Minor Accident - to report or not

fill_uk

Morning all, i wonder if any of you could share your opinion on this?

I got clipped by a car this morning on the way in to work, i kind of see it coming and thought to myself it would be close at the wing mirror collided with my arm. I mananged to stay upright and stay in a straight line. Expecting the car to stop but it carried on. It then drove about 200m down the road and eventually stopped at a red light. Not at the kerbside though but in the outside lane so im pretty sure the driver had no intention of stopping to check if i was ok.

I caught up at the lights at which point the driver wound down the window and did ask if i was alright which i said i was, as both me and bike are fine, as is the car. She then gives som excuse about trying to stop a child in the back choking and thats why she hit me. Im assuming this would be driving without due care.

In the end the lights went green and we went our separate ways without any discussion of it going furthur in anyway. Now ive had an hour or so to calm down im in two minds as to whether to report it to the police or not. Half of me thinks there is no point, there is no injury or damage, i have no witness or evidence of bad driving or details beyond a registration number. The other half of me thinks hang on, here is a driver who showed no intention of stopping after hitting somebody. Also its the first time this has happend to me in seven months of cycling so should i just come to expect stuff like this and shrug it off thankful that im ok. What do you guys think?

mudcow007

no damage done, id say just leave it

Wallace1492

Disgraceful actions by the driver. They had no intention of stopping, poor excuse for not stopping when you caught up with them. The police will do nothing, but at least the will have report on file of bad driving and could take this into account if driver has further issue. If nothing else it at least gives you peace of mind that have done all you can do, and hopefully made the road safer.

I once reported a driver who went through red at about 70MPH in a 30, while I was on green and pulling out. No reg, no id, and not a lot the coppers could do, but they did say they would keep an eye out for similar car in the area. I was glad I reported, though knew there was bugger all that could be done. Do it, by asking on here, I think you know you should.

zx6man

magically happened to me too this morning, but after a few words at the next traffic light, I "set off" into the Cycle box (lights still at red) , he thought I was going on a green so he too set up...to crash into a car coming across the junction.

ToeKnee

Wallace1492 wrote:

Disgraceful actions by the driver. They had no intention of stopping, poor excuse for not stopping when you caught up with them. The police will do nothing, but at least the will have report on file of bad driving and could take this into account if driver has further issue. If nothing else it at least gives you peace of mind that have done all you can do, and hopefully made the road safer.

+1

Clever Pun

zx6man wrote:

magically happened to me too this morning, but after a few words at the next traffic light, I "set off" into the Cycle box (lights still at red) , he thought I was going on a green so he too set up...to crash into a car coming across the junction.

please tell you you had a bike camera?

zx6man

sadly not, but stayed while the police arrived of course.

veronese68

The kid wasn't choking. How can you stop a kid choking whilst driving? She's a selfish liar that considers her kids as the most valuable thing on the planet (fair enough) but other people as expendable (completely unacceptable).
If you report it I doubt anything would come of it though.

fill_uk

I must admit the child choking thing did seem a bit made up on the spot. She said he was disabled and had his fingers in his mouth and she was trying to remove them. Im not a doctor so i cant really pass comment on this but my gut feeling was that she had paniced, drove of and unexpectedly got caught up with and made up and excuse.

The more i think about it the more i feel i should report it as the 'right thing to do' even though im 99% sure nothing would come of it.

What scares me most is thinking would she have done the same if i'd come off..

fill_uk

Well i did report this in the end, as i supected the police class it as failing to stop but can't class it as a crime that's worth prosecuting as im not injured and there is no damage and have no evidence, i've got a reference number to call back with if an injury becomes apparant later.

The police helpfully suggested i give up cycling and drive as its a ''little bit dangerous" though or buy a helmet camera.

As i say im not surprised but reporting has put my mind at ease. Perhaps i will get round to buying a camera.

gjcknocker

Glad you reported it, they just might pay her a visit!!

wod1

fill_uk wrote:

The police helpfully suggested i give up cycling and drive as its a ''little bit dangerous" though or buy a helmet camera.

I appalled to hear that! The police should at least pretend to be in support of safer cycling on the road. Not encouraging cyclists to give up. I would have had a right strop at them if they said that to me and made it very clear that this was an unacceptable comment to make by a public service. While I dont think the police really do much of any good this is very bag. Also I dont think that having the video footage would make any difference anyway. They would have note it and did absolutely nothing.

They of course also wrong. It would be safer if everyone cycled rather than drove.

Maybe they were just against cyclists after a certain MP`s comment