Cycling Accidents
Accidents on a bicycle fall into 4 broad categories.
1. Hit by a moving vehicle (pulling in front of you, cutting into you, catching you in silly overtakes)
2. Hit by a stationary vehicle (doored)
3. Hit by pedestrians other cyclist.
4. Fall caused by defective surface.
Each claim stands and fall on its facts and whilst certain types of claims are difficult to win, given the right circumstances any one of the above types of accidents can be claimed for.
Your first step if you have come off of your bike and injured yourself and you believe it was not your fault is contact us and discuss what happened, you might be surprised.
Often people that do not cycle do not understand or even comprehend that the bicycle they just damaged may have cost more than their car, and so in all cases whether hit by a car, pedestrian or even another cyclist make sure you get as much information as possible at the time of the accident if at all possible. Whilst it is nice for someone to offer to pay for your repairs (if you are lucky) once they realise the true cost that offer quickly disappears, Don’t worry if your bike is not a shiny carbon fibre Tour De France road bike, or the latest high performance downhill long travel mountain bike, if it has two wheels and you pedal it then we are talking about you.
Obviously you were injured in this accident (as why else would you be reading this?) in this case you should also report the accident to the police at the time or at your earliest opportunity.
Try to where possible get photos of the accident location, damage to your bike (damage to the vehicle/ person that caused you to fall off).
Details of any witnesses
Details of the person you hold responsible.
You will need to record all items that were damages, do not overlook anything, if an item was working well before the accident and it is not now then record it.
Record all damaged or lost accessories, bottles, pumps, saddle bags, and most importantly and cycle computers. Check your bicycle over very closely, if any part is bent, or severely scratched then it may need replacing and like with all thinks the sum of the parts is normally more expensive than if buying the bike whole.
Assessing your injury yourself is hard to do, especially immediately after an accident when the adrenalin is pumping through you, it often takes a day or two before the bruising and aches appear. Only you can decide is your injuries are serious enough to warrant a visit to the hospital; however all we will say on the matter is that if you are thinking about making a claim for personal injury you need to have an injury that is backed up with evidence that you were actually injured.
Any personal injury claim requires that you provide evidence that on the balance of probability the person you are claiming against caused your recorded injuries as a result of their negligence.
If you the person that caused your accident and injury left the scene of the accident without checking on you and knowing or should have known that you were injured and did not leave contact details then if it was a caused by a vehicle then if they cannot be located your claim could be run through the Motor insurance Bureau (MIB) which helps people injured by uninsured or untraced drivers get compensation for their injuries however if it was an untraced driver you cannot claim for damage to your bicycle.
Hit by a moving motor vehicle (By definition a Car, Truck, Bus or motorbike)
The law dictates that a Motor Vehicle is required to have insurance in place prior to driving on the road. Generally whilst not being pleasant in any way shape or form being hit by a moving vehicle will mean the driver should have insurance. If you are able to at the time of the accident get those insurance details. At the very least get the registration number of the vehicle and also see some sort of ID. Do not just accept a first name and a mobile phone number. As discussed above get photos of everything before people start moving things if you can. Do not worry about liability for now and certainly do not argue with the third party, your fault, his fault, unlucky or whatever, speak to us first, we are not magicians however we should be able to tell you what your chances are as long as you are honest with us. So many times what looks on paper a very straightforward cases ends up failing as the third party have done their work and got hold of some CCTV footage or a quality witness that shows a completely different version of events. Car drivers that cause accidents tend to be impatient or distracted and so in the main unless you were weaving in and out of traffic on a fixed gear the driver will be far more liable than you are by your actions.
Hit by a stationary vehicle (being Doored)
Liability is still fairly straight forward in that the driver of a stationary vehicle is responsible for his actions and that of his/her passengers. So if either of them open their doors into the road without checking it was clear to do so they will be liable, and let that be a lesson about riding down a road with parked cars and taking the lane rather than riding close to the curb, as curb riding is just an invitation for a driver to squeeze past or in this case catch you with their door. As above get all the same information and photos.
Hit by other cyclists or pedestrians
This is a little more complex, or not, unless the person that caused your accident has public liability insurance you are unlikely to be able to claim compensation for a personal injury on a no win no fee basis. As above if at the time of the accident you are able to get what details you can, and photos. Pedestrians cause accidents by walking out between stationary cars, or crossing roads to quick/ to slow as they have not seen you or could not judge speed, or just expected you to stop on a penny. There is no winner in a bicycle pedestrian encounter, but as long as you are not riding on the pavement (segregated pavement cycle/path is fine but only if the pedestrian is walking towards you, if you are approaching from behind then regardless of if they were walking on the cycle part of the path it is tough luck), or jumping lights/ failing to stop at stop signs. Cyclist on cyclist is far more complex and really on works with independent witness or CCTV footage, but again if you are in doubt at all give us a call to discuss your accident claim.
Fall due to defective surface
These accidents are all too common on British roads, our roads are overcrowded and overused and despite many repairs are in a sorry state. Local authorities have a duty of care to keep their roads and paths in good order, however this is always balanced against the sheer number of roads there are, the council tend to grade roads based upon traffic volume and the highest volume roads get the quickest and most often repairs whilst the back roads C-class low volume get slow infrequent repairs. So if you are commuting on busy A roads then you will have a good chance of making a claim against a defect in the road, there used to be a straight forward measurement that you could use as a rule of thumb but now a days it is if the defect is perceived as ‘dangerous’ whatever that is. On those busy roads the local authority should be checking them at least every 6 months, so look out for defects where they have sprayed the area, as these normally mean they have noticed it needs repairing and should be repaired within a reasonable amount of time (a week/ month depending on how bad) so if the paint is wearing off then again you could still have a claim. Accidents where you were injured on back roads where cyclists tend to ride at the weekend to be away from cars tend to be inspected every 12 months and so if a defect has appeared within 12 months of the last inspection then you have no chance, the local authority are required to keep records of these inspections and so upon reviewing the defect it looks like it has been that way for a long period of time then we can request to see those inspection records, also your claim can be backed up by witness statements from people that live/ work close to where the defect is if you knock on a few doors. Cattle grates, drainage covers, utility covers all have to be safe for all road users, and it has been known for workers to lay new covers the wrong way, or placing old covers back incorrectly causing a dangerous hazard. We have also seen accidents on covers worn smooth that should have been replaced. Again as in all things photos and witness statements always help make your case a strong one.
So don’t delay and give The Accident Claimline a call today to start your no win no fee accident claim today.
It's important that you choose an experienced company to deal with your claim for you. Call us today to see if we can help 0800 160 1296 We offer a No Win No Fee* service, this means that should your claim fail you will not have to pay a penny. A No Win No Fee* agreement can also be known as a Conditional Fee Agreement between you and the solicitor. Every case we accept is on a no win no fee basis so that you don't have to worry about any upfront legal fees. This gives you security and peace of mind for making your claim. If your compensation claim is unsuccessful the no win no fee agreement protects you so that you won't have to pay the legal fees.
*Other costs may be payable
**TAC have a team of technical claims qualifiers who will speak with you and if you have, in our opinion, a valid claim we can refer your case to one of the personal injury solicitors on our panel.
