Read this – whos fault is the accident?

June 16, 2011 admin 4 comments

So, I am going to use me as the example, but that is only because it’s easier.

Most of you know I do a bit of off road cycling, less than I used to, admittedly, but I cycle off road becuase cycling on road scares the living daylights out of me – because of the cars.

Now, technically the rule is that a cyclist is entitled to ‘wobble room’.

Some motorists leave me wobble room. Some assume that I am a fixed object and just require missing…and an inch is as good as a mile, right?

Truck drivers are told that they must leave enough room for me to fall off in the road direction and they must still miss my head – I find that reassuring, my helmet meets all the current legislation, but I suspect a truck tyre would squish it in a bit.

Anyway, lets say a motorist caught my elbow with his wing mirror (so far the closest has been a vectra catching the material on my jacket). And, we’d better assume I’m not wobbling all over the shop, I’m cycling where I should be, about 18 inches from the kerb.

So, the motorist catches me, and I fall off.

My bike is a write off and I am injured and can’t work for a while and need alot of treatment and maybe my leg ‘will never be the same again’.

The car has wing mirror damage.

So – do I claim for my bike, lost earnings and treatment off the motorists car insurance?

Well, you’d think so wouldn’t you.

But, if I am not wearing a high vis jacket and reflective ankle clips, apparently that is good enough defence for the motorist and I’ll get diddly squat.

Yes, you catch my drift – if cycle on the road without full reflective garb, then drivers can drive into me with impunity.

Oh, and I know a few of my readers are devients and do ‘running’ – same rules for you too, get your high viz lycra out of the cupboard, black is out, in with neon yellow!

Financial Adviser Southampton, hedge End, social none

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Written by Trudy about 8 months ago.

From my recent experience, cyclists appear to believe that they don’t need lights on their bikes so you can see them when it’s dark, or to let you know where they are going at any point in time either. So if I do knock one of them off due to the fact I can’t see them or am not physic then I am not liable either?
I hardly ever see any cyclists in full high vis get-up and don’t even get me started about the way kids cycle on the roads these days….I am sounding like a grumpy old woman now!
In respect to runners, the only time one of my friends was ever knocked over by a car, he was wearing bright pink flourescent lycra, he’d been fine for years wearing normal colours! His view was it was just too distracting
A thought, does this also apply to grey/silver cars who drive in heavy rain or fog (grey weather) without their lights on, hence making themselves invisible?
Written by admin about 8 months ago.

It’s a point that some cyclists ask for trouble, as do runners clad in pink lycra LMAO.

And yes, cars without lights…or just as bad, cars with their fog lights on in slight mist – fog lights make it harder to see brake lights and are only any good in ‘real fog’ not grey conditions.

Anyway, that’s a separate rant – my point is, that I can ride my bike in a non wobbly fashion, 18 inches from the kerb and if a car hits me, it’s my fault. My message is : wear high vis, even though you look uncool. Or cycle on pavements. And, there has been a cyclist in Manchester prosecuted for riding safely on the road, when the pavement next to him (I recall it be a dog poo zone) was a cycle path.

Cycling seems to be a little ‘out of favour’ at the moment.

Yes, I spotted the humour in your use of the word ‘physic’ instead of ‘psychic’ LOL
Written by Trudy about 8 months ago.

LOL! Always like to keep you paying attention to the detail! I didn’t even mention your typos – I am so much more relaxed now!
Written by AJ about 8 months ago.

Oh … now you have my attention … as a committed roadie I have now been bit by one Honda Jazz and a coach!! Both occasions I was wearing reflective gear … and oh they were both in broad daylight and sunshine!

I am sick of cars coming so close that I get blown into hedges and they don’t care … recently a bloke in a white can wound down his window and called me a f*&%ing stupid B*%$h … that was nice … why I have no idea … cos I held him up for a few minutes?

And for your reference, cyclists are advised to cycle 1 metre from the curb not 18 inches, this is so you don’t get ‘squeezed’ by cars.

Adrian, my advice is if you are to cycle on the roads then join the CTC or British Cycling where you have road insurance like a car and then they can act on your behalf. In my case when was was hit on the shoulder by a coach who decided to overtake me on a blind bend and of course met an oncoming vehicle and thought he could hit me rather than an oncoming car, resulted in me flying into a hedge (luckily the metre gave me enough ‘flying’ room so that I had a soft landing, bike dead but hey ho rather it than me) and he was prosecuted for dangerous driving. The old man in the Honda Jazz just said, ‘I didn’t see you … !!’ What when I had a bright yellow cycling jersey, reflective strips on my shoes … oh yes and bright green lyrca shorts … and I was doing 30 miles an hour in a 30 mph zone so why were you trying to overtake me in the first place????

Right … I appreciate there are idiot cyclists who go through red lights, break the laws of the road and so on but I am not one of them … I am a middle aged woman who loves her bike and you know what … nothing like this happens with cars in France or the Netherlands or Switzerland (where I cycle a lot) … just the UK …

Grump over!