Wipeout!

BUICK

On my way to work this morning, I was approaching a red light for a pedestrian crossing, looking ahead there was a car parked over the cycle lane not far past the lights so I was thinking about making a quick start so as not to get cut off. As such I slowed down but was still heading to get to the front of the queue in time for the lights to change, when the passenger door of the next car opened explosively. It all happened very quickly, and rather than in slow motion, it seemed like fast-forward! Needed an ambulance but to my surprise no broken bones - I took most of the impact on my right hand and will be of work for some time though. Apart from that its road rash and aches.

Gutted that I will be having time off work and CAN'T ride because of injuries!

The teenage girl who opened the car door seemed genuinely distraught and I suspect will spawn a generation of friends and family who DO look before opening doors.

Not sure what to do now - I feel fairly happy now that it's not MUCH worse - but I'm self-employed and stand to lose a lot of work, and therefore money. Guess I will wait for the shock to clear a bit and see if it seems clearer

delcol

suerly you caould claim some sort of compensation loss of earnings ect through their insurance..

pyro_maniac

how does the law stand regarding insurance? you might be able to claim through the motorists insurance as they were clearly at fault and should have been more careful, but what would happen if a cycle hit and damaged a car? how could a motorist claim from a cyclist
i am sorry to hear of you raccident mate, but hopefully you will heal up soon and be able to get back to work and back in the saddle?

richardast

Unlucky mate. Get well soon.

Just for the record...
Highway Code - Rule 165
You MUST NOT overtake the nearest vehicle to a pedestrian crossing, especially when it has stopped to let pedestrians cross.
That's one of the "Must" rules that applies to cyclists and would suggest that you may be considered to have contributed to the collision. Have a think about it before you spend time and money on lawyers and/or small claims court.

always_tyred

richardast wrote:

Unlucky mate. Get well soon.

Just for the record...
Highway Code - Rule 165
You MUST NOT overtake the nearest vehicle to a pedestrian crossing, especially when it has stopped to let pedestrians cross.
That's one of the "Must" rules that applies to cyclists and would suggest that you may be considered to have contributed to the collision. Have a think about it before you spend time and money on lawyers and/or small claims court.

I spotted the word "overtake" and I wonder if that's the key -

I'm not clear from the description of the incident if:
(a) you were in a cycle lane (in which case the above should not apply)
(b) you were overtaking or undertaking
(c) if overtaking, were you at the front of the queue?

I suspect that you were, formally, undertaking - which we all do under some circumstances and to be honest, there but for the grace of god.

Commiserations, but, if I understand the incident, you were undertaking and therefore it was not the car's passenger's fault. I don't think.

However, having said, that, if you come to a t-junction that is wide enough to let two cars pull up, one going left, the other right, and the passenger door opens and is taken off by the one going left, who's fault is it? That's less clear cut and it shouldn't matter if the other vehicle is a cyclst or not.

Damn. I have just argued both sides.

fossyant

If you don't have CTC / British Cycling membership - get it - they will assist you or advise in a claim and if you can pursue it - do it now.

For pyro - both CTC and BC have third party included, so if you rear ended, or what ever, a "Fiat Panda" for example and wrote it off (joke) you'd be covered - hence highly recommended for all regular cyclists.

Gambatte

I read the cyclist was proceeding to the lights along a cycle lane. As a car in the inside lane lane is allowed to undertake stood traffic in an outer lane, I'd suggest this is no different. I'd be looking to claim off the car insurance.

BTW you said ambulance attended, did the police? As you were injured due to a collision with a car on the road they should have been notified. If not the drivers committed an offence.

richardast

Gambatte wrote:

BTW you said ambulance attended, did the police? As you were injured due to a collision with a car on the road they should have been notified. If not the drivers committed an offence.

That's not true.
It's the policy of most police forces to make a report when a road user is injured, but the only requirement of a driver is to stop and furnish other parties with their details.

Gambatte

richardast wrote:

Gambatte wrote:

BTW you said ambulance attended, did the police? As you were injured due to a collision with a car on the road they should have been notified. If not the drivers committed an offence.

That's not true.
It's the policy of most police forces to make a report when a road user is injured, but the only requirement of a driver is to stop and furnish other parties with their details.

I'll check it out - there've been plenty of threads on here and over on cyclechat about collisions and hit and runs. I've seen plenty of times where a poster has actually quoted the particular section of road traffic legislation, I've not paid that much attention to the detail of the posts, but its now a commonly held belief...

I'll get back on it, unless someone else does sooner.

Stuww

Hey fossyant.... less of the Panderist comments!!!

I'm a proud owner of a 1.3 Panda and they are great cars.

I think the CTC membership sounds like a good idea though.

Get well soon Buick.

Stu

Gambatte

Gambatte wrote:

richardast wrote:

Gambatte wrote:

BTW you said ambulance attended, did the police? As you were injured due to a collision with a car on the road they should have been notified. If not the drivers committed an offence.

That's not true.
It's the policy of most police forces to make a report when a road user is injured, but the only requirement of a driver is to stop and furnish other parties with their details.

I'll check it out - there've been plenty of threads on here and over on cyclechat about collisions and hit and runs. I've seen plenty of times where a poster has actually quoted the particular section of road traffic legislation, I've not paid that much attention to the detail of the posts, but its now a commonly held belief...

I'll get back on it, unless someone else does sooner.

Thanks to "Frog" on cyclechat.

[Law RTA 1988 sect 170]

287
If another person is injured and you do not produce your insurance certificate at the time of the crash to a police officer or to anyone having reasonable grounds to request it, you MUST

Report it to the police as soon as possible and in any case within 24 hours

produce your insurance certificate for the police within seven days

So not just give them details, you have to produce your insurance certificate. Don't know about you, but mines filed at home. I have details on me incase of needing the breakdown.

NWLondoner

Sorry to hear about your accident.

The passenger SHOULD have checked if she was opening her door into the path of a cycle lane.

always_tyred

The consensus appears to be that you were in a cycle lane.

Therefore, I certainly think that it was the motorist's fault (in law, they are responsible for all passengers). There's probably a provision that relates to the "nearside lane"

BUICK

I was indeed in a clearly marked cycle lane and heading towards the front of the queue of cars stopped for the red light at a pedestrian crossing.

Had a rough night - I felt shattered but kept 'reliving' the impact and tensing up. I guess that's natural. My hands were on the drops as I was slowing gradually and it was my right hand that took the initial impact - my momentum was just enough that I got body slammed to the ground by the abruptly opening door.

Thanks for the mention of CTC - I am a member so will look through the details and see if I can get some advice.

BentMikey

Do you have their details, Buick?

graeme_s-2

Sorry to hear about your crash Buick, hope you make a speedy recover.

I'm fairly sure there's something in the highway code about a car occupant being responsible for making sure it's clear before they open their door.

I think I'd feel a bit bad about it as well, but if you're self employed then I really think you should take legal action to try and cover your loss of earnings.

Oh - how's your bike?

FrankM

Isn't there a rule in the Highway Code about letting people out of a car when you're not parked at the side of the road?

saveswalking

I found this in the Highway Code (rule 239) ...

· you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door. Check for cyclists or other traffic


and this if from the Londonskaters website ...

I should point out it is the car driver's responsibility not to open their door unsafely, and that this is a defensive cycling tip to help your own safety. From the UK Highway Code: "you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door". The must indicates this is a legal requirement, not just a highway code recommended practice.

sw

graeme_s-2

saveswalking wrote:

I found this in the Highway Code (rule 239) ...

· you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door. Check for cyclists or other traffic


and this if from the Londonskaters website ...

I should point out it is the car driver's responsibility not to open their door unsafely, and that this is a defensive cycling tip to help your own safety. From the UK Highway Code: "you MUST ensure you do not hit anyone when you open your door". The must indicates this is a legal requirement, not just a highway code recommended practice.

That's exactly the passage I was thinking of, and that's probably where I read about it as well

FrankM

I also thought there was something specific about not letting passengers out of the car when you had not pulled over by the side of the road. But maybe I dreamt it.

BUICK

The girl who actually opened her door gave her details to me, but I didn't get the drivers details (I presume it was her dad). Hopefully when it comes to it they'll bite the bullet and do the decent thing. I called CTC today for advice and also reported the incident to the police for record's sake. As far as I know they didn't report it. My neck is starting to seize up now but I'm hoping it won't get worse. I tried to get to the GP today so they could advise on what to do about the neck pain and they refused to see me, saying I had to go to A & E! Is it just me or is neck pain neither an accident or an emergency? I don't want to put added pressure on the hospital when is seems they have trouble coping at the best of times.

BUICK

Oh, and thank you all for the support and advice. I imagine I'll be online quite a bit in the coming days. The collision happened opposite a LBS, Woodrup Cycles, and they looked over my bike. Apart from the handlebars pointing the wrong way and the front wheel being out of true it survived relatively unscathed - and everything was put right that day and for little money. My bag and Merstons will need replacing and the gloves had to be cut off my hands - but everything else is fine, including phone, glasses and camera! Wish I'd been together enough at the time to take some photos but I was bleeding freely from my hand and in both pain and shock so didn't do everything I should have. The ambulance was there within 10 minutes

BentMikey

LondonSkaters is my website, LOL!

Here's the link to the current highway code version, now rule 239:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTr ... /DG_069860

Buick, I would defo go to doctor/A&E and get your injuries documented, as well as keeping a diary of the costs and lost income, even the smallest thing. Oh, and start the contact girl process off, because if she's given you false details there's no point in carrying on.

For everyone else, ALWAYS get the car details asap.

graeme_s-2

Mikey - I knew it was your (excellent) website :P

saveswalking

I narrowly avoided a car passenger dooring (classic 'I aint hanging around in this traffic jam - I'll walk ' I imagined :roll: ) and when I started to have a word with the driver she said 'wasn't me mate it was her' pointing to her passenger who was yards down the road by now.
I wonder is is the actual driver of the vehicle responsible/accountable for the actions of their passengers in situations like this?

sw