Search found 151 matches

by jatindersangha
11 May 2022, 9:21am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Cycling accident and compensation.
Replies: 30
Views: 3740

Re: Cycling accident and compensation.

I had a minor accident - walking across a petrol station forecourt, when someone leaving a pump drove over my foot, knocking me to the floor. He then reversed, drove around me and then drove off. I managed to get the number plate etc. I ended up with a sore foot for a couple of weeks.

I went with Leigh Day solicitors - who got me £1800 in compensation via the drivers solicitors. I'd wholeheartedly recommend them.

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
16 May 2021, 8:50pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Small claims court for minor accident - any advice?
Replies: 22
Views: 2525

Re: Small claims court for minor accident - any advice?

You can get the insurance details of the car via https://www.askmid.com/askmidenquiry.aspx for £4.50.

I'd recommend going through a solicitor (eg. Leigh Day) and have them handle everything on a no-win/no-fee basis. They should be able to get additional compensation from the driver's insurance for the pain, public transport costs, time off work etc.

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
1 Oct 2020, 4:02pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Van driver abuse
Replies: 46
Views: 2357

Re: Van driver abuse

peetee wrote:He found me several junctions later. He had circled round the village and he was driving towards me, so was facing the same way as when the incident occurred and therefore was primed for a scrap, not on his way elsewhere.


If the reporting process permits it - you should say that your were "targeted" - after the first altercation, he targeted you and went out of his way to find you.

I'd have reported it via 999.

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
13 Aug 2020, 4:30pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread
Replies: 123
Views: 4124

Re: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread

Just to be clear, my "cycling mate" is just an acquaintance that lives nearby - he works for the London Met not Surrey Police.

I don't think he has any desire to report bad driving and has no desire to help other cyclists with their reports etc, even if he's witnessed them!

I repeat, he's an acquaintance, that I wave to when cycling and we have occasionally cycled home together from the train station.

I don't think I would advise anyone to cycle on double yellow lines - but that is exactly where he cycles and does so very quickly!

--Jatinder

Edit: We used to ride from the station quite often (once a week or so) for a few weeks - before I changed my route and cycled to/from a different train station.
by jatindersangha
12 Aug 2020, 4:07pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread
Replies: 123
Views: 4124

Re: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread

Yes, Surrey police do have probably the same service as the Met now. You can fill the forms in online, upload files and/or add links to youtube etc.

The process is relatively quick - maybe takes 1-2 hours - generating a slow-motion video and/or trimming videos is time consuming.

I've reported 2 incidents to the City of London police - both resulted in action (1 driving course, 1 6pts on licence).

Surrey TPU have told me that as there's no minimum passing distance defined in law - then they won't prosecute a close-pass unless there are other aspects such as road-rage etc.

I've previously sent them videos of motorists overtaking just before blind bends etc - and I believe that Surrey TPU just ignores them.

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
11 Aug 2020, 10:28am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread
Replies: 123
Views: 4124

Re: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread

Hi all,

Thinking about positioning etc and on the roads I normally ride on - I believe my normal riding position is probably 30cm away from the edge of drains. I do try to avoid riding over large metal covers etc - and so this could be the "wandering" that was mentioned. I always do a shoulder check before pulling out and If I know/suspect there's a vehicle close behind me - then I'll just slow down and go over the metal cover as the last thing I want to do is move out unnecessarily directly in front of a motor vehicle.

When the road is 3m wide or less (majority of the roads near here), then effectively, I'm taking up a 3rd or more of the road whilst riding in secondary. I've seen some riders ride on the yellow lines near the kerb and watch them going up and down over the drains etc - that is not for me. In fact, an acquaintance of mine is a police officer and I used to often meet him whilst we were both cycling home from the train station. I couldn't believe how fast and how close he rode to the kerb without hitting the pedals on them etc.

Other roads, such as one I used to commute on was barely 2.5m wide. In the morning, with very little traffic, I'd ride secondary to allow drivers to overtake until I reached a blind bend when I'd go to primary. The number of drivers who performed close-passes either in the straight section or the blind bends convinced me to go to primary well before the bend. In the evening I'd always ride primary due to the level of traffic in the oncoming lane. Drivers could still overtake but would have to find a suitable gap in the oncoming traffic and move over - 9 times out of 10 there'd be no close passes or incidents.

As I say, on a 3m wide road, any cyclist that's not in the gutter has effectively taken the lane because any overtaking vehicle will have to be mostly in the other lane in order to give 1m clearance.

Re the video from Pebbles, given the speed, bends and the need to be visible - that's exactly where I'd be riding.

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 4:03pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Witness or victim?
Replies: 59
Views: 3587

Re: Witness or victim?

Cowsham wrote::lol: just one question -- do you drive a car?


Yes, and strangely, regardless of how slowly I drive or my positioning, I'm not subjected to the same level of abuse from motorists as when I'm cycling.

Whilst driving, I've even been known to be courteous and considerate to cyclists ;-)

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 4:03pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread
Replies: 123
Views: 4124

Re: Witness or victim?

Cowsham wrote::lol: just one question -- do you drive a car?


Yes, and strangely, regardless of how slowly I drive or my positioning, I'm not subjected to the same level of abuse from motorists as when I'm cycling.

Whilst driving, I've even been known to be courteous and considerate to cyclists ;-)

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 2:50pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Witness or victim?
Replies: 59
Views: 3587

Re: Witness or victim?

Cowsham wrote:Anybody got a link to the motorcyclist tapping him on the head ?


Original thread here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=117261

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 2:50pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread
Replies: 123
Views: 4124

Re: Witness or victim?

Cowsham wrote:Anybody got a link to the motorcyclist tapping him on the head ?


Original thread here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=117261

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 2:44pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Witness or victim?
Replies: 59
Views: 3587

Re: Witness or victim?

Cowsham wrote:Just watched the " normal speed version " or as I'd like to call it " how not to cycle in traffic "

https://youtu.be/4BQkXBiQBNs

One piece of advice mate --- don't ever take up motorcycling !


In all seriousness, I have been thinking of doing an intensive motorcycle course ;-)

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 2:44pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread
Replies: 123
Views: 4124

Re: Witness or victim?

Cowsham wrote:Just watched the " normal speed version " or as I'd like to call it " how not to cycle in traffic "

https://youtu.be/4BQkXBiQBNs

One piece of advice mate --- don't ever take up motorcycling !


In all seriousness, I have been thinking of doing an intensive motorcycle course ;-)

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 2:10pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread
Replies: 123
Views: 4124

Re: Witness or victim?

slowster wrote:... - probably the greatest control the OP had over the Warburtons lorry was where it would overtake him, and slowing down would have resulted in the overtake well before the danger zone of the hill.


Yes, I think that would have been the safest option and it is something I've done at that spot on a few occasions with cars/vans. Not sure why I didn't do that on that particular occasion - I think it may have been disbelief that the HGV driver even considered overtaking there as a possibility.

[quote="slowster]
Similarly with the staggered junction, keeping left in that situation would have controlled how close the van passed, because the van travelled in a straight line from its position in the middle of the road towards the junction.[/quote]

I'm in two minds about this one - by the time the van is at the corner of the road, ie. the nearest position to the kerb whilst moving left through the staggered junction - there certainly wouldn't have been enough room to pass a cyclist safely - given the driver was quite willing to perform this manoeuvre indicates to me that if I'd been further to the left the same would have happened except I'd be nearer the kerb and possibly unable to move further left.

The case with the van was strange - the company owning the van identified the driver; the driver refused to admit he was driving etc and so received 6 points on his licence. I have no idea if the company censured him in some way but it takes a "special" kind of person to drive like that and make such denials to his employer and the police. I'd be very surprised if he wasn't driving like that today...after all, how many vulnerable road users actually have cameras and actually make police reports?

I used to work in the City of London and many of my colleagues cycled to work and had similar examples of dangerous driving, some of them even had cameras but very rarely (if ever) made police reports because either they weren't bothered or didn't think the police would do anything.

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 9:23am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Road position discussion from 'Witness or victim' thread
Replies: 123
Views: 4124

Re: Witness or victim?

Hi all,

Within this thread, these words were used to describe the driving of the Golf - "The car approaches slowly and cautiously giving room". "wasn't really a close pass".

I disagree with both of those. The driver may have initially wanted to overtake safely but let his desire to get in front trump everything else. The two cars in front of the Golf overtook with most of the vehicle in the oncoming lane. The driver of the Golf just about gets his offside wheels over the central line, sees the oncoming car so speeds up and starts to pull in.

Video at full speed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BQkXBiQBNs

1st 40 seconds is rear/forward video of the incident - and the rest is the same but just longer segments so that you can see the other overtakes. From traffic lights I was overtaken by a number of cars - the one by a Mazda MX-5(?) convertible was fast and close too - another driver who couldn't be bothered to wait for an oncoming vehicle to pass before overtaking.

From what I see in the video, once I'm overtaken by the white Transit - there's quite a gap behind me to the Golf - which moves over and I suspect can clearly see the oncoming vehicle but decides to speed up and overtake anyway - 5seconds after the Transit has overtaken me. The driver of the Golf then starts pulling in before he's even reached me.

Remember, this incident occurred during the early days of lockdown - and the roads were essentially very quiet. This stretch of the A322 was the busiest section that day - and of the 18miles I cycled that day - this was the only section I felt unsafe on due to the actions of those two drivers (Golf & Mazda).

--Jatinder
by jatindersangha
7 Aug 2020, 9:23am
Forum: On the road
Topic: Witness or victim?
Replies: 59
Views: 3587

Re: Witness or victim?

Hi all,

Within this thread, these words were used to describe the driving of the Golf - "The car approaches slowly and cautiously giving room". "wasn't really a close pass".

I disagree with both of those. The driver may have initially wanted to overtake safely but let his desire to get in front trump everything else. The two cars in front of the Golf overtook with most of the vehicle in the oncoming lane. The driver of the Golf just about gets his offside wheels over the central line, sees the oncoming car so speeds up and starts to pull in.

Video at full speed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BQkXBiQBNs

1st 40 seconds is rear/forward video of the incident - and the rest is the same but just longer segments so that you can see the other overtakes. From traffic lights I was overtaken by a number of cars - the one by a Mazda MX-5(?) convertible was fast and close too - another driver who couldn't be bothered to wait for an oncoming vehicle to pass before overtaking.

From what I see in the video, once I'm overtaken by the white Transit - there's quite a gap behind me to the Golf - which moves over and I suspect can clearly see the oncoming vehicle but decides to speed up and overtake anyway - 5seconds after the Transit has overtaken me. The driver of the Golf then starts pulling in before he's even reached me.

Remember, this incident occurred during the early days of lockdown - and the roads were essentially very quiet. This stretch of the A322 was the busiest section that day - and of the 18miles I cycled that day - this was the only section I felt unsafe on due to the actions of those two drivers (Golf & Mazda).

--Jatinder