What to do if rear ended?

[Matthew_T]

I have been thinking about this situation for a while. Imagine this:

You are approaching a set of traffic lights and they turn to amber. You believe you can stop before them so you apply your brakes and stop quite abruptly.
Unfortunately a vehicle behind you was too close/approaching you, and thought you were going to chance the lights. They cannot stop in time and gently bump your rear wheel.
You turn around and look at the driver. They are saying sorry/shouting at you.

What should you do in either situation? What is your first port of call?

Do you place your bike on the floor and try to reason with the driver and deal with the situation yourself? Or immediately call the police?

 

[Spinney]

I don't think a gentle bump, especially if the driver is saying sorry, warrants calling the police.

If they are shouting at you, all that will result from you laying down your bike is annoying all the people behind them in the queue at the lights (I'm guessing any argument wouldn't necessarily be resolved by the time they turned green again). If it turns out to be an agressive driver, there's a chance your bike will get run over. If they're shouting at you try for a stern, school-teacher look at them and then ignore them.

If you or your bike is damaged, that is a different story.

 

[snorri]

What should you do in either situation?

Breath in to a count of five, hold it, breath out to a count of five. Breath in to a count of five, pause and consider.

 

[Alien8]

Okay, so we're talking gentle bump/no-damage.

1) Saying sorry/acknowledging your mistake is a great way to defuse a situation but is something a lot of people are unable to do. I'd (like to think I'd) just acknowledge their acknowledgement and be on my way.

2) Shouting at you - well I guess you should just ignore them but in reality I'd probably tell them to f-off (or variants on the same theme).

I either situation I don't think I would think of calling the Police - I mean why would you want to do that?

But I'd never, NEVER, place my bike on the floor on the road - unless you want to invite them to run it over.

 

[Matthew_T]

What about if you suspect the bump was sufficient to cause damage to the rear wheel (knock it out of balance/damage the hub)?

How do you confront (approach) the driver about it in a way which is non agressive?
Of course in the event of any collision you feel might has damaged your bike, you should ask the driver for their details, but has anyone come across a driver who has failed to give them to you?

 

[classic33]

What about if you suspect the bump was sufficient to cause damage to the rear wheel (knock it out of balance/damage the hub)?

How do you confront (approach) the driver about it in a way which is non agressive?
Of course in the event of any collision you feel might has damaged your bike, you should ask the driver for their details, but has anyone come across a driver who has failed to give them to you?

In answer to your last question, yes. Company car, so they were contacted.

Driver thought it would be funny to shove me out onto a roundabout in front of an artiulated wagon, I disagreed

 

[Matthew_T]

Driver thought it would be funny to shove me out onto a roundabout in front of an artiulated wagon, I disagreed

 

[Blue]

I have been thinking about this situation for a while. Imagine this:

You are approaching a set of traffic lights and they turn to amber. You believe you can stop before them so you apply your brakes and stop quite abruptly.
Unfortunately a vehicle behind you was too close/approaching you, and thought you were going to chance the lights. They cannot stop in time and gently bump your rear wheel.
You turn around and look at the driver. They are saying sorry/shouting at you.

What should you do in either situation? What is your first port of call?

Do you place your bike on the floor and try to reason with the driver and deal with the situation yourself? Or immediately call the police?

Instead of thinking about things that could go wrong, why not think about being more aware of other road users. If a vehicle is so close behind that they can't get stopped without hitting you you should be thinking twice about stopping abruptly in front of them.

 

[Blue]

In answer to your last question, yes. Company car, so they were contacted.

Driver thought it would be funny to shove me out onto a roundabout in front of an artiulated wagon, I disagreed

I hope you sued the ass of the tosser.

 

[brokenflipflop]

Matt. Have you given any serious thought to purchasing another helmet cam and set it up to record behind you ? I bet you have haven't you ?

 

[Matthew_T]

I bet you have haven't you ?

Well I have yes, but at this point in time I can't really afford to get a new one, better quality. When I am working (or get a loan for a degree) I might splash out on a contour or cheap GoPro off ebay.

 

[classic33]

I hope you sued the ass of the tosser.

No, I felt that given I'd made very plain & very simple my thoughts with regards his driving & the fact that the matter was reported to the company he worked for, he'd not be likely to do it again.

No damage to any vehicle involved, but he was made see the error of his ways. Me, very restrained, I didn't even slap the car as he went past nor when I met him at the next junction where I was waiting for him. This to make my feelings known & to find out why he'd pushed me onto the rounabout in the first place.

 

[gaz]

Instead of thinking about things that could go wrong, why not think about being more aware of other road users. If a vehicle is so close behind that they can't get stopped without hitting you you should be thinking twice about stopping abruptly in front of them.

like this...

 

[Matthew_T]

like this...

So it was dealt with on the spot?

I think this is the situation I was aiming towards in my original post. Lucky the police turned up like that.

 

[gaz]

I posted that not for how it was handled but instead to show what you shouldn't do if someone is tailgating you.

We don't have brake lights and thus have no way* to tell people behind us that we are coming to a stop. Coming to a sharp stop is very unwise, in any traffic conditions.

*Not strictly true, hand signals can be used but they may not be understood.