T-boned a car this morning

By szecsei Date 28-08-2008 14:49

Not good....

I was filtering past traffic heading into town. A car emerged from a side road to my left, wanting to run right. Unfortunately, a 12 ton lorry was blocking my line of sight onto either the side road or the car and the first I knew of it was when it pulled out from behind the lorry across my path.

I tried to stop, managed to keep the bike upright, but hit the car in the rear behind its filler cap. Left a 15cm diameter dent in body, paint slightly broken along the leading edge. Since I hit the car at low speed with the front rhs, it has only cracked the panel and the indicator lens, along with the cubby hole that sits in the dashboard which popped out from the force of being compressed.

No injury at all to me. I think it would have been quite serious had I been riding my normal bike since my body would have hit the car sideways. The C1 was great and did its job.

In a way it was nobody's fault as the driver couldn't have possibly seen my coming, and I couldn't see the driver. Ultimately, I blame the amount of completely stationary traffic on the road and the symptom of using oversized vehicles in London to make local deliveries to keep business costs down.

I don't recall seeing any gap between the vehicles as I was filtering, so there must have just been a car's width space for the driver to squeeze out, otherwise I would have slowed right down.

Stef

By pokecheck Date 28-08-2008 16:38

The main thing is that you're OK. Apart from that it's now the annoyance factor of the whole thing ...

By flange Date 28-08-2008 16:48

Hi Stef,

Sorry to hear about your day. I had a simular accident and here in the UK it touched on grey area in that filtering is not recognised in the highway code, however, it is common practice with even police motorbikes do it. Also with my claim they deemed that I should have not been filtering past a junction, which again in town is not ideal. So you may find your insurance company taking the stance that the accident occured because you were overtaking at an inappropriate place! Bullshit for sure but you need to be prepared for it. Be careful how you write up the claim and use words such as slow filtering and not overtaking, were you on the opposit side of the road at inpact or was the road wide enough for you to stay within the white line? this is also a factor.

I took some advice and ditched my legal cover from my insurance company and used an external company that specialised in bike claims. Got a 50/50 splitt instead of a 100% liable so was happy.

I hope you get an easy resolve, best thing though is that bike of yours kept you safe = result

By Clunkfish Date 28-08-2008 17:51

>best thing though is that bike of yours kept you safe = result

Hear hear - sorry to hear about the crash but glad to hear you're alright!

By Lawrie Date 29-08-2008 07:22

Phew, good to hear you came out of it ok, & no injuries, (you may ache a bit tomorrow)

>In a way it was nobody's fault as the driver couldn't have possibly seen my coming, I don't agree with this (sorry)

Surely it must be to car drivers fault, since, weather you were filtering or not, YOU were on the 'main' road, & the car pulled out from a 'side' road, that alone makes him at fault, PLUS, he appeared to pull out without ensuring his route was completely clear, again, his fault.

By Mad_Accountant Date 29-08-2008 11:00

I don't mean to be a misery guts but they (insurers) do regard filtering as a hazardous manouvre and filtering past a junction could be just what they need.

Take some advice from one of the bike legal specialists, my gut feeling is that you may be best off with an "each pays for his own damage" result and no claims recorded.

Glad you are OK, it's hard to avoid contact in London commuting so don't beat yourself up. :-)

By szecsei Date 29-08-2008 14:44

Thanks for all your kind responses.

You're probably right that a knock for knock outcome of this is the best way forward. I have no desire to try and get anything repaired on my bike, as I was on the rat C1 that looked a mess before the accident. In fact, I couldn't really tell what was as a result of the crash and what was already there....

The singular thing of concern to me is now the insurance claim, loss of no claims bonus by having an own fault claim registered against me, and the ensuing increase in premiums on my whole fleet. If I can settle by paying the other party £500 towards their repair for instance, this is much the cheaper course of action.

I view insurance not as a crutch but merely as a legal necessity. I know that if I ever have to rely on them, they won't be there for me and will try and wriggle out of any claim possible. Therefore, I buy the cheapest third party insurance I can lay my hands on and save a fortune in premiums every year.

By szecsei Date 29-08-2008 14:49

Hopefully, the other party may also decide that insurance is not worth pursuing, and in view of the fact that I was on the main road and had absolute priority, she may decide to just say that she will pay for the repair herself.

One thing's for sure - riding in London is a miserable experience and getting worse all the time. Why do we have zero investment in our infrastructure in this wealthy and great city? I was in Munich last weekend and a friend of a friend I met out there told me something quite inconcievable in this country: the city government is investing money to bury the ring-road in tunnels in built up areas to remove pollution and noise from surface level, turning what was once a busy 8 lane urban motorway into parks. Properties nearby are increasing in value as a result, people enjoy their lives more and motorists have faster and more comfortable journeys.

By pokecheck Date 29-08-2008 15:56

>the city government is investing money to bury the ring-road in tunnels in built up areas to remove pollution and noise from surface level, turning what was once a busy 8 lane urban motorway into parks. Properties nearby are increasing in value as a result, people enjoy their lives more and motorists have faster and more comfortable journeys.

Sounds like Boston's "Big Dig"

By larry Date 29-08-2008 14:51

Sorry to hear about your incident, glad to hear you are OK.

By mach2 Date 31-08-2008 21:12 Edited 01-09-2008 07:13

Yes Stef, glad you're OK. Commuting is still OK if you take fewer chances than we used to. It takes a little longer but its safer, cheers