Insurance claim against crash caused by animals?

[MikePrice89]

Hi, im new the board - I have been riding for 5 years and have had an SV 650 from new for about 5 months. On saturday I went up Rivvington (near bolton) for a few hours.. the roads are windy and have no fences either side - a lot of bikers go up there especially at weekends.

I was going round a corner and there was a sheep right in the middle of my path - i paniced and swerved to the left hand side in the ditch. All the fairing has smashed on the front of the bike but the forks are not bent and the headlamps/indicators are not smashed. The radiator has a dint in it at the back aswell but is not leaking so might be ok.

A guy in a car who was following me stopped and helped me and stayed with me helping me get the damaged fairing using allan keys we got from other bikers. He gave me his number and said he would be my witness if i wanted to try to take it any furthur.

What is the sitation about claiming against crashes caused by animals in the road - there was no fences surrounding the road and the sheep are free to wander on the road.

What should I do?

[Whosthedaddy]

Tough one

You should always ride with the ability to be able to stop effectively in a sudden emergency and at a speed that also allows you to do this.

Its not illegal to run an animal down by accident, did you really have to swerve or would have slowing down and a toot of the horn been sufficient?

If an animal runs out in front of you thats completely unexpected then not sure whether they could just say that you were riding too fast and not paying due care and attention to the road conditions?
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[killa]

Welcome to the board

Did you get the sheeps details, if not, there's not a lot you can do.
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[FreshAL]

Hi, welcome to the board

Always good to have more SV riders on here, even if yours is a pointy (pah)

Unfortunately, I don't think you're going to like the responses to your first thread!

It's that old thing of "being able to stop in the distance that you can see to be clear, and reasonable assume will remain clear"

Coming round a corner in a rural area too fast to be able to take effective action is asking for trouble. We all do it, but you can't try and blame anyone else when it goes wrong. What if it had been a tree, tractor, group of hikers etc?

Think it's best to chalk this one up to experience. Doesn't sound like the damage is too bad.

For the stress and hassle of getting insurance involved and loss of no-claims (and I don't think you'd be sucessful in a claim against the farmer) I'd just get it fixed myself.

Pop over to www.sv650.org and see if anyone has some farings gonig cheap.

SV's are great bikes, I hope you get it running again soon!

[MikePrice89]

[trevoriv]

Sorry mate but it would go down as your fault if you made a claim ive seen a few write offs due to 'insured swerved to avoid hedgehog'!

As long as its just fairing damage then the best idea would be to sort it yourself and be thankful you didnt hit the bloody thing

[instigator]

Yeah, I don't think it's possible either.

Re: what fits what on your K6, best to ask the people on www.sv650.org, infact you could probably just search their forum for the answer.

Fuzz, happy birthday by the way.

[the grim reaper]

Just one of those things, I'm afraid, chalk it up to experience and slow down in places where sheep could be on the road. I ride through the New Forest like this for the same reason, although it's most likely to be horses round here

Cheers

Grim
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[extreme3d]

A new front fairing for a pointie SV with stickers already attached is only £165. That's probably a good deal less than your excess

[MikePrice89]

Cheers for your advice anyways

Just on the look out for some fairing and i'll be back on the road.

Having to ride my CG to work at the moment

[veeeffarr]

[MikePrice89]

[doggone]

You should report the accident to the Police.

I'll tell you why - because YOU are responsible for hitting the sheep if its on an open area of moorland and YOU shoudl re-imburse the farmer for a replacement if you killed it or any Veterinary treatment required.

There are dozens of sheep illed anually by vehicles on the moors here (north yorks) and the losses are almost entirely borne by the flock owners as most drivers just clear off and don't report.

There are special rules regarding unfenced roads, you can't attach any blame to the animals owner because they are allowed to wander at will.
Just SLOW DOWN when there's sheep about!

[Mr.Everready]

[LustyLew]

[stinkwheel]

There was almost certainly the following sign next to the first cattle grid or gate when you went onto the unfenced part. Now you know why.

[Kickstart]

Hi

From memory, who is liable depends on the signposting and fencing. Given no fencing I think the rider is liable.

All the best

Keith (remembering from 1989 when I ran a sheep over)
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[extreme3d]

[kawakid]