Doored!!

ddraver

I was going to come here and ask a question about returning to cycling after ACL reconstructions, but on my second attempt to fall back in love with cycling I was doored!!

It was a young girl/new driver outside her house and i hit the ground head first like a sack of...fat (which I am at the moment). My initial worry was my head and, indeed, I have a helmet shaped bruise on my head but that seems to be fine. My hand however is hurting like bi-scuit.

The parents have been quite officious, offering to pay for any broken stuff and that and have told their daughter (who i started to feel quite sorry for) to report it to the police and insurance companies.

I'm pretty sure that my hand is ok, just very swollen, and have no intention of sitting in A&E for 7 hours (current waiting time) tonight. I'll wait and see how it is tomorrow.

Can the hive think of anything else I can do? I'm not interested in making a huge deal of it, if they pay for a new helmet I'll call it a win. If I find out that my hand is broken and I'm off work etc... Would there be much of a case? It wouldnt be difficult to argue that I was riding in the door zone etc and that it's 50 50 imo. How do these things go?

(to be honest it was something i didnt think ever actually happened...)

veronese68

I was doored by the passenger getting out of a car that was in a queue in the right hand lane. Broke a finger and had a large cut in my arm. My wife was doored by a woman getting out of a parked car and broke her pelvis.
In both cases the police said it was absolutely the fault of the driver. We both claimed as we had to take time off work, both immediately successful as it's clear cut who is to blame.
Hope your injuries aren't too bad at least. Heal fast at any rate.

orraloon

Do you have any legal cover? CyclingUK etc.

Dorset_Boy

Hope you heal quick DD.
New highway code would be on your side as it brings in the dutch door opening technique.

oxoman

OK first things first if it's just bruising and sore hand then screw them just for damage done. Bike , helmet, clothing etc. Yes you may have been to close but the duty is on the person opening the door to check its OK to do so. And there's a limit to how far you can actually move over sometimes. If it turns out you've damaged your wrist then you're in a quandary if you report it the driver who is a new driver potentially can or will lose their licence if found at fault. Personally I'd try and suck it up and sort it out amicably with the parents etc as they obviously realise their daughters on a sticky wicket. To many wanka,s out there would scream blue murder and have her crucified which I don't feel is the right way to go. Hopefully she will have learnt a valuable lesson and you will recover quickly.

webboo

Having had this experience a couple of times and some chronic lower back pain as a result I would claim for as much as you can. Bike, clothing and physical injury because in the long term you don’t know what’s going to come back and bite you.

First.Aspect

This has always been the driver's fault, regardless of HWC changes.

Up to you if you make a big deal of it. Parents are doing the right thing - not notifying insurance is, strictly, insurance fraud. Police? Less sure.

If there is an insurance claim by you, they are in the best position. Personally I'd be wary of an insurance claim the other way around, i.e. against you. You would be surprised at how revisionist people can be.

aberdeen_lune

Ooooft sounds painful. If your hand is swollen you may have broken something. I’d get it x rayed. I had a niggling pain in my wrist after an off. Finally got it x rayed months later to find I had a fractured scaphoid which wouldn’t heal without an op. Suggest you just suck up the wait and go to A&E.

pblakeney

aberdeen_lune said:

Ooooft sounds painful. If your hand is swollen you may have broken something. I’d get it x rayed. I had a niggling pain in my wrist after an off. Finally got it x rayed months later to find I had a fractured scaphoid which wouldn’t heal without an op. Suggest you just suck up the wait and go to A&E.

This.
I had an off last year (my fault) when my hand hit a door mirror. Still is not 100%.

seanoconn

Without reading the whole thread, you need documented evidence that you’ve sought medical assistance for your hand, sooner rather than later. If down the line the hand is an issue you’ll be covered.

sungod

as above, get checked at a&e

aside from the hand, you've had a head injury

after a veering car left me with large road rash, various cuts and bruises, and a cracked helmet, i waited a day before going to a&e to see if i could get the rr properly treated

they took me to the front of the queue purely on the basis of the head impact, after checking me over essentially told me i was an idiot for leaving it a day before coming in, then last of all sorted out the rr - in retrospect i'm sure i was not all there in the hours after the incident

First.Aspect

Take home message is that when some idiot driver makes a mistake, it creates a lot of stress and hassle for the victim, but you really have little choice.

I really do think you need to get your version of events on the insurance and police records. Right now it will be something along the lines of a whizzing cyclist coming from nowhere not wearing high vis and with the sun in my eyes.

MattFalle

A&E
Get copy of hosp. note
Get copy of Police report
Compo claim.

its what she pays insurance for.

thistle_

sungod said:

as above, get checked at a&e

aside from the hand, you've had a head injury

after a veering car left me with large road rash, various cuts and bruises, and a cracked helmet, i waited a day before going to a&e to see if i could get the rr properly treated

they took me to the front of the queue purely on the basis of the head impact, after checking me over essentially told me i was an idiot for leaving it a day before coming in, then last of all sorted out the rr - in retrospect i'm sure i was not all there in the hours after the incident

+1 Get it checked out at hospital.

I was hit by a bus many years ago, carried on to work but by lunchtime my shoulder and neck were hurting so I was sent to A&E and asked if they could check I was OK.

Turned out there was nothing wrong with my neck or shoulder but I'd broken my wrist

monkimark

Surely he would be pursuing it with the insurance company, sounds like the police report is already done and I very much doubt that the cops would have any interest in following it up unless you specifically went back to them (and even then probably not).
Does the level of injury even make any difference to the police - it was the same action by the driver either way?

FWIW, I wouldn't feel guilty about claiming on insurance - that's what insurance is for and if the girl has already reported it to her insurer then it's probably already going to affect her premiums anyway.

A guy on a motorbike forum I use has a lot of experience in motorbike accidents and claims, as I recall, he always advises getting checked out, collecting evidence etc and then making any injury claim later when the extent of the injury is clear.

oxoman said:

If it turns out you've damaged your wrist then you're in a quandary if you report it the driver who is a new driver potentially can or will lose their licence if found at fault.

oxoman

monkimark said:

Surely he would be pursuing it with the insurance company, sounds like the police report is already done and I very much doubt that the cops would have any interest in following it up unless you specifically went back to them (and even then probably not).
Does the level of injury even make any difference to the police - it was the same action by the driver either way?

FWIW, I wouldn't feel guilty about claiming on insurance - that's what insurance is for and if the girl has already reported it to her insurer then it's probably already going to affect her premiums anyway.

A guy on a motorbike forum I use has a lot of experience in motorbike accidents and claims, as I recall, he always advises getting checked out, collecting evidence etc and then making any injury claim later when the extent of the injury is clear.

oxoman said:

If it turns out you've damaged your wrist then you're in a quandary if you report it the driver who is a new driver potentially can or will lose their licence if found at fault.

I think his problem was he's trying to not blow it up to much given she's a new driver and the po po don't always give the driver much leeway especially newly passed youngsters. Agree with getting checked out just in case and also putting it on record.

First.Aspect

The driver can report an incident but not make a claim. Their devision will likely be broadly in line with whatever the excess is.

It is the OPs choice whether to go the whole hog with medical assessments, a personal injury claim and so on. That is time consuming and it is perfectly valid not to want to do it for a potential couple of grand.

But I would still be very diligent about assessing damage to property, for one thing (helmet, clothes, bike) and give a realistic amount for replacement costs to the driver - and get something in writing from them discussing it, because that's a strong inference that blame is being accepted.

I tend to go with the majority when I say that not claiming is too forgiving. I think it is naive to think that the driver will somehow take any significant long term learning from this, or ever be particularly grateful about your charity. Like I say it is human nature to convince yourself that it was someone else's fault somehow, over time.

katani

ddraver said:

The parents have been quite officious, offering to pay for any broken stuff...

Likely not aware how much cycling gear and kit can cost these days. Once they learned it could go into hundreds, if not thousands of pounds, they would quickly change their mind.

ddraver said:

It wouldnt be difficult to argue that I was riding in the door zone etc.

It is not a road traffic offence or even careless riding, so it is void in any legal argument, as should be riding a bike while wearing no hi-viz clothing, 30mph in a 30mph zone, and the sun dazzling her is her problem not yours, and similar silly excuses.

ddraver

Thanks all,

Sat in an MIU now waiting for an interpretation of the x-ray (radiographers wouldn't give any clues)

Lost at least one shift at work...

Let's see...

MattFalle

best claim for lost wages, time and costs incurred as well then.

First.Aspect

MattFalle said:

best claim for lost wages, time and costs incurred as well then.

Precisely.

And make sure it is treated by insurer as door opened into cyclists path rather than cyclist cycles into open door.

kingstongraham

If you've had to go to hospital I'd make a claim.

You shouldn't lose out because someone else didn't look what they were doing.

MattFalle

First.Aspect said:

MattFalle said:

best claim for lost wages, time and costs incurred as well then.

Precisely.

And make sure it is treated by insurer as door opened into cyclists path rather than cyclist cycles into open door.

plus future costs on an ad hoc basis or big rnough pay out to cover them

remember, you're not looking for costs to cover the right here, right now but when you have arthritis in your wrist in 25 years and can't do anything with it.

ddraver

........

'ks sake!

webboo

That’s got be worth a few grand.

MattFalle

got any x-rays?

First.Aspect

MattFalle said:

got any x-rays?

Have you seen my avatar?

Oh you mean the OP. Sorry.

oxoman

Glad you got checked over sadly not the result you wanted. Suspect you now know what you have to do. Good luck.

seanoconn

Get well soon. 👍

shirley_basso

Top drawer artwork.

ddraver

MattFalle said:

got any x-rays?

(turns out nurses really don't like you taking photos of the X rays 😶)