[hampstead_bandit]

Hoping roads.cc forum members can advise?

Following an incident this morning outside Kings Cross station in
London, I need some advice for the future.

Riding to work, paying attention, doing 15-20 km/ph. Traffic lights green, as I am riding through the elevated section between St.Pancras and Kings Cross a pedestrian carrying a toolbox walked straight into the road without looking. Swerved hard to avoid hitting him, skid and crashed hard.

Bike:- Bent derailleur (6800), bent hanger, damaged rear gear cable, abraded tops and right blade of Shimano ST-685 hydraulic/sti shifters, abraded right spd-sl pedal and cleat

Clothing:- ripped right knee of new Santini winter bib shorts, torn palms out of both new Gore winter gloves, ripped right Endura FS260 overshoe, ripped Specialised gore winter rs13 jacket, abraded boa dial and right side of specialised BG expert roads shoes.

Me:- haematoma (?) I.e. bloody bruises on right knee, huge one on right hip, both wrists lightly sprained, right shoulder very sore.

Overall, I was glad not to break anything. Stuff happens.

Pedestrian came over, made excuses ‘sorry, I’ve just worked a 12 hour shift’, then slunk off into crowd. Other cyclists behind stopped and assisted, said they had seen the entire incident and pedestrian was completely at fault.

Totting up the damage, its not been a cheap accident – perhaps £650?

Bike had to be recabled and fitted with new hanger/mech, thankfully sti have cosmetic damage but ugly on a 3 month old bike. Clothing has all gone in the dustbin. All I can say is, ouch! I will be taking the edge off with some single malt this evening…

In the future, I am sure a similar incident will happen at some point, no matter how careful and observant I am of highway code.

Is there anything a cyclist can do if this happens?
What does the law say on ‘right of way’ if a pedestrian steps out suddenley?
Is there any company that offers insurance to cover accidental damages?
Is there any law (due care and attention?) for pedestrians causing a RTC to a cyclist?
Does this become as civil matter, or a criminal matter?
How do you force a negligent pedestrian to give their details?

Any advice is most welcome!

Topic

[rjfrussell]

notfastenough wrote:Leodis

notfastenough wrote:

Leodis wrote:

in Oct I crashed broke my humerus, smashed the humerus ball and pulled all the mussels off my shoulder due to poor driving and then the above on my fourth commute back to work.

Perhaps put the seafood in a pannier next time.

So glad you got in quick and saved me the trouble of thinking up a good line. Yours is very good.

Still, sympathy to first poster.

[hampstead_bandit]

Thanks for the comments.
I’ve
Thanks for the comments.

I’ve been in touch with CTC and they said offer 3rd party liability insurance plus legal assistance. They also mentioned personal accident insurance through their recommended provider ‘Butterworth’ and have given me a phone number.

I’ll find out more (costs and cover) and report back so other riders can make an informed decision if considering cover.

[notfastenough]

Leodis wrote:in Oct I crashed

Leodis wrote:

in Oct I crashed broke my humerus, smashed the humerus ball and pulled all the mussels off my shoulder due to poor driving and then the above on my fourth commute back to work.

Perhaps put the seafood in a pannier next time.

[Leodis]

Happened to me last week,
Happened to me last week, filtering past traffic at lights and ped walking with his back to me stepped out with about 2 meters notice. Ruined new paid for Nanoflex leg warmers, badly bruised elbow and knee and two or three weeks off the bike. Ped got up, apologised and off he went leaving me to patch myself up and continue the journey to work.

I’ve given up commuting to work now, in Oct I crashed broke my humerus, smashed the humerus ball and pulled all the mussels off my shoulder due to poor driving and then the above on my fourth commute back to work.

You could take out accidental damage insurance which would cover the costs with the exception of excess.

[oozaveared]

hampstead_bandit

hampstead_bandit wrote:

@cxr

Thanks for the advice. I am not looking to go after the man who walked into the road this morning, as I am unsure he could be identified, and unsure what I could do as the witnesses have dispersed.

Just wondering what to do in the future if/when it happens again?

I can’t be alone in thinking this must have happened to other cyclists?

Yeah it happens all the time. And cars pull out in front when I am driving. I’ve seen the occasional person on a bike pull stunts like that as well. The fact is that lots of people make mistakes the difference between a good rider / driver is that they leave enough space and time so that they can react. Occasionally it’s not possible but mostly it is. If you are aware (and you are now even if you weren’t before) that pedestrians can’t hear you coming that you are often near the side of the road and quite often they step just into the road just as they look then you should cycle accordingly near pedestrians and keep an eye on which of them might just do that.

Kinda like we ask motorists to do.

I had a colleague once back in the day that had continual accidents in his company car every flaming month he’d had a prang. When he was asked by our mutual boss what the hell was going on as yet another bill for a car repair crossed his desk he replied “well people just keep pulling out in front of me.” to which the boss replied. “yeah me too but I don’t drive like a dickhead so I am usually able to stop.”

[sanderville]

Commiserations. Similar
Commiserations. Similar thing happened to me heading down Duke Street Hill outside London Bridge station a few years ago.: Tourists ran into the road, knocked me off, broke both my hands and did permanent damage to my knees. Not only don’t we have any comeback at all but when people at work heard about it the typical response was “it was just pedestrians getting revenge.”

Short of riding everywhere at 2mph there’s not much to be done about it. No one cares.

[Iamnot Wiggins]

Al__S wrote:I think (though

Al__S wrote:

I think (though you’re best enquiring) that my ETA insurance would cover this: https://www.eta.co.uk/insurance/cycle/what-we-cover/

Fully comp bike insurance that includes breakdown cover…

The breakdown cover is an attractive benefit but the price of the insurance for 2 bikes is extortionate! I insure my home contents, valuables and bikes on a worldwide all risks basis – which includes if I race, accidental damage, theft, vandalism, worldwide personal liability etc for a fraction of the ETA premium. I’d think twice about ETA – speak to a good insurance broker before buying the cover. Especially one that cycles and understands your requirements. Like me…

[mrmo]

been there done that and got
been there done that and got no where. I was lucky the pedestrian not so. It cost me £200 in parts for the bike, that the road was wet worked in my favour i just slid , they were knocked unconcious and lost a couple of teeth. Maybe next time they will actually look before randomly stepping off the pavement whilst listening to an ipod?

Park of the reason i am against shared use is because pedestrians all too often don’t “share” they wander ramdomly all over and generally mean that shared use above 2-3mph is a disaster.

Anyway. House insurance??? Does it have accident cover? granted you get stung for the no claims.

[consciousbadger]

Sorry to hear this. For the
Sorry to hear this. For the future I would take a photo of the incident, a photo of the pedestrian and take a photo of their ID to track them down in case you need to take action against them in the future (lots of injuries only reveal themselves a few hours later). Might get myself a camera for this kind of situation after reading this! What does the law have to say about deliberately not avoiding such a collision? If by trying to avoid a collision you potentially put yourself in a very dangerous position i.e. by swerving into moving traffic then could it ever be justified that you try to slow as much as possible but deliberately stay on course and crash into the pedestrian?

[OldRidgeback]

British Cycling membership
British Cycling membership gives decent insurance coverage for stuff like this. It is a pity you weren’t able to get details from the pedestrian, but in the heat of the moment this isn’t always possible which I do appreciate. That area is very well covered by CCTV.

You might want to try reporting it to the cops. The person did leave the scene of an accident, which is an offence. Whether the cops will pursue it is another matter and they might just say the pedestrian is unidentifiable, which you are aware of as you commented on It yourself.

Some years ago now I had an incident with two Danish tourists who looked the wrong way before stepping straight out in front of me. Like you, I ride with my hands covering the brakes and I was able to brake sharply, slowing down considerably before impact. We all hit the deck but there were only cuts, bruises and a couple of dented egos. They were most apologetic.

My wife had a similar incident on her commute when a Polish woman looked the wrong way and stepped out. In that instance, the wire basket on the front of my wife’s bike took the primary impact and was squished out of shape. My wife had cuts and bruises and so did the pedestrian but neither was badly hurt. Without that wire basket to act like a crumple zone I’m pretty certain there would have been some injuries to either, or both of them. As a safety device, I reckon having a basket on the front of your bike makes sense, I can’t quite bring myself to fit one to my commuting bike though.

[londoncommute]

Sorry to hear about that.
Sorry to hear about that. Sounds nasty.

Nightmare really as at the end of day getting any money out of another party who is uninsured will be almost impossible (unless they happen to be very rich and very apologetic). Ambulance chasing solicitors may have their faults but the whole process of claiming from a car driver is relatively easy these days. I can’t imagine it would be fun chasing an individual through the courts at your own expense.

I guess, having your own insurance is the best option but I thought (maybe wrongly) that it’s pretty extortionate?

[Al__S]

I think (though you’re best
I think (though you’re best enquiring) that my ETA insurance would cover this: https://www.eta.co.uk/insurance/cycle/what-we-cover/

Fully comp bike insurance that includes breakdown cover…

[hampstead_bandit]

@cxr
I always ride on the
@cxr

I always ride on the hoods whilst commuting, the shimano hydraulics allow full stopping power from the hoods.

Unfortunately, no time to shout or brake hard, just to react which meant swerving to avoid a collision and skidding, augering in to the road = 🙁

[CXR94Di2]

Well it will make you shout
Well it will make you shout out in future and ride covering the brakes more often.

[hampstead_bandit]

@cxr
Thanks for the advice. I
@cxr

Thanks for the advice. I am not looking to go after the man who walked into the road this morning, as I am unsure he could be identified, and unsure what I could do as the witnesses have dispersed.

Just wondering what to do in the future if/when it happens again?

I can’t be alone in thinking this must have happened to other cyclists?

[Author]

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