Hypothetical

[hellobaby]

Imagine this common situation in London, The sun is out on a clear day, You are riding in congested traffic which is approaching a red light and the cars begin to que, your speed is less than 15mph and so you do your life saver, check mirrors and ride to the right hand side of the traffic about half a metre into the opposing lane and attempt to ride upto the front of the que slowly in second gear so you are making as much noise as possible.

All of a sudden one of the cars in the que does a U-turn without signal or mirror checks and you crash into the side (I brake'd and cursed) now who would be at fault here, since you were technically riding on the wrong side of the road but its a very common sight in London and is almost assumed by most other people of bikers doing that.
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CBT - 10/05/08, Theory 7/05/08

[TheDonUK]

Him for U-turning without ensuring it is safe to do so.

Either way who is at fault is irrelevent if it is you being scraped up off the floor and him with a dent in his car.

Assuming the oncoming traffic is clear (which it usually is when you are approaching queued traffic at a red light) i position myself right out into the oncoming lane. Not quite on the opporsite curb but at least in the middle of the other lane. It does mean you are less visible in their mirrors but i am doing it for the exact reason you describe, for the drivers that dont use the mirrors anyway, gives you a split second more to either brake or swever/mount kerb.

Then i swing back in as i approach the front of the queue (or if theres traffic coming towards)

I always wonder about riders who stay on (or to the left of) the white line even when the oncoming lane is clear...
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[Current Bikes - GSXR-750 K5 & C90-97 ] [Previous Bikes: Runner 125, YBR 125, GS500, Bandit 600, Hornet 600, ZX6R-99, C90-99, R1-99, XT600E-04, GSXR-750 K4, CRF250L '16]

[Ingah]

I wouldn't know what would happen in court over that one.

I can think of failure to indicate and failure to check mirrors on the part of the cager (at the very least). I can think of "wrong side of the road"/unexpected place for biker. Mitigating for the biker is that it's safer and makes more sense to do it the way you've described. I'd be very shocked if it was decided the biker was at more than 50% liability, either way. I'd like to think the cager's fault, because i don't see how it's reasonable to say "i didn't expect him/her to be there" as the explanation for it being someone else's liability. If you didn't look you should be liable in my book. Could easily have been someone's runaway 5 year old kid.

Someone more knowledgeable will be along eventually.
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-- Ingah

[LeeR]

Given the precedent set in the Davis v Scroggins case (see BCF thread: Please help me get my head straight - insurance matter) it would probably go in the rider's favour, though all cases are considered individually, and road markings etc... will have a bearing on the decision.
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My claim to fame: Austin Vince nicked my pen...

[Minty]

I would expect independant witnesses to hold the key to winning a full 100% liability win. Otherwise what is to stop the driver stating he indicated and proceeded slowly and you just didn't see him.

Theoretically, of course!!
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My fingers smell of your mum.

[panrider_uk]

[Clanger]

In a court of law, it would be six to one and half a dozen to the other, equal wrongs.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[hellobaby]

[hellobaby]

[ms51ves3]

[Clanger]

[hellobaby]

Ah that makes sense
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CBT - 10/05/08, Theory 7/05/08

[That_Hornet]

[c-m]

[hellobaby]

Cool thanks for the link, looks to be exactly what i was looking for, looks abit ugly though, still better than the stadard hornet one i suppose
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CBT - 10/05/08, Theory 7/05/08

[That_Hornet]

[Jayy]

When I was 16, I was coming down a road, car parked on the left hand side, half on the grass, half on the road. The car was stationary so I moved across to pass it, then out of nowhere, the car u-turns and I T-bone the drivers door and flung off the bike.

Cut a long story short, she claimed £17,000 in damages as she had a full car of kids, one of which was disabled. I got fuck all.

[hellobaby]

Damn thats a tough judgment, sounds like you got the short end of the stick, hopefully you weren't badly injured.

[NSR Mick]