Crash into car near Clapham South last night...wheel broken.

BenS999

Had a very near miss last night on my way home. I was heading south from the city down the Cycle Super Highway, just before Clapham South, slow moving traffic, and a car heading north turned right across my path. Normally you can see over the tops of the cars enough but a large van made this tricky and i couldnt see the car turning. I braked as hard as i could and almost came to a stop before hitting the car but my wheel went between the front of the rear near side wheel and the wheel arch, and as the car came to a stop it pulled my wheel under the car a small amount, but enough to easily break the wheel as in the picture.

I was almost stopped so just ended up shouldering the car window. No damage to me or the car and the driver stopped and has told me he would pay for the damages, just to give him a receipt and he will settle up. Of course you never know if he will later on decide its not his fault or when i present him with the bill he may change his mind in which case i would have to report it to the police and consider small claims court, but so far we are on amicable terms.

I post this because had i been moving any faster (which would not have been advised up the inside of traffic) it could have been much worse. Take it easy out there, people do silly things on the road and they happen super fast. That applies to cyclist, pedestrians and motorists.











Ben

BenS999

http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/5666624/

The Rookie

No need to report to the Police at all, in fact they won't be interested.

Get a price for the wheel and phone the chap up, take it from there, always best to keep it friendly if you can!

Make sure your forks are still straight as well, have known them get twisted when that happens!

Simon

schweiz

If he refuses to pay out of his own back pocket, then he has to give you details of his insurers. You get to say what happened, he gets to say what happened and the insurance loss adjuster will decide how much liability lies with the driver and offer to pay out accordingly. If you disagree with the loss adjusters decision, that's when problems may start.

spen666

If you aregoing to report it to the policedo so now, not later.

as The Beginner says, assuming he provided insurance details and there were no personal injuries, then there is no requirement for an accident to bereported

In any event it is the motorist who has to report accidents. There is no REQUIREMENT for a cyclist to report an accident.

In a case like this there would be unlikely to be any police interest, unless the re is evidence driver was uninsured or other aggravating features

BenS999

Thanks for all the info guys, currently all is friendly and will hopefully stay that. If anything otherwise happens i will be sure to update here.

cheers

feltkuota

Whilst I see it's a bit of tough luck on your part I do think you've contributed to the incident. Even if you're in a cycle lane, rightly or wrongly, you've got to expect traffic to turn or at least try to turn across your path. I'm assuming the large van you mentioned was giving the driver the nod to turn. Something I think you could have anticipated..

BenS999

feltkuota wrote:

Whilst I see it's a bit of tough luck on your part I do think you've contributed to the incident. Even if you're in a cycle lane, rightly or wrongly, you've got to expect traffic to turn or at least try to turn across your path. I'm assuming the large van you mentioned was giving the driver the nod to turn. Something I think you could have anticipated..

Do you ride with the attitude that everyone on the road is an idiot? If so I commend you for this, I believe it is the right way to ride / drive and try to anticipate people’s moves. Sometimes it’s difficult and sometimes you just get unlucky though.
You assume a lot about the van driver, as short of asking the driver (which I didn’t) if the van gave him the nod, it’s irrelevant, as it’s not the van driver’s responsibility. This opens up a whole new can of worms though because the car driver may have pulled out on good faith, but ultimately the driver of the car was in control of car and takes responsibility for his actions.
You mention that I could have anticipated the car pulling out. Yes you’re right, I could and did. I try to anticipate a car at every junction pulling out and making sure if I have enough space to stop / or avoid collision. Unfortunately this time I couldn’t stop in time. Of course I could ride at a very low speed to avoid this in future. My stopping distance was no more than 3 meters (if that), which should give you a good indication that I was not going very fast. I quite literally only entered the area between the cars wheel and wheel arch by an inch, but it was enough. I’m more annoyed about that inch than the guy pulling out as it would avoided the crash, that said though, had I braked a second or so later and I would have been over the car, or at least hit it a lot harder.

The point I’m trying to make is to stay vigilant and anticipate actions like this. As are you. If I had of been more careful (read as been moving more slowly/ braked a little harder) it would have been avoided altogether, but then again it was not my fault and had the driver been more alert he would have seen me. Clearly the driver is at fault, which he freely admitted, so legally he is the guilty party.

Message remains the same: Take it easy out there, people do silly things on the road and they happen super fast. That applies to cyclist, pedestrians and motorists.

schweiz

feltkuota wrote:

Whilst I see it's a bit of tough luck on your part I do think you've contributed to the incident. Even if you're in a cycle lane, rightly or wrongly, you've got to expect traffic to turn or at least try to turn across your path. I'm assuming the large van you mentioned was giving the driver the nod to turn. Something I think you could have anticipated..

But that does not put the OP at fault. The driver has the responsibility to give way to both oncoming traffic on the main road and the cycle lane. Just going because you get a 'nod' of another road user does not IMO provide a defence. Maybe the OP did slow down in anticipation!?

waddlie

schweiz wrote:

feltkuota wrote:

Whilst I see it's a bit of tough luck on your part I do think you've contributed to the incident. Even if you're in a cycle lane, rightly or wrongly, you've got to expect traffic to turn or at least try to turn across your path. I'm assuming the large van you mentioned was giving the driver the nod to turn. Something I think you could have anticipated..

But that does not put the OP at fault. The driver has the responsibility to give way to both oncoming traffic on the main road and the cycle lane. Just going because you get a 'nod' of another road user does not IMO provide a defence. Maybe the OP did slow down in anticipation!?

Indeed; this is why I never flash my lights to let people out of junctions. I may slow/stop to give them space but they need to make the decision when to pull out and I'm not going to give them any encouragement...

feltkuota

Never said it was the OP's fault.

I've made the assumption that the Large van was stopped and there was a turning to its left. Always rings alarm bells when I see that as I then assume there is going to be something turning across my path..

Hope it doesn't take too long to get sorted and equally hope the fella pays up.

d.n.f

a guy at work had a very similar accident where a black cab puuled through stationary traffic.

after taking statements from all, the police are charging him with careless cycling (or something like that)

...

davis

It sounds like you're both being perfectly reasonable.

As long as the bike's fixed (bet the handlebars have moved!) and he's paying for the wheel+tyre+tube, then I'd call it a win. Check your disc is still true, too...
It's technically probably his fault, but you'll look harder in future.

Glad you're ok, and it's nice to hear no-one's getting litigious.

gaz545

d.n.f wrote:

a guy at work had a very similar accident where a black cab puuled through stationary traffic.

after taking statements from all, the police are charging him with careless cycling (or something like that)

...

Depending on the situation that may be the right thing to do!

I recently witnessed a cyclist acting like an idiot. He was cycling up the inside of stationary cars at +20mph and he went into the back of a scotter that stopped because a big lorry was coming the other way and he had to give way.

With him going up the inside of stationary cars at 20mph it came to him going through the window a car that was turning across his path. The car had no chance in seeing him as he was down on the drops and giving it beans next to stationary traffic.

I'm doing my prilimary witness stuff with the police now, and if he gets done for 'careless cycling' (or w/e it is) then so be it. You can't cycle around busy places and think your invincible, as you will get hurt.

fatherted

gaz545 wrote:

d.n.f wrote:

a guy at work had a very similar accident where a black cab puuled through stationary traffic.

after taking statements from all, the police are charging him with careless cycling (or something like that)

...

Depending on the situation that may be the right thing to do!

I'm doing my prilimary witness stuff with the police now, and if he gets done for 'careless cycling' then so be it.

Nice.

d.n.f

fatherted wrote:

gaz545 wrote:

d.n.f wrote:

a guy at work had a very similar accident where a black cab puuled through stationary traffic.

after taking statements from all, the police are charging him with careless cycling (or something like that)

...

Depending on the situation that may be the right thing to do!

I'm doing my prilimary witness stuff with the police now, and if he gets done for 'careless cycling' then so be it.

Nice.

My point is you need to be accountable and just because someone crosses you path you can't always assume it will be deemed as their fault.

My colleague is adamant though that he was riding safely and the car 'came from nowhere'

salsarider79

You can't be blamed if you take all reasonable precausions, and someone is acting like a knoob. If you go screaming past stationary traffic, you are going to get someone open the door, turn across the traffic, etc. It's about riding safely and if you fail to and cause a crash you deserve the punishment.

salsarider79

You can't be blamed if you take all reasonable precausions, and someone is acting like a knoob. If you go screaming past stationary traffic, you are going to get someone open the door, turn across the traffic, etc. It's about riding safely and if you fail to and cause a crash you deserve the punishment.

stuke

nearly did the same myself on Monday morning,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9c74wPALgc

I agree with the others saying its no one persons fault - I was going too fast, the driver turned across me too fast to check the cycle lane and the guy in the landrover had just passed me so could of warned the focus driver i was coming up the inside. Ah well - lessoned learned

dilemna

All road users have to drive or ride with due care and attention to the std of a reasonable and prudent driver/rider. A cyclist tanking it down the inside or nearside of stationary slow moving traffic would not be adhering to this. They are a menace and a danger to other road users including cyclists and pedestrians.