Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

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Msb1406
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Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Msb1406 »

Hi there,
On my way to work this morning I was cycling along a road ( no traffic lights, no bike lane) going straight whilst cycling on the left hand side (not the middle of the road) along slow moving traffic and as I cycled past a gas station a car coming from the opposite side turned into the gas station hitting me from the right.
Bike front wheel bend, steering wheel facing wrong way, and I hit the floor on my left side hurting my knee and knocking my head (wasn't wearing helmet, stupid, I know). It was a taxi driver who was quick to offer me 150 quid I assume so it wouldn't affect his insurance and job. I accepted as I was quite shaken. Should I have asked for more? Make it a case? Other drivers mentioned they thought he wasn't paying attention, perhaps on his phone but no real evidence of this.
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mjr
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by mjr »

Msb1406 wrote:Hi there,
On my way to work this morning I was cycling along a road ( no traffic lights, no bike lane) going straight whilst cycling on the left hand side (not the middle of the road) along slow moving traffic and as I cycled past a gas station a car coming from the opposite side turned into the gas station hitting me from the right.
Bike front wheel bend, steering wheel facing wrong way, and I hit the floor on my left side hurting my knee and knocking my head (wasn't wearing helmet, stupid, I know). It was a taxi driver who was quick to offer me 150 quid I assume so it wouldn't affect his insurance and job. I accepted as I was quite shaken. Should I have asked for more? Make it a case? Other drivers mentioned they thought he wasn't paying attention, perhaps on his phone but no real evidence of this.

You suffered what was known as a "right cross" and it's one of the most common collision types. You know how much you were hurt, how much it'll cost to fix the bike and whether 150 was reasonable - I hope that no further injuries or loss becomes apparent because I suspect having accepted the 150 there may complicate things if you have lost more and try to claim for it. Not wearing a helmet shouldn't be a major problem - most riders don't, according to the statistics, and there's a whole forum discussing helmet-wearing and things like whether it makes drivers more likely to take risks with your safety, so I wouldn't dismiss non-wearing as stupid - but some insurers may try to suggest otherwise and reduce compensation as a result.

I wouldn't have accepted it. I think legally, the taxi driver has probably committed some driving offences (I can think of almost nothing you could have been doing to make him cutting across you seem OK) and offering a quick cash settlement and no insurance details probably means that he intends to fail to report this injury collision to the police, which I think is also a criminal offence (as well as unhelpful to people planning road improvements who need to see where the injuries are happening to see where the problems are). I guess it's up to you whether you feel a moral problem with reporting the collision to the police yourself and possibly causing further (deserved, in my opinion) problems for a bad taxi driver.

If you're a CUK member, you could ask their legal advice service https://www.slatergordon.co.uk/unions-f ... ities/ctc/ - there's a link on there for non-members, too, but I don't like S+G much because of anti-cycling stuff they've published so I'd use https://legal.wiggle.co.uk/ or whoever Sustrans suggest (if any).

I'm just another cyclist, not any sort of legal advice. Do what you think best.
Last edited by mjr on 21 Aug 2018, 1:06pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Cyril Haearn »

The "accident" should be recorded
You may be more seriously injured than you realise, this may only become apparent later
Witnesses are important too
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thirdcrank
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by thirdcrank »

A streetview of the location would be useful
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Pastychomper
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Pastychomper »

Personally I probably would have taken the payment on the spot as long as I thought it would cover the damage to self and bike. I've worn/damaged enough bikes over the years to be reasonably confident at assessing the likely cost, though hidden damage is something to consider.

The only thing that might make me hesitate is the fact that he was a professional driver, so I'd be all the more tempted to wonder how often he's done this before and if this should be reported just in case. On the other hand I have some bias against taxi drivers and it wouldn't be fair to be awkward just because of that, plus just about every 'off' I've had on a bike so far was a result of my own (temporary?) stupidity and I've been more careful afterwards, so I'd hope the driver would also learn from his mistake. There's no way of knowing he would, of course.

If he did offer the money purely to avoid legal (or insurance) repercussions than I'd argue that the law was doing its job by encouraging him to make good the damage, and your not having to spend extra time or involve a legal seagull was a bonus. Again, that's assuming it did cover all the damage.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Professional driver?
I prefer amateurs :wink:
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Vorpal »

If you are okay with the outcome, I don't think it makes much difference. If you are not satisfied, you need to decide if you want to do anything about it. If you do want to do something about it, you probably need to report it to the police before you take any other steps.

The police approach varies a bit from one area to another. In many jurisdictions, they are unlikely to do more than 'have a word' with the driver. I think the most you could hope for in any case, would be points on his licence, and damages (in excess of what was already paid).

Having accepted £150 may complicate things with regard to compensation, thoguh it may help you a little that by offering payment, the driver effectively admitted liability.

The matter of the payment should have no bearing on how the police deal with it, as the criminal aspect and liability are treated separately; one by the police and the other by insurance or, as in this case, personal agreement. You could potentially still report it to police without making any further claims for compensation.

Lastly, I think that everyone understands that in moment it can be difficult to make decisions about such things. It may be worth thinking about what would you do differently another time; planning a bit, when you are capable of thinking about it.

P.s. disclaimer: a cycling forum is probably not the best place for legal advice, if you decide you need it

There are a couple of threads that could be useful, if you decide you want to go further with this
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=69901
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49627
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Cugel
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Cugel »

Msb1406 wrote:Hi there,
On my way to work this morning I was cycling along a road ( no traffic lights, no bike lane) going straight whilst cycling on the left hand side (not the middle of the road) along slow moving traffic and as I cycled past a gas station a car coming from the opposite side turned into the gas station hitting me from the right.
Bike front wheel bend, steering wheel facing wrong way, and I hit the floor on my left side hurting my knee and knocking my head (wasn't wearing helmet, stupid, I know). It was a taxi driver who was quick to offer me 150 quid I assume so it wouldn't affect his insurance and job. I accepted as I was quite shaken. Should I have asked for more? Make it a case? Other drivers mentioned they thought he wasn't paying attention, perhaps on his phone but no real evidence of this.


I don't understand why you would ask an opinion of a lot of people who weren't there and have only your description of the event.

I don't understand why anyone responds to such questions, for the same reason.

Why do people think they can offer valuable opinions on any and everything despite knowing nothing about it? The curse of the fully-franchised democratic nations, eh? :-)

Still, I'll have a go by asking this question: were you cycling along the left hand side of stationary or slower traffic, overtaking it? If so, it might be entirely your fault that a car crossing from oncoming traffic to head through a gap to the petrol station hit you as you suddenly appeared from behind the car it was passing in front of.

But what would I know. I wasn't there.

Cugel
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Yossarian
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Yossarian »

Gas station? Steering wheel?
hemo
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by hemo »

Yossarian wrote:Gas station? Steering wheel?


Unsual terminology to use if this occured in the UK. Even so £150 is paltry to cover a bent wheel, as damage may have been caused to the forks etc as well even if not evident straight away, stress fracture of alloy or steel may occur later and that's without the personnel injury.
Importantly IMHO you have no idea if you have or may have sustained any head injury in the next few days that may not have yet manifested itself. Insurance claim against the Cab/taxi drivers insurance if held would have eaten in to his livelihood and most likely affect his licenec to trade.
In general I find taxi driver road craft to be quite poor for so called professional drivers.

This should have be dealt with by the police as witness's were present and gone through proper sources as this is why insurance is held and is designed to aid the innocent, more so as you sustained a head incident.
Last edited by hemo on 21 Aug 2018, 4:53pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Cyril Haearn »

"Fuel station" might be the correct term, BE British English
Steering wheel??
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landsurfer
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by landsurfer »

When people have offed me cash directly after an accident i am very suspicious about their insurance status ............ :evil:

I never accept and photo the living daylights out of the scene, "accidentally" getting the other party's face on camera at least 2-3 times.
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mjr
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by mjr »

Cugel wrote:Still, I'll have a go by asking this question: were you cycling along the left hand side of stationary or slower traffic, overtaking it? If so, it might be entirely your fault that a car crossing from oncoming traffic to head through a gap to the petrol station hit you as you suddenly appeared from behind the car it was passing in front of.

I don't think even that would make it entirely the rider's fault. The turning driver must still check that all oncoming traffic has stopped. If they can't see over/around a vehicle, they should proceed dead slow with caution until they can, or simply wait until there's a gap in the usual sense as in the highway code. It's not always safe to act on an invitation from a stopped oncoming driver, as many cyclists crossing carriageways have discovered to their cost by being hit by a vehicle overtaking the misguided Samaritan.
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Msb1406
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by Msb1406 »

Yossarian wrote:Gas station? Steering wheel?


I'm foreign living in the UK. Forgive my choice of words.
hemo
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Re: Hit whilst car turned into a gas station

Post by hemo »

Msb1406 wrote:
Yossarian wrote:Gas station? Steering wheel?


I'm foreign living in the UK. Forgive my choice of words.



Fair enough if that is the terminology you are use to.
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