Doored!!

ddraver
ddraver Posts: 26,348
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...)
We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver
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Comments

  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,252
    edited April 2022
    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
    orraloon Posts: 12,608
    Do you have any legal cover? CyclingUK etc.
  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 6,876
    Hope you heal quick DD.
    New highway code would be on your side as it brings in the dutch door opening technique.
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    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
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,498
    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.
  • 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
    pblakeney Posts: 25,595

    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%.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • seanoconn
    seanoconn Posts: 11,318
    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.
    Pinno, מלך אידיוט וחרא מכונאי
  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 16,433
    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
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,498
    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
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    A&E
    Get copy of hosp. note
    Get copy of Police report
    Compo claim.

    its what she pays insurance for.
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • thistle_
    thistle_ Posts: 7,121
    edited April 2022
    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 :neutral:
  • monkimark
    monkimark Posts: 1,462
    edited April 2022
    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.

  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,498
    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
    katani Posts: 132
    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
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    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...
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    best claim for lost wages, time and costs incurred as well then.
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,498
    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
    kingstongraham Posts: 26,131
    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
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644

    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.
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348


    ........

    'ks sake!
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    That’s got be worth a few grand.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    got any x-rays?
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,498
    MattFalle said:

    got any x-rays?

    Have you seen my avatar?

    Oh you mean the OP. Sorry.
  • shirley_basso
    shirley_basso Posts: 6,195
    Top drawer artwork.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    MattFalle said:

    got any x-rays?



    (turns out nurses really don't like you taking photos of the X rays 😶)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,252
    Sorry about that DDR, is it the scaphoid? I'm not great with reading x-rays. Did mine a couple of years back, unfortunately undiagnosed for some time which complicated things. Bizarrely waiting to get it looked at might have made the diagnosis quicker, mine was 3 months after being dismissed initially. Heal fast
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Scaphoid is the "bean" shaped one on the other side of the wrist I think ...

    The nurse also made that mistake 😂. Interestingly when they heard bike, they all thought scaphoid. Think it's filtered through to med staff.
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    got any x-rays?
    ddraver said:

    MattFalle said:

    got any x-rays?



    (turns out nurses really don't like you taking photos of the X rays 😶)
    grazie! and tell them not to be do silly - they're your x-rays for us to be nosey at. 😎
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.