no wonder insurance is so high! my brother just got t-boned!

stardude

What the hell is wrong with some people?!?!

I just had a phone call from my parents who said my brother had been involved in an accident with a car this morning.

he has only had his new bike and been cycling for 2 weeks!

at 8.30 he was cycling to college along the cycle path (shared pavement) alongside an a-road (a449).

due to the size of the roundabout, it has small triangle traffic islands and these are where the footpaths/cyclepaths cross the road.

the following picture shows the roundabout, where my brother was crossing and where the skid marks started! (the road is a 40 limit)

he crossed the road as it was clear, but just as he was crossing into the lane with the arrow head in, he heard a huge tyre screach and looked to see a car skidding towards him. the car t-boned him at between 50-60 mph and he went through the windscreen.



my brother went to A&E in an ambulance while 2 police cars dealt with the driver.

turns out rather magically that my brother has no serious injuries, no broken bones or anything, but the bike is mashed.

the car was so damages it had to be taken away on a flat bed!

The driver turns out to be someone from the same college who happened to be running late for his class :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:


arrghh some people are so bloody unbeleiveable!

richVSrich

glad your bro isnt seriously injured dude! and hope insurance sorts his kit out pronto!

everyone take care out there!

gareth1234

+1

a lucky escape there

tarquin_foxglove

Shocking but glad he is ok.

What is visibility like there?

Looks like the bend hides pedestrians/cyclists from oncoming cars.

Dreadful cycle path design but doesn't excuse the dreadful driving.

mudcow007

yikes!

hope he is ok dude, bikes can be replaced, body parts etc are harder to replace

is the car drivers insurance going to pay up?

ThatBikeGuy

Heh car driver should be banned...Obviously the muppet can't drive. Glad your bro is okay, pity about the bike mind :?

Wrath Rob

Wow, no serious injuries from a 50-60mph crash, someone was looking after him. Glad to hear it

il_principe

That's a f*cking awful cycle facility. Reckon your bro would be better off riding on the road. Glad he's ok.

Wrath Rob

Just re-read this and looked at the picture. WTF was the car driver doing that speed that close to the RB? If there had been a lorry on the RB, the car driver would have had no chance of avoiding that either. What a muppet! Speedy recovery to your bro.

stardude

mudcow007 wrote:

yikes!

hope he is ok dude, bikes can be replaced, body parts etc are harder to replace

is the car drivers insurance going to pay up?

not sure whats happening yet as regards to insurance/compensation but the police are involved and should be able to give him some advice. I have also pointed him in the direction of cycleclaims just in case.

luckily the bike was a carrera Vengeance that he got in halfords recent sale for £275 so not exactly the end of the world. he should be able to buy himself a nice bike soon though

stardude

tarquin_foxglove wrote:

Shocking but glad he is ok.

What is visibility like there?

Looks like the bend hides pedestrians/cyclists from oncoming cars.

Dreadful cycle path design but doesn't excuse the dreadful driving.

to be honest the visibilty is pretty good. there is about 3-4m of clear flat ground from the edge of the curb before the treeline, so it not a blind corner or anything.

there are also a set of traffic lights further up the road, which creates a lull in the traffic for people to cross.

its not the best cycle route, but my brother tries to stick to cycle paths at the minute as he has only had the bike a couple of weeks and is just getting back into riding a bike. plus i dont think he would have faired to well on that roundabout at rush hour traffic, as its one of the major routes into the city
>_<

zanes

I'd be interested to know where the figure of 50-60 mph came from- If that was at impact I think someone should be buying lottery tickets.....

The Rookie

Just to be clear, your brother was crossing the road and should give way to traffic?

An Impact at 40mph for a pedestrian you only have a 5% survival chance, cyclists are slightly better off as the legs are not impacted as heavily, I suspect an impact speed of less than 30mph at the very highest for no broken bones, probably less than 20mph, in which case with the skid marks as you show I doubt the car was doing much over 40 when they started braking, if that fast.

Without being rude it sounds like your brother has to shoulder some of the blame here, if not all of it.

Simon

thelawnet

stardude wrote:

the following picture shows the roundabout, where my brother was crossing and where the skid marks started! (the road is a 40 limit)

Have you got a google maps link?

stardude

i just read what i wrote >_<

the car was traveling at 50-60 when they slammed on the brakes, but probably hit him around 30mph. they hit him with enough speed to send him through the widscreen and smash the front bumper.

Just to be clear, your brother was crossing the road and should give way to traffic?

when I spoke to him he told me that he checked and double checked and he is 100% sure nothing was coming. all i can do is beleive him and i have no reason not too.

Without being rude it sounds like your brother has to shoulder some of the blame here, if not all of it.

why is he to blame? he was crossing at the designated crossing. checked and double checked, then crossed.
does that mean the driver wasn't at fault for doing 10-20mph above the speed limit right before a roundabout and a crossing? even when they admitted they were speeding because they were late for class?

Nicholls2k

http://www.racemath.info/motionandenerg ... stance.htm

Ok - so the car was skidding so the breaking distance isn't 100% accurate and is affected by many things (legal tyres car weight etc)...

From the scale on the BL corner of the map you can see that there is more than 20m of stopping distance for the car.

If the guy admitted to speeding I would not hold any blaim against your brother - the car driver was clearly not in control of his speed... Whats the speed limit for that section of road?

hstiles

At that distance from a roundabout, the driver should already have been slowing in anticipation of traffic already on the roundabout and should have been in a position to come to a safe stop before the junction without skidding.

If it were me I'd be straight onto one of the claims management firms mentioned ont his forum.

UndercoverElephant

Your brother is nails. He's unhurt when the car got taken away on a flat-bed? If he ever meets Chuck Norris, there could be a never-ending battle of roundhouse kicks and awesome.

When he was a kid, did he ever beat the wall at tennis?

stardude

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Your brother is nails. He's unhurt when the car got taken away on a flat-bed? If he ever meets Chuck Norris, there could be a never-ending battle of roundhouse kicks and awesome.

When he was a kid, did he ever beat the wall at tennis?

occasionally, but only when the ball went through the wall

UndercoverElephant

stardude wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Your brother is nails. He's unhurt when the car got taken away on a flat-bed? If he ever meets Chuck Norris, there could be a never-ending battle of roundhouse kicks and awesome.

When he was a kid, did he ever beat the wall at tennis?

occasionally, but only when the ball went through the wall

Yeah, I bet your brother's calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd.

Nobody would dare make a fool of your brother.

hakko

Insurance is high because they can charge for it and know people will pay it. If you look at yearly profits, like the energy companies, they only go up!

hakko

I take that back...:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/11/0 ... 0E20101102

The Rookie

stardude wrote:

why is he to blame? he was crossing at the designated crossing.

There is nothing to show the cars had to give way in your photo, its not clear if there are or are not give way points for the cycle lane, (Street view link?) but its bloomin obvious to a blind man who has to give way there isn't it, and its not the road traffic. Therefore your Brother had to give way. A designated crossing is not a pelican crossing!

No way a car got from 50-60 to less than 30 in that distance - ya canna change the law of physics.

Whether your Brother looked or not, checked 100 times or not, he still had to give way, I give him a zero percent chance of making a succesful claim, and most claim companies won't touch it as they have little chance here, good chance the motorsists insurance will claim on your brother.

Simon

Please don't get me wrong, I'm very glad he's OK by the way.

dm38

Wow your brother is very very lucky! I'm sure he must have some bruises though and will definatley be sore tomorrow.

thelawnet

The Beginner wrote:

Whether your Brother looked or not, checked 100 times or not, he still had to give way, I give him a zero percent chance of making a succesful claim, and most claim companies won't touch it as they have little chance here, good chance the motorsists insurance will claim on your brother.

Simon

Yep the car driver will say 'bike pulled out on me when I was right next to him without looking', and unless your brother has witnesses, I would suggest that that version of events will be endorsed by any court.

dhope

thelawnet wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Whether your Brother looked or not, checked 100 times or not, he still had to give way, I give him a zero percent chance of making a succesful claim, and most claim companies won't touch it as they have little chance here, good chance the motorsists insurance will claim on your brother.

Simon

Yep the car driver will say 'bike pulled out on me when I was right next to him without looking', and unless your brother has witnesses, I would suggest that that version of events will be endorsed by any court.

Thought the driver had admitted to speeding...

The Rookie

Not from the OP's first post, just 'late for class as I recall, howver unless the speeding was excessive (like over 50 in a 30) then that would not usually have any effect on a civil claim, besides it certainly doesn't change who has to give way to who.

Simon

cavegiant

I used to be in insurance and had quite high level contacts. Car insurance generally makes very little money.

On pretty much everything else you are being raped so badly you would not believe it.

I was a middleman, on one of our business insurance contacts we worked at 75% profit.

That sounds like a piss take, but you think well you have to pay claims out.

nope we were a pure profit middle stage.

The broker (guy who sells the policy to you) took 40%. We took 75% of what was left.

The insurance company only got 15% of the price you paid, out of all of this they paid all the claims and ran a HUGE profit.

Insurance is there to take advantage of your fear and ignorance.

johnboy183

wow lucky man

johnboy183

wow lucky man

dhope

The Beginner wrote:

Not from the OP's first post, just 'late for class as I recall, howver unless the speeding was excessive (like over 50 in a 30) then that would not usually have any effect on a civil claim, besides it certainly doesn't change who has to give way to who.

Simon

stardude wrote:

does that mean the driver wasn't at fault for doing 10-20mph above the speed limit right before a roundabout and a crossing? even when they admitted they were speeding because they were late for class?