fixed.
once the dude whos door it was pays the threshold, go nuts. if it hurts his rating or something he should learn to look before he opens. the amount of times i’ve swerved because people can’t be fucked looking in their wing mirror first astounds me.
[quote="ferg "]
fixed.
once the dude whos door it was pays the threshold, go nuts. if it hurts his rating or something he should learn to look before he opens. the amount of times i’ve swerved because people can’t be fucked looking in their wing mirror first astounds me.[/quote]
People look … but only for cars, or anything big enough to rip the door off. If they want to ‘learn’ to look for bikes by paying for it, that’s their choice :evil:
I’m reminded of the ‘if you’re not using it - you don’t need it!’ kicks mirror off routine
I was hit the other day (well technically I hit her) because a driver stopped at a stop sign and then pulled out in front of me, causing quite a T-bone. Luckily for me, my knee is stronger than her panel. Its a $400+ (my costs, not including repairing her car) lesson for her.
My friend got Cleaned up the other day, dislocated shoulder, torn liver, arospoke cracked, fork cracked, helmet cracked, 600$ frame gone. It’s so sh it. Bout 40km p/hr and the ppl who hit him don’t wanna pay a cent when they didn’t give way to him, he said hello lawyers.
geeez… does he have any witnesses to it?
So, got car doored this morning. And this is coming on the back of getting hit and run back in November… People are starting to ask when i’m going to stop riding - never.
Was going past stationary traffic in the bike lane (me in the bike lane) when a passenger got out of a 4 wheel drive. The door got me on my right shoulder, spun me around and down i went. Pretty sore, but ok. The kid who opened the door - about 14 years old was pretty spooked. The mother was driving - dropping him at Trinity Grammar. Anyway, lots of people stopped and came over, a staff member from the school took me home. The mother called me about an hour later (she had to rush off at the time and i was too in shock to care). She was almost crying and asked me to send all bills etc. Haven’t looked at the bike yet, but the saddle (Flite titanium) was pretty badly ripped. Another person at the scene also called me to see if i was ok. And then i called the school and staff had been concerned and the ‘chaplain’ had spoken to the kid as he was pretty upset.
Weird - everyone so worried etc.
Better than no one caring I suppose.
Hope it all turns out alright for you, and you would hope the school would put something in their newsletter about looking before opening when being dropped off at school.
Do schools still have newsletters?!
They should be. They broke a road law and in the process of doing so, injured someone. They should be feeling bad about it.
I don’t reckon my back’s ever been the same since I got hit last.
I think they will. Got a call from the Principal today, just to see how i was going… very sore today, had to cancel a ride to the hills with a couple of friends for Sunday
Hit a pedestrian today. He wandered out onto the road, saw me, kept walking. I swerved to get around but knocked his shoulder and went down fairly hard. Luckily nothing broken, and the bike is fine, save for some bar tape tearing. What I’m wondering about at the moment is this: while in past accidents there has always been obvious things broken, such as cracked helmet, smashed wheel, torn bag etc, this time its all little ambiguous things like slightly torn jeans, hole in arm warmers, small dent in lap top and minor damage to helmet.
I’m not sure if this is enough to really warrant calling the dude (got his details) and he sure as hell didn’t look wealthy. So what do i sting him for? Arm wamers seems a safe bet, but my helmet is expensive and if i sting him for it, he looked like the kinda guy to dismiss it as everything looked ok on the scene.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
tough call, but obviously this wasn’t your fault, i’d hit him up for your helmet at least…
Do him for the helmet, minor damage now but can be the difference for later on. Minor or not it’s his fault and he’s lucky that it wasn’t any worse for you.
Well I’ve been reading this thread with interest for a while and now I get to say my bit.
I got hit by a car that was turning into a driveway, I was riding in the bike lane. Anyway, she called the Police who called for an Ambulance because I was injured. I suspect she may have been angling the blame on me because she said “where did you come from?” to which I replied “I was in the bike lane”. The Ambulance arrived lickety-split followed promptly by the Police. The Paramedics checked me out but none of it was really in need of a trip to the Hospital. The Paramedic who spoke to me loved my wool jersey, said he used to race in them.
Long road to a short ending, Police said I was not at fault and that if I need to claim anything to call them and they’ll give me the report. They said I didn’t need to take the woman’s details because they are in the report. Is this right? I was in a bit of shock at the time and not thinking clearly, I just wanted to get home out of the rain and wind.
The bike seems fine but I’ll get it looked at ASAP. I’m off to the Doctor’s in the morning.
I will be in need of a new helmet and my back light was smashed. These items are both about $50 each, should I be chasing this up? Should I also have her pay for the trip to the doctors? I don’t really know how to go about these things… Thanks 
Yes, you should chase up anything that costs you money.
If the doctors costs money then it is only reasonable that she wear the cost. I’m not saying gouge her for every cent, but if these are expenses you otherwise wouldnt have, then its her responsibility to cover them.
as they are smallish costs then i think its acceptable to let her know what the costs are and go spend the money. in the case of the helmet you NEED to replace it and its not like you are going to stop riding your bike til the $ arrive. similar with the light i’d expect.
my approach is to contact the driver explain the items and costs you are buying and ask them how they’d like to proceed. normally they are happy for me to buy the items and show them the receipts (in person or i’ve emailed them).
i’ve heard of drivers wanting to have a specific say in what/where you buy the items but ultimately you have the right to replace like-for-like so if thats not what they want to do then i dont believe you have to accept that. think of it like a car… if you are in a crash the other driver cant tell you what mechanic to go to.
be very polite, but firm. a lot of drivers sincerely regret the incident and i had a driver give me a bottle a of wine as a further apology for his actions.
I agree with Nikcee there, but I’d also write up my/your version of events and take it into the cops to lodge as a statement. Then you’ve covered yourself. You were in the bike lane, they were in the wrong. You can call on it later if need be as evidence. That way it won’t look like a knee jerk reaction if she gets difficult.
Thanks for the replies. I’ve looked over the bike and everything looks straight and as it should be except for some torn bar tape, so I’m really only looking at a new helmet, light and bar tape.
FiMcK, Sorry to hear about your accident. I agree with the above comments, but there are a couple of things about police reports. I used to work in car insurance and we were forever applying for police reports. Depending on the copper involved, you normally have to make a formal application for one, and from memory it cost about $40 to apply (there was never a guarantee that you would get it). Sometimes they took along time to arrive and then there were no details. In this case, if you haven’t got the drivers name then i would ring the police officer you spoke to and try to get her details off record. If possible get the whole police report off record - it does sometimes happen, mainly if you go in in person and the copper remembers and likes you.
I would always advise getting the police report if there are any problems with payment as they usually state who is at fault - and if the police report says the other person is at fault then they have to pay.
Good luck.
How’s you go? Everything sorted or is it dragging on?
I’m getting some help on a diplomatic letter because I’m a bit 'tarded at it. In the end the costs haven’t been too much (<$150) so I think they’ll cough up, if not I’m not going to stress myself over it.
Thanks for the concern I’ll update if anything comes of it.
Hello all, thought I might throw my 2 cents in. First off let me say that I used to be a cop but then I grew an brain and got out. Secondly I would say that I am picturing the worst case scenario, where you and the bike get significant damage and the subsequent proceedings turn into a mess because the driver is a cockhead. I will also say that i only read the first and last pages of the thread and not the middle bits so this might have already been said but its sunday morning and 6 pages is a lot.
If you get hit the first thing you get is a registration number in case the car does a runner. I will say that again, get the rego number. This is a priority. Make sure you get a description of the car too so that when the cops look up the rego number it matches. All the description needs to be is something like “black sedan” or “white 4WD”. Don’t go into too much detail because if you get it WRONG lawyers tend to use that kind of thing against you so don’t bother calling it a toyota or a mitsubishi UNLESS you are 100% sure.
The next most important thing to get is names and critically the contact details of witness’. Witness statements carry far more weight in any proceedings than anyone directly involved. Be NICE to witness’. And don’t yell and swear and curse the driver in front of the witness’. Be nice if possible, as hard as this can be. Image is everything.
Then get the drivers details including insurance company. Be nice. If they are an asshole then stop talking to them. Immediately. Be nice in front of the witness’ and let the driver look like the dickhead.
Then call the cops. If you think you might be hurt call an ambulance. If you get the 2 of those involved they will record heaps of info that may be required later on which saves you a huge hassle. And anyway thats what they get paid for. Be nice. Do not yell or swear as much as you might want to and the driver likely deserves it.
Make a statement to the cops and keep it factual and keep it to what you know. If you guess or lie then lawyers might pick this out and you will be screwed. I refer you back to the bit about car desciptions. If you don’t feel like making a statement then say that you don’t feel well, and get in the ambulance. Get the contact details of the cop. At least make a note of their badge number. This will either be on a badge on the front of their shirt or on the shoulder.
At the very first opportunity start writing stuff down. I know that you probably won’t have a pen and paper on you while riding, just get it from somewhere. This can be at the scene while waiting for the cops, in the back of the ambulance or while sitting in the hospital ED waiting room for 6 hours dripping blood on the floor. If you go home after the accident and not to hospital, then write everything down.
I don’t know very much about proceedings further down the line than this.
I got cleaned up on my bike a few years ago and woke up in rescus with a catheter up my dick and a punctured lung. I didn’t get a pay out because the cop that turned up was a fat lazy fuck (Sean MANSER - you prick) who didn’t do his job properly. So assume that you are on your own and play the game.
To sum up. Get the rego number, be nice in front of the eyewitness’, and write everything down.