[osullic]

Hello all, just looking for a little feedback.

I’ll try not to make this too long. I was knocked off my bike on Sunday by a car. Thankfully, I wasn’t injured. Aside from some scuffing to my handlebars, the main damage was a cracked phone screen – which had been securely mounted to the handlebars, for navigation purposes.

I was cycling in London in a bike lane, alongside a queue of traffic that was stopped due to roadworks ahead. One impatient driver took a swift left turn into a side street, without looking/indicating. I consider myself a safe cyclist – following rules and watching out for idiot drivers. At the same time, I don’t cycle at a snail’s pace. I braked as much as possible, but didn’t have enough time/space, so collided with the passenger side of the car and fell to the ground. I picked myself up pretty quickly. The car slowed, but I suppose once they saw me standing again, they just drove away. I didn’t see the driver at all. I’m not sure if I dented the side of the car. I memorised the registration number.

I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to do. I called the police about 30 minutes later, and the guy I spoke to said that I should “definitely, definitely” report it on the police website, which I did. I said I wasn’t injured, just a little shocked, and he said that shock is itself an injury. I’ve since received some formulaic confirmation that an investigation has been opened.

Most of all I’m annoyed about the cracked phone screen and the fact that the driver didn’t even get out of their car. But of course, it could have been a lot worse.

While there were witnesses (someone in another car shouted something), I didn’t take anyone’s details. I don’t video my cycles – though I’ve since bought a GoPro mount, so will start to do it.

Basically what I’m wondering is if anyone knows what will happen in this case. I’m not expecting a prosecution – there was no serious damage/injury, and not a whole lot of evidence. But I wonder will that driver even get a knock on their door from a police officer? Will they even know that it’s being looked into?

Sorry for the rant.

Topic

[Mungecrundle]

If you have the registration

If you have the registration and a Police incident number then you could get car insurance details from the Motor Insurance Bureau. It costs £4.50 and you would still have to roll the dice in submitting a claim to any insurance company identified.

https://www.mib.org.uk/check-insurance-details/check-a-vehicle-not-at-the-roadside-after-an-accident/

Don’t hold out on any Police follow up unless there are other reasons why they may want to speak to the owner of the car. Unfortunately, whilst these incidents are quite big deals for the person getting run off the road, and the information does go into the database of naughty deeds, they hardly blip the radar of more important things that a limited Police force can be doing with their time.

Caveats:

1. Motor might not be insured.

2. Without video evidence or independent witness statement, any claim for damages might be weak. However, the driver might get a nasty surprise when they come to renew.

3. Story on this site recently about a claim by a cyclist (non fault) against a car driver resulting in some confusion when the cyclist attempted to renew their car insurance and didn’t include the cycle collision on the proposal form. Apparently they count.

Hope you are not put off cycling, but fit that camera!

 

HTH M

[the little onion]

Best of luck in your physical

Best of luck in your physical and psychological recovery.

 

A crime has been committed (failing to stop at the scene of an accident) by the driver, so that needs to be enforced. You will get a crime reference number, if the police are doing their jobs properly. Hopefully they will put the effort into tracing the driver, at which point you can claim from their insurers. The police should provide you with details of their insurers, if they catch them

There is a way of claiming for damages in hit and run where the driver isn’t identified. Apologies for lack of details.

Finally, this is where membership of Cycling UK or British cycling is great – they provide truly excellent support and insurance in these circumstances. Also, you may want to check if you have cycling cover as part of your work benefits – a lot of big employers (councils, NHS, universities, big companies) have it as part of their general package of incentives to encourage cycling to work. But it may not be widely advertised to employees.

[Author]

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