Just knocked postman of his bike!

carbonfiend

Was driving back from LBS with bike in back as forks just been serviced going up road which is two lanes of traffic I am on inside lane when from my right jumping out in front of a white van which has slowed to stop for a box junction as there was car in front of him (no cars in my path so I could carry straight on) a postie on his bike flew straight in front of me and bang I smacked straight him, I didnt even have chance to brake he came at me that fast. His momentum kept him going across the road and I wasnt going fast enough to knock him forward (about 20mph). I stopped and got out and said 'sorry mate you ok but that was clearly you're own fault' then started to have a go at me coz I hadnt stopped for a pedestrian crossing that was about 20yrds away which the light was on red. He then realised his mistake as I pointed out i didnt need to stop in the middle of the road for something so far away he then changed his tact and attacked me for not asking how he was instead of saying it was his fault, then threatend me that if he wasnt in uniform he would do 'something' because I was saying this. I then said ok mate lets start again and in a soft soken concerned voice asked if he was ok (again), which he clearly was but he still wouldnt have it and kept saying was I worried about a claim? I said no of course not I didnt nothing wrong and you just flew out from infront a van into on coming traffic, at this point people behind me kept telling me to leave it and go He was ok as his postie bike took impact which also seemed ok so I drove off??

floodthecities

Pashley's! Built to last!

Anonymous

Thing is, in built up areas you have to expect the unexpected. It could just as easily have been a child running out.
I don't agree with the whole "It's always your fault" thing, and it sounds like the postie was in the wrong, but you really do have to be careful in cities.

TowerRider

The bike connection bit is that the bike was in the back and postman on bike LOL. I read all that to find the point of it. Obviously worked up when you typed it. Try adding some fullstops.

carbonfiend

yeah but surely if somebody is intent on pulling 'suicide' manouvers like that there's nowt you can do. I drive down the road everyday it is very busy and virtually impossible to be wreckless it far too busy. Infact I had my kids in the car I should sue him for for the trauma my kids are gonna suffer from seeing an accident

rieko

Id have took a picture of where the incident happened and took the details of a witness, as this postie is obviously a bit of a fruit cake and could follow through with his threats of a claim.

bails87

carbonfiend wrote:

yeah but surely if somebody is intent on pulling 'suicide' manouvers like that there's nowt you can do. I drive down the road everyday it is very busy and virtually impossible to be wreckless it far too busy. Infact I had my kids in the car I should sue him for for the trauma my kids are gonna suffer from seeing an accident

You could slow down when passing stationary vehicles that you can't see through/past.

But I agree in that he was mainly to blame, should have had a look before dashing out like that.

So did you leave the scene of an accident? That's a criminal offence. I can't help thinking that you could let the police know, before the postie does.

carbonfiend

ah at last communication as oppossed to an english lesson on content and punctuation.

My mate said something similar that maybe I should have took details for witnesses but everybody just carried on driving an walking and those that stopped told me in no uncertain terms to 'move' I dunno it just feels weird knocking somebody off a bike even though it wasnt my fault.

carbonfiend

I wasnt passing a stationary vehicle it was moving and I did stop, leaving the scene is when you dont stop at all. I was driving in straight line along the road, he's jumped out from infront of a slower moving vehicle. Was thinking of going to old bill just to report it?

BorisSpencer

+1 for Bails comment, report it before he does.

carbonfiend

just looked into it, because we didnt exchange details I think i have to report it within 24hours, police station is about 200yrds away, go over there in a bit see what they say

slimboyjim

You only need to report an accident resulting in injury to the police. You are probably best to report though purely as it shows you have nothing to hide and the postie may decide he's injured later for the sake of a compensation claim. If the police send you away you can still take a log number to show you went...

If the accident resulted in damage you have a legal obligation to exchange details. If this was not done you can go to a police station and they'll log it for you. Legally you should do this within 24hrs...

I'd say the most important people to discuss this with are your insurers - they have a vested interest in proving you were not responsible as it means they don't pay out any injury claim put in. They'll give you good advice... Note you have to inform your insurer of any accident and if one is reported to them by someone else it doesn't look great to them I'm sure...

Best of luck!

TowerRider

Seriously don't even bother trying to report a road traffic accident to the police unless there is (serious) injury. You will totally lose faith in the police if you have any faith in them!

I once knocked a child over who lost while playing chicken. If I try I can still see him flying in the air and slamming his head against the side of car and floor. His shoes shot forward about twenty feet. I called the police and they certainly were not interested because child had got up. For all I know he could have died the next day. I called the police 5 mins after first call and they still didn't want to know.
I called into police station but now in different area so they didn't want to know.

There is a moral to the story, if you are in an accident and wish the police to attend because you doubt the other person is insured then make sure you say you are injured when calling the police.

carbonfiend

just come from old bill station the copper there was sound he gave me a form said fill it to cover just your back. Even though meant to tell insurance comp warned of it as if its not my fault and no claim they will still put up my premium, it happened to him. Intersting point about living in multi cultural inner city borough of London, if the postie (who didnt speak english as first language) wants to claim he would need withness's. Well livin in East Ham he would first have to find one that also spoke english or his native tongue and also one that was legally entitled to live here Not as easy as it sounds round here

Splottboy

Was he a First Class Male?

All RM bikes are going to be taken out of service soon.

Health and Safety gone mad!

Where are my stabilisers?

I've heard of people not reporting accidents and then people having delayed injuries, such as whiplash and then people getting done or sued or something. I can't remember what exactly I was told, but basically the message was - call the police/ambulance and report the accident to cover your ass, even if the person you hit insists they aren't hurt. No comeback on you then.

TowerRider

Where are my stabilisers? wrote:

I've heard of people not reporting accidents and then people having delayed injuries, such as whiplash and then people getting done or sued or something. I can't remember what exactly I was told, but basically the message was - call the police/ambulance and report the accident to cover your ass, even if the person you hit insists they aren't hurt. No comeback on you then.

Yeah, you try calling the police for no injury accident..... dream world...
They even have in certain stations flyers that says something along the lines of no injury RTA report to insurance not us.
I personally called just so I had record on phone and time with the police telling me basically to go away.
Certainly don't waste the Ambulance time by reporting a none injury accident!

popstar

As a pro driver, if any incident/accident took place you must report it to the police no matter if any injury or no damage took any place. Same things can be reported if it was near miss for kind of road risk assesment and bull shoot like that, and it could be used by road traffic agencies or TCO.

The other party who's been in an accident/incident involving your vehicle, have some silly time (upto 4years?) to claim any damages you caused them. Even if local Bill laugh at your face, it is worth it to report to cover your back.

You would be amazed how many claims are thrown at London Buses claiming all sorts of shoot damage, ... correct me if I am wrong on legal basis but I have been disciplined many times by management at work just because some nutt case pretended to be injured on my duty, never mind the car drivers pretending their old car damage was the work of my own doing.

Where are my stabilisers?

I personally called just so I had record on phone and time with the police telling me basically to go away.

That's all you need to do to cover yourself, make the call and you're done. What the police do or don't do, isn't your problem. As long as it's logged... Saying that, I've known the police to not even log calls :roll:

Waste of time, I know

captainfly

Meh, you should have reversed and had another go at him, damn cyclists :twisted:



Only joking, some cyclist are alright

Anonymous

He was probably speeding away from a house he'd put a "Sorry we missed you" card when he hadn't attempted to knock on the door or even deliver the parcel.

bails87

TowerRider wrote:

Certainly don't waste the Ambulance time by reporting a none injury accident!

:?

Why on earth would anyone* call an ambulance when there's no injuries?

*Any of the well rounded, intelligent individuals on this forum