Crashed, almost... kind of.

[baggylastard]

Coming back from a little jaunt after work this evening, came along a group of cars stuck behind a car doing 40. I was passing 1/2 cars at a time when safe to do so with no issues, came to this bit of the road; click

and was behind the leader, doing 40mph~ and the 1 car behind him/her, so I pulled out at the end of the "solid white line of doom do not pass here or you will die and stuff" and was halfway past the blue car, when in one fluid motion, he does as car drivers do and indicates whilst pulling out to overtake. I think "oooooohhh" whilst going further to the right, wanging the throttle wide open and trying to hit the horn and missing, but within half a second, my left side is cozying up to his driver side door.

I kept the throttle pinned, tasted my own arsehole and scraped past him down the side of his car.

Once past, I proceded to wobble around like fuck, fishtail a fair bit, and possibly shit myself some at the thought of sliding down the road for the first time.

Carried on round the next couple of bends, stopped in a driveway a bit further up.

First thing I said to him was that he should have checked his mirrors.

Some bits he said were;

"I was first in line behind the car so I get first go at overtaking"
"I had a quick glance in my mirror but you were 2/3 cars back"
"You must have been going fast"
"I didn't know you were there until I clipped you"


I had my headlight on, it was just him in the car, it was about 8:15PM.

Damage to the bike is, as far as I can tell, none existent, damage to me, is a couple of small grazes on my arm and side.

Damage to his car looked to be a scrape on the side, and the door wouldn't fully shut.

Now I have some questions for the more knowledgeable;

I don't have "legal cover", does this mean if blame were contested I end up representing myself?
His colleagues were allegedly in the car behind , are they independent witnesses?
Is this worthy of the crash thread?
Who is likely to be held to blame?
Can I instruct my insurers that I want 0% blame?
What do I need to do, other than inform insurance?


Paint diagram is attached.

in b4 shit obs.

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Do instruct your insurers you want 0% blame. Not saying they will listen.

Legal cover is only useful if they are absolutely sure the other party is to blame anyway.

Note that your headlight on will make it harder to work out speed and direction.

I reckon you've got a very good chance, but may need to fight it a little. Hopefully he will see sense and not try - however you were already in position and he pulled in to your path.

I would check over your bike and check to see if there was anything at all.
Me, I'd be claiming for those few scratches IF he wants to try and make it your fault, but are happy to let it go to save hassle otherwise.
I suspect he may well be fully comp and claiming on that, so will lose his no claims anyway (maybe a company car?) But if he does want to avoid a claim, it could help convince him not to bother.

[Matt94]

I had a similar sort of accident back on my 125 in the sense of a car was damaged, my bike wasn't but I had taken the brunt of it.

Was going down the road about 5pm, this was late february so it was about dusk, had my lights on obviously. Traffic my way was few, in the opposite lane it was queued up (live near a motorway exit so my village is often used as a through way). Anyway this ford street KA had pulled out infront of me trying to push into the oncoming traffic, I had no time to break and my first reaction was to try and swerve around her (there's a gap between the two lanes) As I did this she was still looking away from me and pulling forward and she had actually hit my leg. I wasn't going fast enough to get speed wobble or anything but the impact had caused a sort of road rash all the way up my leg.. Half of her bumper had been torn off and the foglight smashed so glass everywhere.

Anyway once I had got myself back together after pulling over to check myself, I went back up to where she had stopped. Police were here in minutes and the bitch had the cheek to say that I didn't have my lights on and that I had left the scene of the accident.. (about 7-8 minutes from impact to checking myself over and then going back up to her)..

Had a letter a few days from the police saying that they weren't going to be taking the matter any further, the bitch got off clean when she could have almost took me out into oncoming traffic, And it was settled as nobodies fault
I did go through one of those no win no fee personal injury lawyers and they guaranteed I would get a payout (The resulting damage has caused the surface of my left leg to have no feeling at all- AFTER IT HAD FULLY HEALED THOUGH- AT THE TIME IT WAS MERELY A ROAD RASH TYPE THING) and they had arranged physio sessions etc. In the end I cancelled it all though due to other commitments I was too busy and there was so much back and forth paperwork to deal with.


What i'm trying to say is police/insurance are wankers and you've probably got a good chance of a payout if you go through injury lawyers.
____________________
current; beemer 5 series!

[-Matt-]

"I was first in line behind the car so I get first go at overtaking"
If only you had a voice recorder - thats absolute fucking bullshit.

"I had a quick glance in my mirror but you were 2/3 cars back"
Again - drivers don't do 'quick glances' you do an observation, and the fact he acknowledge you were there - i presume overtaking or he wouldn't of seen you, he should of taken further time to be sure you weren't continueing - all be it not wise to over take multiple cars.

"You must have been going fast"
''I was within the speed limit'' - simple answer everytime.

"I didn't know you were there until I clipped you"
Clearly he didn't take adequate observations.

As said - shame you didn't voice record it or you'd have a great wad of 'fuck you' for court should it go there.

I don't have "legal cover", does this mean if blame were contested I end up representing myself?
I'm not 100 percent on this, i THINK if you are finally deemed to blame THEN you will be liable for legal fees but until that time the insurer would be contesting, but i'm not sure so check that.

His colleagues were allegedlyin the car behind , are they independent witnesses?
Sounds more like a made up threat than anything - did this car of colleagues stop and get out - most would.

Is this worthy of the crash thread?
Close call... Very close though

Who is likely to be held to blame?
This is the harder part - IF the car behind is genuienely a bag of witnesses it could come into play, if not, the fact he pulled out and you were overtaking would indicate he didn't check, irrelevant of whether you overtook 1, 2 ,3 or more cars a check would of shown you were there - i'd enphasise this to him if you talk to him again and he intends to try pursue.

[SteveZZR]

Legal Cover is definitely one to have; when I was knocked off my 50 6 weeks into owning it when dick in a Clio pulled to the curb, slowed to about 5mph and indicated left, then turned right as I overtook and I hit him in the side doing about 35mph (restricted bike only did 35 and was in a 40 limit). He tried to blame me for "not being in control of your bike".....

It was clearly him to blame, and his passenger was MY witness for the claim and fell out big time with his mate who was driving because he was being a cunt about everything.

Third party tried to blame me despite my witness and my insurance would only defend the claim, not push my claim. Eventually when it went to court I was awarded what I claimed for anyway and (2.5 years on!) this wanker didn't even bother turning up.

Then again, I think I'd be hiding myself in embarrassment if I'd got a 28 year old witness who was in a childrens play park at 8pm on a Friday night (I actually submitted photo evidence that she couldn't have seen the crash too!) that put "friend" down as their occupation.......


Car Driver clearly to blame here too; I was advised by a solicitor (free consultation through Unite) that generally when a bike/car collision happens with the bike hitting the side of the car, the car driver is found in the wrong

[-Matt-]

[G]

[SteveZZR]

[-Matt-]

[Wonko The Sane]

[t121anf]

[iooi]

[P.addy]

[-Matt-]

Guess it might be the last year i bother with that then

[pdg]

I had 'legal cover' about 10 years ago....

Car pulled out of a junction, over give way lines, and literally drove into the side of me. Apparently, the car following me 'flashed her out', so it's like I wasn't there.

My 'bike specialist insurance appointed lawyer' (actually 2 of them, the first one moved jobs) spent nearly 2 years doing the square root of fuck all before telling me that "if you weren't on a bike it wouldn't have happened" - then informing me that if I didn't accept 50% liability they would bill me for every phone call and letter, both ways - about £3,500.

Never, ever again. Haven't had legal cover since and never intend to have it again. Even if it's 'free' I tell them in writing that I do not want them representing me in any event.

Good luck anyway.

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