Hit & Run - from a cyclist! [ADEL]

So, yesterday I was cruising down the Cycleway alongside Charles St. heading east from Unley Road.

At Little Creatures Ln a 30 something woman on an enormous Dutch Bike flies across the cycleway, right in front of me. I slam into the front of her bike, go over my handlebars, over her bike , through the air and land face-first on the ground.

Blood everywhere, multiple witnesses (3 or so), I have to yell at them to call an Ambulance and actually throw them my phone and wallet so someone will call. The woman who cut across me, who was fine, said she didn’t have a phone, so used mine.

Ambulance arrives, I’m put in a neck brace as the Ambos are concerned I may have a fractured vertebrae. My lip is split it two, and I have a fractured tooth and another chipped tooth.

The women tells the Ambos she has given her details to the main witness. She tells the witness that she has given her details to the Ambos.

I find out at the hospital from the Police that she gave no-one at the scene was given he details at all. They don’t know her name, 000 don’t have her number. Some woman nearby has my bike in her house, so hopefully she has some more info on the woman. The other possibility is that she will come forward to a Police station in the next few days.

End result: 2 stitches, a wire brace across my teeth, 1 fractured tooth requiring future removal, 10 injections including 2 doses of morphine, a tetanus injection and 6 local anaesthetics, all taking 9 hours in the ER department.

Pretty disappointed that a cyclist committed a hit & run on another cyclist, actively lying about giving contact info to 3 witnesses AND 2 ambulance guys.

Seeing as it was a bike vs. bike accident I’m not covered under Motor Vehicle Accident law, so I need to hunt her down to get anything back. Lesson being, watch the fuck out, motorists aren’t the only careless, dangerous and sneaky bastards out there. :confused:

That is fucking horrible man. Hope you heal up well and that you’re able to hunt that witch down.

How was your bike? Not totalled I hope…

Fuck! Hope you get the contact details for this lady… I have no idea how any insurance would go with, I’m assuming it would be an out of pocket expense for her, seeing she cut you off on a bike, not a car.

Sorry to hear about this. I’d say I’ll keep an eye out for her, but 30 something women on Dutch bikes are pretty damn common.

True that! The lip is healing relatively well, considering, and I’m just glad not to have any spinal or head trauma. Bless helmets!

My bike is in some other older woman’s garage, I have to go pick it up tomorrow and check it out. Have a feeling the front wheel is going to be totaled and concerned for the VO Porteur bars I only just setup and taped last weekend.

It was a dark blue Dutch bike, she was mid-30s, curly dark brown/black hair, average height etc. I’ll pop down to the cop shop tomorrow and see how things went, here’s hoping she has a conscience/common sense after all.

I’ll keep an eye out on the bike paths.

I told my wife what happened and she can’t believe that the lady deliberately lied so she can’t be tracked down.

Give the story to the local paper, I reckon they’d run it. Be a good way to get her found or else guilt her out to come forth.

That really sucks. What a fucked thing to do to someone.

this is why everyone should have their own insurance

she wont be insured so best case scenario you will be able to get something out of her via the civil system but it is only worth doing if you think you will get a large portion of the liability on the other person and if you think they have capacity to pay you the money

personally i am 8k down on a civil case that i probably will never see a cent out of, now i have insured myself for every possible eventuality.not cheap but cheaper and less stressful than dealing with it all again

in hindsight, knowing what i know now, i wouldnt bother chasing this person through the courts

Faark, that’s pretty bloody low. That lip looks nasty.

Hey Alex. what type of policy is it that you’ve got? Is it a generic accident cover or a tailor made policy you had drawn up to specifically cover cycling related stuff?

What a fucking scumbag.

Heal up quick pal!

Another good reason to get membership with Bicycle SA: BIKeSA : Membership Info

The tooth is going to cost around $5k to get an implant done, and I don’t fancy being toothless longer than necessary.

If I do track her down I’ll try and get her to fess up to at least that, can always threaten to go down the path of civil case featuring “pain and suffering”. I’ll have a chat with Legal Aid and see what they think.

Last time I was hit by a car in feb 2011 they advised it’d be a waste of time, but that was just some broken bike parts and physio bills.

Local paper all the way, and also print out that description of the event above and tape it to heaps of trafic poles at stop signs/ped crossings on main bike arterials so all commuters in the area can read it, adking if anybody has any information on the person to contact you or the police (provide investigating officers number) and I’m sure someone will call you

This sounds good. Make sure you put up that pic of your injuries for sympathy. And put it around where it happened. Maybe the slag will start feeling some guilt and contact you. (I doubt it if she can lie thru her teeth to protect her identity, but you never know).

Just spoke with the woman who is storing my bike for the time being.

Apparently the other cyclist left her bike there also, her husband came and picked it up and took the 1st woman’s number (didn’t leave his/hers) but said they’d call her back to follow things up, so she said she’ll call me with the name and number when the other cyclist calls her.

Slim chance she’ll actually call back, but hopeful.

Just spoke with the woman who is storing my bike for the time being.

Apparently the other cyclist left her bike there also, her husband came and picked it up and took the 1st woman’s number (didn’t leave his/hers) but said they’d call her back to follow things up, so she said she’ll call me with the name and number when the other cyclist calls her.

Slim chance she’ll actually call back, but hopeful.

Given her evasiveness in the first instance to leave a number, this sounds like another hollow promise.
Fingers crossed though.

What’s the damage on the bike?

Not sure, a witness to the accident put the bike in her garage for safekeeping. Going to pick it up tomorrow and check the damage.

Thinking it’ll be mostly fine being columbus steel frame + fork, the generic alexrims wheelset is pretty robust (survived a car crash last year, not even out of true) but I’m dubious about the VO porteur bars, which sucks, because I fucking love those bars.

I’m more worried about your injuries than 40 dollar bars mate, lol.
get well!

legal aid gave you some very poor advice, if the car was insured you would have had every cent of your damages covered. plus 3rd party insurance would have covered all your medical expenses and then some.

justdave : cyclecover.com.au

I’m still going through 3rd party insurance business with Allianz and a 3rd party investigative company called Verifact, due to the fact that the driver on that occasion is now disputing the facts of the case, and that my witnesses to that incident now live in Canada and the US.

I’m definitely going to get some 1st, 2nd and 3rd opinion legally on this one, had to learn too much the hard way already :confused:

P.S Saltwater mouth rinses are less than fun.

if the facts are being disputed then its time to engage a proper (not legal aid) lawyer

they will add their costs to your claim with allianz/CTP so it wont cost you anything out of pocket