Emergency Advice needed please (crash)

[Kiri]

Hi guys.
I have been in a car accident.
All was fine until this evening when the women driving changed her mind on offering to pay for my repairs.
I wasn't going to claim compensation as she came across as a genuinely kind person who knew she had done wrong and wanted to rectify it by paying for my repairs.

This is what happened in detail.

I was riding my bicycle at 6am to work.
No helmet *yes I know, bad start*
I don't ride on the rode anymore as everytime I do, cars are too reckless and ignorant to their surroundings.
So I ride on the pavement where and when I can.
I was riding across the road which is a side road, fit for only one car driving through that road at a time, so the pavement on both sides of the road are very close and less then 3 meters apart.
There were cars parked close to the edge obstructing her view.
The moment my wheel went from pavement to road she came out of nowhere, to which I noticed she was looking right...
The road she was about to join was a one way left only road, so she's clearly looking for oncoming cars to see when she can jump on.
But because she was only looking right she didn't see I'd already entered the road from the pavement.
I was positioned literally dead splat in front of her car when she hit me.
And was still looking right for at least a second or two while I was clinging to her bonnet shouting stop.
She stopped and I had now gone flying to my feet " cat like relex" from my bike, kind of like trying to catch my feet as IV been thrown back and my bike is falling over if that makes sense, I didn't land on the floor in short, I managed to step over my bike as it landed.
Anyway
From this point my right shoulder was in agony and I had thought it was broken as I couldn't lift it for a few seconds and was in shock.
In seconds I regained function of it and could tell it wasn't broken.
In that moment she got out and I braced myself for what I thought was going to be a person justifying what happened etc, this was not the case, she was also in shock as she nearly killed me, so I took a breather said I need to call work and tell them, she offered to call them for me as I was struggling to use my phone, again the pain and shock.
I managed to call work an explain.
Moving on
She then offered to take me to hospital or home, I told her I need a minute to think as i just got run over and in 30 seconds my mind was merely set on not losing my job
She parked to the side of the road and said she was going to get her partner to help.
She came back with him and then he was offering to out my mangled bike in the car and drive me home, I took the offer, meanwhile she says to me can she at least pay for the repairs of the bike.
I said really, you don't mind.
IV not been in an accident before and not thinking about my bike repair took her up in the offer.
I took the bike to the shop and told them it needs fixing etc.
My wheels were bent, chain bent, scratch's etc.
I was told they will go over it and call me with a quote.
I then text her first saying

"Hey kayleigh, just come out of hospital from x-ray, all is fine, no break, just bruising.
Hopefully you have caught your breath and calmed down, scary stuff I know.
Thank you and your partner for helping me and offering to pay for my bicycle repair.
Don't worry I won't be taking advantage of the situation and running the bill up, merely the repairs needed.
As far as I could tell it's just the chain mechanism and maybe the wheels which usually can be bent back into shape.

Again, it was an early morning, and those cars shouldn't be allowed to park so close to the edge as it restricts your vision.

Hope your bumper and bonnet aren't too badly damaged.

Will contact you when I get the quote from the bike shop across the road.

Have a tea and relax

That was at 9am

This evening at 8pm I get a text from her

Hi kiri. Thank you for your message.Glad to hear nothing is broken and hope you're not too sore. Sorry for not getting back to you sooner I have limited access to my phone at work.

As you were injured I filed the incident with the Local police. We have some damage to our bonnet and bumper also.

This morning I am certain I checked for pedestrians crossing on the footpath and also for traffic approaching from my right on the road. I did not see you approaching from my right hand side. You came from my left side.

On reflection of this I do not feel it would be appropriate to pay the repair costs. If you would like to pursue this through insurance companies please let me know and we can exchange insurance details.

Once again I am glad to hear you are not seriously hurt and wish you well.
Kayleigh

All day my friends and family said claim compensation.
I said no, I'm not like that, she had an accident, was also in shock and offered to right the wrongs and pay her dues.
Making her insurance go up won't teach her anything more then she learned already, she won't forget to drive slower and look both ways in future as she had a shock of almost killing someone today...

This is who I am, I believe in karma, she was doing what she was supposed to, looking out for her fellow man.

Now I'm stuck....IV put the bike in the shop waiting on a quote and she's not going to pay

I have no proof other then hoping there are cameras that caught it.
I text her saying thank you for offering to pay for the bike repairs, I will contact you when I get the quote from the repair shop
She confirms it's true that she offered to pay by now saying she doesn't feel it's appropriate to pay for the repairs...
What do I do people

I don't have insurance and she's trying to pull a fast one on me, her bonnet and bumper was actually fine, i was just being polite and not trying to make it all about me and showing I cared

I made a police report an hour ago and will be going to the police station tomorrow afternoon to talk to them about what she has done.

Is there anyone who could help me
Treat me like a complete dumbarse
I know nothing of what I should have done or be doing.
I didn't get her numberplate because it didn't cross my mind but I don't care for it as I have her number which will be registered to her so they can track her down if she trusts to hide or withhold information

My shoulder is quite bad, I can't lift it past 45 degrees and can't lift or push with it, I'm a chef and that's my good arm.

Please people, someone help me with information
I'm hoping there are other people like me out there with the same type of heart...I just got screwed for caring for others even when I'm the victim

[100%JR]

I don't ride on the rode anymore as everytime I do, cars are too reckless and ignorant to their surroundings.
So I ride on the pavement where and when I can.
I was riding across the road which is a side road, fit for only one car driving through that road at a time, so the pavement on both sides of the road are very close and less then 3 meters apart.
There were cars parked close to the edge obstructing her view.
The moment my wheel went from pavement to road she came out of nowhere, to which I noticed she was looking right...

Riding on the pavement is illegal unless it is a designated cycle-path.
It appears you were crossing the road?If that is correct you should not cross unless it's clear to do so.Did you stop to make sure there road was clear?

So as you were riding illegally and entering the road from the pavement then I'm afraid you are at fault!
I'm surprised the driver of the car didn't push for you to pay for the repairs to her vehicle!

[eileithyia]

Hello and welcome.

I am finding your explanation of the accident a bit confusing. From what I understand you were on the pavement and rode off it from behind parked cars in order to cross a road? Pardon for me sounding harsh but was that then not your fault? I live on a road that ends in a T-junction with a main road and has shops on the two adjacent corners. Cars park right up to the junction. It is a regular occurrence that pedestrians and pavement cyclists just cross from behind parked cars without consideration to vehicles on the side road approaching the main road. Luckily I watch out for it.

There are at least two threads that deal with similar situations where a driver has offered payment initially only to withdraw the offer later on.
Might be worth doing a search. Potentially you have insurance via your household policy and/or work based union / professional body.

You might be best to discuss with an accident claims solicitor dealing with cycling specific accidents. Establishing fault might be the first priority.

If it is established the driver was at fault, you might well be entitled to claim injury compensation; you say your shoulder is still sore with limited movement. You also mentioned you were worried about losing your job.... if you cannot function properly at work (and home and leisure) and it has an impact on your job you could be financially disadvantaged by this... compensation is there to aid recompense you for this.

I would make getting an appointment to speak to a solicitor a priority. Hopefully you have more than just a phone number and have registration / address details.

[Vorpal]

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear of your crash, and glad that you're okay.

As you were already in the junction, when the driver approached it, despite having been on the pavement, I don't think that you are to blame.

However, we cannot give legal advice, here. Other threads have lots of information on them.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=124726
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=116178

These have links to other threads which have pertinenet information.

[Lance Dopestrong]

Let your insurer arguenit out with hers. Thats what we pay them for. If it looks protracted your insurer will likely assign a solicitor (or, more likely, a legal rep specialising in such matters, but it's much the same thing from our perspective). EDIT. Sorry, just read it again and see you're uninsured. Find a solicitor who specialises in such matters and who does initial consultations for free.

Never enter into a dialogue beyond what's reasonably necessary at the scene if the incident. In all my years of riding and instructing, I only know personally of one driver who paid up quickly and the full amount without going through insurers, and he was a Catholic priest, so his big boss probably made him do so.

Aside from the grief of their dilly dallying, if drivers dont claim thein their insurers dont find out about it, and they never pay foe the true cost of their driving standards.

As to who was at fault in your scenario, either morally or legally, I'd hesitate to say. I didn't witness it, and have only one uncorroborated account to consider. The fact that you were riding unlawfully immediately prior to the collision doesn't bode well, and your admission that you ride unlawfully whenever you can is best kept to yourself. Try and avoid phrases like "came out of nowhere", because they clearly did not, and thats indicative of poor observation by yourself at the time of the incident.

But the important thing is that you've survived and are mainly imtact. For that we can be thankful.

[Vorpal]

House contents insurance is likely to cover this, if you have it.

[Psamathe]

House contents insurance is likely to cover this, if you have it.

Most policies I've had recently it has been an option you can chose to include (at extra cost) or not (to get a lower premium).

Ian

[atlas_shrugged]

Sorry about the crash and injury.

What should happen is default liability as they have in EU countries like France and Germany. The motor vehicle is presumed to be liable unless they can prove otherwise. This saves everybody's time and money.

If you have reasonable costs to claim then I would claim against her insurance company. Do not hold your breath waiting for any result. These things can take years.

She on the other hand will (on advice) be refusing to admit any liability. I would have thought her insurance company will see sense and pay up if the costs are reasonable since this will be cheaper than arguing the case.

You did the right thing to report the crash to the police so that your crash appears in the official STATS19 statistics so that we can bring about full segregation of vulnerable road users at junctions and road crossings.

[Lance Dopestrong]

This saves everybody's time and money.

Except that of innocent motorists and their insurers.

[Vorpal]

This saves everybody's time and money.

Except that of innocent motorists and their insurers.

Except that driving a few tonnes of metal around comes with responsibility to others.

[thirdcrank]

I think it's fair to say that other countries have different legal systems although few of the explanations I've read on here have amounted to anything more than urban myth.

It's irrelevant here, as the OP can't wait for a fundamental change in our legal system, which is not going to happen post-Brexit anyway.

(On the few tonnes of metal theme, in either the 20% or 30% contributory negligence thread, the judges made it pretty clear that the driver of a big lorry did have extra responsibilities with regard to vulnerable road users.)

===============================================================================
PS Form the judgment:

As to apportionment of liability, the judge found the major responsibility lay with the defendant. He said that the causative potency of the HGV was highly significant in assessing apportionment, given the likelihood of very serious injury to a cyclist in the event of collision. The HGV was potentially a dangerous machine, which, had the defendant exercised reasonable care, would not have turned across the path of the claimant. In the circumstances the claimant was found to be 30% contributorily liable.

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2017/79.html

That judgment triggered this thread
viewtopic.php?p=1101861#p1101861

Be that as it may, the only course open to the OP here IMO is to see a specialist lawyer who will operate on some version of no win, no fee.

[100%JR]

This saves everybody's time and money.

Except that of innocent motorists and their insurers.

Except that driving a few tonnes of metal around comes with responsibility to others.

Yes but you can't be responsible for someone else's wrong doings!
From what I can make out the OP rode out from behind parked car across to road.How can the car driver be responsible for that?
I think the OP needs to clarify exactly how he/she entered the road.
I see it all the time..stepping out into the road with headphones on and their face buried in the phone."Cyclists"(and I use that term broadly) riding on the pavement then riding across the carriageway as and when they see fit,I even whitnessed two young lads on BMX riding the wrong way down a local dual carriage way..straight down the central white lines causing all cars to slow down and make way for them
!As a driver how is it my responsibility to look after them?

[mjr]

No helmet *yes I know, bad start*

This is not a problem at this point IMO.

I don't ride on the rode anymore as everytime I do, cars are too reckless and ignorant to their surroundings.
So I ride on the pavement where and when I can.

This, however, is a problem. It is defensible to use some footways sometimes despite it being an offence, if the road conditions make you fear for your life (the Boateng advice)... however, riding on them all the time makes it easy to portray you as unreasonable and the reckless one

But:

I was riding across the road which is a side road, fit for only one car driving through that road at a time, so the pavement on both sides of the road are very close and less then 3 meters apart.
There were cars parked close to the edge obstructing her view.
The moment my wheel went from pavement to road she came out of nowhere, to which I noticed she was looking right...

This is a mess because she can't have come "out of nowhere" so maybe the parked cars obstructed your view too - but if she struck you, then you were in the road first and she shouldn't have driven into you. A reasonable rule of thumb in insurance terms is that whoever drove into who is more liable. So you may be able to claim.

Making her insurance go up won't teach her anything more then she learned already, she won't forget to drive slower and look both ways in future as she had a shock of almost killing someone today...

Her insurance is probably going to go up anyway. She has to report the collision to them even if you don't claim. Don't worry about that.

I don't have insurance [...]

OK, if you really don't, not on your home insurance or through membership of Cycling UK or British Cycling or a similar club, I'd try https://legal.wiggle.co.uk/ if I were you. Because there's a physical injury and that's where the money seems to be made, I suspect they will at least consider the case.

I didn't get her numberplate because it didn't cross my mind but I don't care for it as I have her number which will be registered to her so they can track her down if she trusts to hide or withhold information

Do you have her name and ideally an address? It would have been better if you got her number plate because it's easier for insurers to trace that back to a policy, but that chance has probably gone now.

I think in the last message she offered her insurance details so ask for those immediately. If she won't offer them after all, I think if it's been reported to the police, then the insurers can obtain details from them.

House contents insurance is likely to cover this, if you have it.

Most policies I've had recently it has been an option you can chose to include (at extra cost) or not (to get a lower premium).

Yes. I think most home policies now include only third-party liability cover (so you are insured if someone tries to claim damages off you) but legal cover (if you want to claim the cost of damage someone did to you) is an optional extra.

Yes but you can't be responsible for someone else's wrong doings!
From what I can make out the OP rode out from behind parked car across to road.How can the car driver be responsible for that?

The car driver isn't responsible for that, but they are responsible for driving so they can stop within what they can see to be clear, which is both a condition of one's driving licence (so not doing so is normally careless driving at least) and Highway Code rule 126. In this case, it sounds like the driver was passing parked cars close enough to be effectively blinded by them, on top of probably only looking towards where cars that can injure them were coming from.

Of course, we know that in practice now motorists are usually excused if they hit someone who steps out into the road carelessly, but that seems to be courts lowering the standards for various reasons (probably because most judges and juries are drivers).

[simonhill]

As ever, with only one person's story, it is difficult to be objective. Nonetheless, I tend to agree with the view that the OP rode straight from the pavement onto the road without seeing or possibly looking for the car. It is a narrow road, near to a junction and it seems unlikely that the car was going so fast as to have been out of sight when OP started to cross.

As a cyclist, driver and pedestrian, I think anyone crossing the road, particularly when obscured by parked cars has a responsibility to make sure the way is clear. To say that motorists should go slow enough to avoid anyone coming out from the side is crazy. Imagine if we insisted cyclists did this.

This sort of occurrence is all to common when people ride on the pavement. They have to cross side roads and rarely do the green cross code type of care ie stop. look both ways, etc.

One other thing - as it was 6am, I think this was in lighting up time, so did both parties have their lights on?

[Lance Dopestrong]

It is defensible to use some footway...

..until it goes wrong, then you're up the proverbial creek without a means of propulsion.