Accident with cyclist - Seeking advice

[mattyg]

I think it’s reasonable to expect the OP to be looking for traffic and being aware of pedestrians but I don’t see how it can be his fault that he didn’t see a moron on a cycle coming at speed on the pavement from near nowhere.

Alas, I can’t see his insurance seeing it that way...

But isn't that the whole SMIDSY issue.

I'm with everyone that the Cyclist was a pratt and shouldn't have been doing what he was doing. But equally the OP should have been looking in the direction of travel and should have seen him. Surely If you cant see that the way is clear you adjust until you can see. Or accept the consequences when it goes wrong.

I do a LOT of miles and I do what the op did all the time. But I'm sure had I been driving I would accept the blame. Especially if I wasn't looking in the cyclists direction.

You drive a hulking big HGV surely your more aware than most that you can't just assume nothings there if you can't confirm it. Isn't that why HGV's have CCTV fitted covering the rear nowadays. To help you when some daft git parks right behind you just as your about to reverse.

But he was not there at the time he made the decision to pull out. Presumably he looked left, then looked right, then pulled out and *bamn*.

The only way for him to avoid what happened was to look left last before pulling out (which makes no sense - and then a reckless cyclists could have come the other way) or to have the ability to look left and right at the same time which anatomy wise for a human is impossible.

In fact the only way this could have been avoided was to have just stayed in that spot for eternity, just in case some idiot on a bicycle was to come hurtling down the wrong way and on the pavement.

The only reason the road network works is because we abide by the laws and rules. If you had to anticipate people breaking the rules every single moment and in every eventuality, no one would ever move anywhere.

Then the OP made the decision too soon.

Had the OP looked left BEFORE pulling away the accident wouldn't have happened. There wasn't a cyclist coming from the other direction. Not that I could see from the video anyway.

One of those rules is to look where you are going.

 

[VincentHanna]

I think you are overestimating just how much I can see to the left. Visibility (as shown in the photo) is about 2 metres.

 

[jpaul]

In future however to stop this kind of thing happening when waiting to turn in you should leave no space for pedestrians or illegal cyclists to drive/walk in front of you. So they have to go behind you...the safer course of action for all.

easy to say in retrospect, but as surfer said, closing down the gap could have been a solution to further reduce risk -
break it into two moves, block pavement traffic first, after looking at side with least visibility last.

(locally have many residents with blind exits from narrow alleys across pavement into road, and it's surprising how often you arrive, a meter short of an emerging bonnet, but they are relying on the pedestrian/ mother-with-pram, to be alert and give way)

 

[viper_2003]

IMHO there are 2 things to consider here, the view of the law & the view of insurers - the 2 aren’t necessarily the same.

There is little doubt that the cyclist was breaking the law behaving how they were but insurance liability is different. The car was moving (very slowly) upon impact so again IMHO it would be at best 50/50 from an insurers perspective.

A colleague of mine had a somewhat similar experience after a car accident. A car going up a bus lane illegally hit the side of my colleagues car whilst turning left into a junction - the insurers placed the blame with my colleague despite the legality of it.

 

[mattyg]

I think you are overestimating just how much I can see to the left. Visibility (as shown in the photo) is about 2 metres.

I get what your saying but if visibility was that poor thats even more of a reason to be extra cautious. Your aware that visibility is poor knowing that should have made you more cautious.
Its a crappy thing to happen and I do sympathise with you.

Maybe its years of driving out of a blind driveway every morning that makes me see this differently. I would have to stop level with the buildings then creep/edge out to the kerb line then I could pull out into the road.

IMHO there are 2 things to consider here, the view of the law & the view of insurers - the 2 aren’t necessarily the same.

There is little doubt that the cyclist was breaking the law behaving how they were but insurance liability is different. The car was moving (very slowly) upon impact so again IMHO it would be at best 50/50 from an insurers perspective.

A colleague of mine had a somewhat similar experience after a car accident. A car going up a bus lane illegally hit the side of my colleagues car whilst turning left into a junction - the insurers placed the blame with my colleague despite the legality of it.

Because to wrongs don't make a right. And you should be checking the way is clear before proceeding. Its also illegal to turn into another road user causing a collision. I reversed into a car on double yellows when I just passed my test. Had that car been parked legally I wouldn't have hit it. Had I used proper observation I wouldn't have hit it either

 

[Trig]

We're all forgetting one thing here, this is the internet so...

Its always the bloody cyclist fault.

Or the BMW driver...

Ahhh, i see why this is taking so long to sort out

 

[Jono8]

B Its also illegal to turn into another road user causing a collision. her

This isn't what happened though. This is more like a pedestrian randomly stepping out in front of you. The cyclists was not a road user...he wasn't on the road for a start!

 

[mattyg]

This isn't what happened though. This is more like a pedestrian randomly stepping out in front of you. The cyclists was not a road user...he wasn't on the road for a start!

Neither was the OP. The accident happened because they were both trying to occupy the same piece of PAVEMENT.

 

[mattyg]

We're all forgetting one thing here, this is the internet so...

Its always the bloody cyclist fault.

Or the BMW driver...

Ahhh, i see why this is taking so long to sort out

Historically I would blame the BMW driver. But were about to change our crappy MB GLA for a BMW

 

[Nasher]

I think people are overlooking the fact that driver wouldn't have seen the cyclist when the camera did. He would have been about a foot back and a few inches lower, also probably looking right. Theres a reason cyclists shouldn't go against traffic. By the time he was about level with that wheely bin it was to late.

 

[koolpc]

Idiot cyclist as normal. Some think they can do what they want!

 

[Rroff]

the fact that driver wouldn't have seen the cyclist when the camera did

Some truth there. Ultimately though I hope the cyclist approaches situations like that a little more cautiously in future - next time it could be a vehicle moving at far higher speed and regardless of who is in the right or wrong he ain't gonna come out looking pretty.

 

[Scania]

You drive a hulking big HGV surely your more aware than most that you can't just assume nothings there if you can't confirm it. Isn't that why HGV's have CCTV fitted covering the rear nowadays. To help you when some daft git parks right behind you just as your about to reverse.

Your right, you never assume when in any vehicle but an HGV especially so, however, watching the OP’s video again I don’t see him being reckless nor pulling out quickly, I think he’d allowed plenty of opportunity to look for what should have been there before he pulled out (pedestrians, mothers with prams etc) but I don’t see how he can be expected to allow for an idiot traveling at speed on the pavement (in contradiction of the Highway Code) to appear out of nowhere.

I was hit by a cyclist in my HGV a few years back, not quite the same situation, I had pulled out of a side road in London but then stopped with my trailer across the drops in the pavement due to traffic, (my truck was in the road but blocking the path of anybody on the pavement) a cyclist came hurtling along the pavement and went into the side of me.
He tried to claim against my employer for his injuries (a few broken teeth iirc) and his claim was rejected by them due to him riding illegally, the company was self insured wether this makes a difference or not, I don’t know, anyway,the police attended and I was allowed on my way without any further issues, the officer even said to me this was a common occurrence with cyclists.

Had he been riding on the road, they may have viewed it differently he said but the fact remained he was involved in an accident from a position that he shouldn’t have been in the first place made all the difference in the officers eyes and the fact this prat rode into a 13’3” high green & red trailer without apparently seeing it first!

I would suspect the OP’s insurers may well look on this in a similar way.


Incidentally the vast vast majority of articulated trucks don’t have reversing cameras, we have to judge it ourselves!

 

[opstrat]

The council should look at making that a box junction to prevent this happening again.

 

[Nasher]

Or maybe the OP should just leave his bin in the way. Like a traffic calming obstacle on the pavement

 

[VincentHanna]

I think people are overlooking the fact that driver wouldn't have seen the cyclist when the camera did. He would have been about a foot back and a few inches lower, also probably looking right. Theres a reason cyclists shouldn't go against traffic. By the time he was about level with that wheely bin it was to late.

Yep, I did mention that earlier.

My dashcam is mounted just to the left of my rear view mirror, and you are exactly right about my field of vision being lower and 1ft further back.

 

[MooMoo444]

Some truth there. Ultimately though I hope the cyclist approaches situations like that a little more cautiously in future - next time it could be a vehicle moving at far higher speed and regardless of who is in the right or wrong he ain't gonna come out looking pretty.

I think the cyclist was extremely lucky here. Given he would've been knocked forward into the road, if there happened to be a car coming it could have been a fatality. You'd hope they learn from this.

 

[Nasher]

Theres some CCTV footage on youtube where something like that happened. The cyclist clipped a pedestrian, bounced off the side of a car and went head first under the front wheel of a bus. It was horrific but totally his own fault.

 

[IAmATeaf]

The council should look at making that a box junction to prevent this happening again.

What?

 

[opstrat]

What?

Who?