelevant to you, unless you're contemplating some sort of blackmail

cops won;t do diddle if you think they will, my bloke got some training for a shocking manouvre that could have killed me

well done for surviving

 

[4F]

I wonder if the police will ask the chap if he intended to turn his engine off before answering the call, as I believe unless he does, he's still technically breaking the law on that count too?

I got a traffic warden telling me that as well which I was not aware of.

I would say that if you are not badly hurt take the settlement. If they get arsey with the amount join the CTC and get their solicitor to sort it.

 

[User482]

I got a traffic warden telling me that as well which I was not aware of.

I would say that if you are not badly hurt take the settlement. If they gets arsey with the amount join the CTC and get their solicitor to sort it.

Good advice - you're in a strong position here, as if they don't play ball, you've the option of legal redress. Just make sure they know that!

 

[domtyler]

Milk the bastards Negotiate for the most spondoolies you can.