Legal Rights in a Cycle Lane

[floosi]

Hello all!

I am wondering whether anyone has been in a similar situtation to myself and has any advice, as I am struggling to find a concrete answer online about this.

A few weeks I was knocked off my bike in a collision with a car. I was cycling in a cycle lane, and a car turned left ahead of me into a junction and I cycled straight into her. She has shown me CCTV footage of the incident, and in it she indicates before turning but I don't see her indicate and crash into her when she starts her manouvre.As I am in a cycle lane next to slowish moving traffic, I am going a quicker than the cars to the right of me and somehow just don't notice see the woman indicate before she turns left.

Under normal circumstances I would think that I take full blame for this, but because I am in a cycle lane I don't know what my rights are. I do not know whether a cycle lane qualifies as an entirely different lane, and if so, whether the woman has some portion of the blame here as she didn't look in her blind spot and see me before turning across my lane. I completely understand that I should have been more aware of the woman indicating here, of course, but do want to know what my rights, so I can inform the car driver.

I just want to establish what to negtioate in terms of costs, as she is willing to contribute but doesn't think she is to blame. There are about £450 worth of repairs needed on my bike (or an entirely new bike, sigh) so I want to get this right and ask for a fair contribution.

Thank you in advance!

Ruth

[mjr]

There is another similar recent discussion on here but I think a reasonable summary is that both are to blame: you made an unsafe overtake (even though you were in another lane, it was an overtake) but the motorist committed the more serious error of turning across a lane of moving traffic. Indicators only indicate and do not give the user priority.

I'd be careful about admitting any fault. Even minor paint damage to a motor vehicle can cost more than many cycles. I'd contact insurers or legal advisors if you have them - probably CUK if you are a member.

[eileithyia]

I would agree don't admit anything, put it in the hands of a legal team such as CUK's to advise / sort.

[pwa]

To be honest I don't know the legal position with this. It is definitely one for a legal expert. My feeling is that both parties did something wrong. It could be a 50/50 situation.

[PH]

Have a look at highway code Rule 211

...Be especially careful when turning, and when changing direction or lane. Be sure to check mirrors and blind spots carefully...

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway ... 204-to-225
There is a chance that you may be expected to accept a reduced payment for contributing to the accident, but the blame is the drivers. The only similar indecent I know of was a motorcyclist and he was not in a separate lane, that went to court, it was a lot of money as he was off work for months, his compensation was reduced by 20%.
Without an injury claim, you're unlikely to get much legal help from the solicitors that Cycling UK pass you on to, though you may get a bit of preliminary advice.
I wouldn't deal with the driver at all, ask for their insurance details and deal with the insurers. I've just been through the same, though there was no dispute about blame, the whole thing was wrapped up and paid out within a couple of weeks. I found the insurers simple to deal with, they understood the claim and although it was a bit more than yours it still seemed a small matter to them. Halfords did me a repair quote for the bike, I had some loss of earnings which needed demonstrating, and some expenses which needed evidence, once I'd sorted that it was settled with a phone call a couple of days later.

[sizbut]

The Highway Code is your friend:

Clause 133 is pretty clear - the responsibility is on the person changing lanes. She might argue she wasn't, she was turning, but to complete that she crossed your lane:

"If you need to change lane, first use your mirrors and if necessary take a quick sideways glance to make sure you will not force another road user to change course or speed. When it is safe to do so, signal to indicate your intentions to other road users and when clear, move over."


Clause 182 states responsibility even if there is no cycle lane:

"Use your mirrors and give a left-turn signal well before you turn left. Do not overtake just before you turn left and watch out for traffic coming up on your left before you make the turn, especially if driving a large vehicle. Cyclists, motorcyclists and other road users in particular may be hidden from your view."


and the last line of Clause 183 is the kicker:

"When turning
- keep as close to the left as is safe and practicable
- give way to any vehicles using a bus lane, cycle lane or tramway from either direction."

[PH]

There's also Rule 163

stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left

[mjr]

There's also Rule 163

stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left

However, another bit of 163 tells you not to get too close to the vehicle you're overtaking while 167 says not to overtake when passing junctions.

[brooksby]

Isn't an analogy - for understanding blame - that you were driving your car along on the inside lane of a motorway, and lots of cars were queued up in the middle lane (as they do), and one of them suddenly realised that they were passing their junction, briefly indicated, moved over and collided with your car.

[mjr]

Isn't an analogy - for understanding blame - that you were driving your car along on the inside lane of a motorway, and lots of cars were queued up in the middle lane (as they do), and one of them suddenly realised that they were passing their junction, briefly indicated, moved over and collided with your car.

Indeed. That would be shared fault too, more so for insurance than criminality.

[PH]

There's also Rule 163

stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left

However, another bit of 163 tells you not to get too close to the vehicle you're overtaking while 167 says not to overtake when passing junctions.

Yes, which is why there will likely be an element of contribution.
I'd still say give it to the insurers and see what they offer, they're hardly going to call the lawyers in. My guess, and it is just that, is they'll offer around 50% and with a bit of negotiation settle for around 75%. My own recent experience wasn't even handled by a loss adjuster, they made an offer, I asked for £200 more, they offered £100 more and told me that was the final offer and a rejection would transfer the claim to an adjuster, I accepted, money in the bank the day after.

[MOARspeed]

I'm not sure why this is even in debate.............. Remove "cycle" from "cycle lane", imagine two lanes and somebody turns left from the RH lane causing a collision with a car next to them, who is at fault?

The fact that's it's a lane for bicycles, doesn't detract from the fact that it is still a lane.

[mattheus]

I'm not sure why this is even in debate.............. Remove "cycle" from "cycle lane", imagine two lanes and somebody turns left from the RH lane causing a collision with a car next to them, who is at fault?

The fact that's it's a lane for bicycles, doesn't detract from the fact that it is still a lane.

You make a good point, but also add in that your hypothetical car-on-the-left is going faster than the traffic on the right - I think most of us would attribute a little of the blame to the car-on-the-left.

EDIT: I'm not at all certain that this is what happened to our cyclist poster! Apologies if I'm wrong - but anyway, the logic *would* apply, so I'll leave my post as it is ...

[peetee]

The Highway Code is your friend:

Clause 133 is pretty clear - the responsibility is on the person changing lanes. She might argue she wasn't, she was turning, but to complete that she crossed your lane:

"If you need to change lane, first use your mirrors and if necessary take a quick sideways glance to make sure you will not force another road user to change course or speed. When it is safe to do so, signal to indicate your intentions to other road users and when clear, move over."


Clause 182 states responsibility even if there is no cycle lane:

"Use your mirrors and give a left-turn signal well before you turn left. Do not overtake just before you turn left and watch out for traffic coming up on your left before you make the turn, especially if driving a large vehicle. Cyclists, motorcyclists and other road users in particular may be hidden from your view."


and the last line of Clause 183 is the kicker:

"When turning
- keep as close to the left as is safe and practicable
- give way to any vehicles using a bus lane, cycle lane or tramway from either direction."

This summons up what I was thinking and would ask you was the cycle lane/vehicle lane division marked with a continuous white line or a hatched line? If continuous then it only emphasises the fault of the driver. Had you been in a shared bus/cycle lane and driving a bus I wonder if there would be any question over culpability at all?

[floosi]

Hello all!

Many many thanks for taking the time to read this and provide your insight. It has been very useful, and is helping me decide how to proceed with this. I hadn't gotten the woman's insurance involved yet - unfortunately I do not have her insurance details, as I was in shock when it happened and didn't ask, but I do have the reg plate so could maybe look through there. I imagine, due to the price, she is trying not to go through insurance to avoid her premium increasing...

The links to highway code were also particularly useful! And I completely take the point that I was going faster than the cars in the other lane, so share a portion of the blame. I have just joined CUK so hopefully I can speak to them for some legal advice, as I'm hesitant to admit blame at this point in case it gets used against me later. Again, thank you for this piece of advice.

I have never been in this siutation before and haven't had any experience dealing with insurance companies, so i'm not actually sure how to proceed there in terms of asking the woman for her insurance details...I guess I just need to suggest that we do it through insurance because they know the law better?

Thanks once again everyone for your useful, non-judgemental advice!

Ruth