Hit by a car

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orangebiker
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Joined: 3 Jul 2012, 1:21am

Hit by a car

Post by orangebiker »

Was cycling along a straight flat main road last night (6pm) when a car came across the road (out of a side road on the opposite side and continued straight on) and hit me. I am not seriously injured (bruises/grazes) and there is only minor bike damage (buckled wheel and damaged rear brake - estimate for repair £23!).

However I feel that the driver should not get away with it, as the accident could have been a lot worse had I not seen her and swerved, meaning it was more of a glancing blow than a full on collision. The front left corner of the car hit me at about 30 degrees and I went over the handlebars.

I can't understand why I was not seen - not much traffic around, I was only going at about 12 mph well out from the kerb and wearing bright clothing. The road is 4 lanes wide so there should have been plenty of time to spot me as she came across. It is a city centre road with a 30 mph speed limit.

For anyone who knows Liverpool, it was at the junction of Catharine St and Huskisson St, not what I would consider to be a dangerous place at all. I've been cycling around Liverpool for 12 years without incident, and am normally pretty aware of the potential for people not to spot me at junctions - but this just seemed so odd - the driver can't have been paying attention at all and clearly is not safe to be out on the roads.

Does anyone have any idea what (if any) action can be expected from the police?
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661-Pete
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Re: Hit by a car

Post by 661-Pete »

Ouch! The fact that you suffered bruises and grazes, however minor, makes it an injury-accident and ought to be reported to the Police. However, there are Police and there are Police - I've no idea what their attitude might be in your area. What I was told by a (fairly pro-cyclist) officer once, was that a third-party witness is a real boon - but I'm guessing, seeing as you don't mention it, that you don't have one. And I assume you don't have video cam evidence, either.

All I can say is, best of luck, but prepare to be disappointed!
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iviehoff
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Joined: 20 Jan 2009, 4:38pm

Re: Hit by a car

Post by iviehoff »

People have been badly injured and killed in all sorts of blatant pulling out of a side-road/driveway incidents without any prosecution. Based upon precedent, for a "driving without due care and attention" prosecution, the defence "I was looking and the cyclist was difficult to spot" works unless there is very powerful third party evidence that the cyclist was impossible to miss, or clear evidence that the driver was doing something other than looking. Until someone changes the law to say you must see what is there to be seen, unless you can demonstrate why it was unreasonable to be able to see it in that case, this will continue.

Your only practical defence in real life is to assume that cars will pull out until you have seem them stop and acknowledge you.
Vorpal
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Re: Hit by a car

Post by Vorpal »

If you haven't been to a GP to be checked over, it may be best to do so, even if you feel it is just bruises/grazes. Further injury could also become evident later.

Did you report it to police? Do you have an incident number.

Quite a lot of viewtopic.php?f=7&t=69901 is applicable.

Good luck.
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eileithyia
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Re: Hit by a car

Post by eileithyia »

Report to police, did you get her details, did she report it to the police... it is actually her responsibility to do so esp where someone may be injured.... and she could be pursued for not having done so.
See your GP with your injuries.
Get your bike fully checked out.... is it really only about £23 worth of damage... you have a damaged wheel, what about the forks, headset? I would get the bike properly checked over by a bike shop if you haven't already.

Whether you decide it is worth a claim is down to you and what you agree is adequate repayment for damaged bike and / or clothing.
I stand and rejoice everytime I see a woman ride by on a wheel the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. HG Wells
AndyBSG
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Joined: 10 Jul 2013, 11:16am

Re: Hit by a car

Post by AndyBSG »

It needs to be reported to the Police.

Will anything come of it? No.

At best the Police may have a word with her and that's about it. However, if the Police do have a word it will hopefully make her more careful in future but more importantly it get's recorded. The mor cycle accidents that are reported the more the government is forced to acknowledge them and do something about them.
orangebiker
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Joined: 3 Jul 2012, 1:21am

Re: Hit by a car

Post by orangebiker »

I went to the police station last night and gave a statement. They asked if I was wearing a helmet, which I didn't see the relevance of - I haven't got a head injury. Is this supposed to be an indicator of whether I'm a responsible cyclist? Their form, although it had a space for helmet wearing, had no space for cyclist, and I was recorded as a pedestrian. So the police don't think cyclists exist, but still think we ought to wear helmets??

I have no witness or camera footage, although the driver is certainly not trying to deny anything, she accepts it was entirely her fault. But I don't think the police will be following it up. I guess they have more serious things to deal with in Liverpool. I'm happy the driver has learnt from the incident anyway. Plus she will be out of pocket by £23! (steel Dawes bike - made of good stuff)

iviehoff wrote:Your only practical defence in real life is to assume that cars will pull out until you have seem them stop and acknowledge you.


This is fine for cars pulling out from the same side that you are cycling but can it really be done for junctions on the other side of a 4 lane road?
Psamathe
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Re: Hit by a car

Post by Psamathe »

orangebiker wrote:I went to the police station last night and gave a statement. They asked if I was wearing a helmet, which I didn't see the relevance of - I haven't got a head injury. Is this supposed to be an indicator of whether I'm a responsible cyclist? Their form, although it had a space for helmet wearing, had no space for cyclist, and I was recorded as a pedestrian. So the police don't think cyclists exist, but still think we ought to wear helmets??
...

I think reporting these types of incidents (or rather any non-trivial incidents) is important as even if the Police don't follow things up (which, depending on the circumstances may be the right/sensible thing for the Police to do), at least the incident will be recorded as a statistic and hopefully analysed and might help identify accident hotspots and/or help people identify circumstances, road situations, driver types, etc. that tend to be involved in accidents which at the end-of-the-day can only help make things safer. Pity it has to be through an accident but at least we should try to learn all we can from such things to improve things for the future.

Ian
irc
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Location: glasgow

Re: Hit by a car

Post by irc »

If there was no box for a cycle they have used the wrong form or have recorded it as something other than a road accident. Or possibly they have filled in the boxes for peds casualty rather than the injured rider of Vehicle 2 being the casualy (the convention is that the vehicle at fault is vehicle 1).

RTAs are recorded using Stats 19 forms which have national guidelines and collect standard information.

http://www.stats19.org.uk/html/vehicle_forms.html

http://www.stats19.org.uk/html/casualty_forms.html
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NUKe
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Re: Hit by a car

Post by NUKe »

I think if the other driver is contrite enough and you are rembursed for your loses, then why make the blood suckers even more money. If the driver is truely upset by their own actions they will look in future, the lady in question is probably truely shaken by the event, knocking someone off really does act as a learning exercise. No need to hang draw and quarter them as well.

A few years back I was hit by a car outside a school, passing the car the driver decide to pull out just as I was passing. Iwas catapulted over the bonnet the bike slid down the road. I landed in a heap sat for a minute realised I was alright, retrieved the bike, At this point I was surrounded by a crowd of school mums who were all asking was alright did I need a lift anywhere, despite my protestations that I was fine. I suddenly realised, Ithe young woman who had knocked me off was sobbing and was possibly in shock. So I ended up organising the other mothers to sort her out. Her husband rang me latter and thanked me for being kind and offering to pay for any damage. there not all bad car drivers.
NUKe
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orangebiker
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Joined: 3 Jul 2012, 1:21am

Re: Hit by a car

Post by orangebiker »

NUKe wrote:I think if the other driver is contrite enough and you are rembursed for your loses, then why make the blood suckers even more money. If the driver is truely upset by their own actions they will look in future, the lady in question is probably truely shaken by the event, knocking someone off really does act as a learning exercise. No need to hang draw and quarter them as well.


Yes I agree (don't know which blood suckers you are on about though?)

irc wrote:If there was no box for a cycle they have used the wrong form or have recorded it as something other than a road accident. Or possibly they have filled in the boxes for peds casualty rather than the injured rider of Vehicle 2 being the casualy (the convention is that the vehicle at fault is vehicle 1).


It was the casualty form the second link) and I was not recorded as a vehicle - she wrote down that there was only 1 vehicle involved (the car) and I was a pedestrian. (I did wonder about all the questions about was there a pedestrian crossing within 50 m!). It was a very scary police lady and I didn't want to argue with her - I can totally understand why people don't report rape, as they really make you feel like you have done something wrong!
irc
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Re: Hit by a car

Post by irc »

orangebiker wrote:It was the casualty form the second link) and I was not recorded as a vehicle - she wrote down that there was only 1 vehicle involved (the car) and I was a pedestrian.


So that's your accident recorded as a pedestrian injury and not a cyclist injury. The scary police lady was a bit of a thicko it seems!
Psamathe
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Joined: 10 Jan 2014, 8:56pm

Re: Hit by a car

Post by Psamathe »

irc wrote:
orangebiker wrote:It was the casualty form the second link) and I was not recorded as a vehicle - she wrote down that there was only 1 vehicle involved (the car) and I was a pedestrian.


So that's your accident recorded as a pedestrian injury and not a cyclist injury. The scary police lady was a bit of a thicko it seems!

Or, cynic (maybe conspiracy theorist) that I am, is it because when a vehicle is involved the procedures require somewhat more investigation (work) ...

Ian
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