CRASH TEST DUMMY
Had an accident and it wasn’t your fault? Well, maybe it actually was your fault and maybe you should think twice before trying to put a claim in. Here’s why…
QI had a scary moment riding my bike into London. I was approaching red traffic lights in a three lane carriageway. In lane one was a large earth moving truck and in lane two was a foreign registered articulated lorry. I looked at the gap between the trucks and went for it. I thought I could squeeze through, but then I realised I would not get through the gap.
Just as I realised I was not going to get through the gap the lights turned green and both trucks moved off, and I was stuck between them. I had my left foot down, which the earth moving truck ran over, and it broke some bones in my foot. The foreign truck ground against my hand, but I managed to get my hand out of the way before it was damaged, but my shoulder took a wrenching.
My bike was completely undamaged. The trucks moved off, they did not stop, and I fairly unceremoniously dropped my bike in the middle of the road as the pain in my foot started kicking in. Luckily I had my GoPro on so I had the registration number of both trucks. I have not told anyone about this case, neither the police nor my own insurance, because I do not want to stuff my own insurance. My question is whether you think I have a personal injury claim? The bike was only lightly scuffed, so I’m not worried about that, but the injuries I sustained meant I wasn’t able to work. Have I got a credible argument?
AYou don’t have a claim. I say that without being especially critical of you. I ride a variety of bikes on London’s crowded streets and I have gone for gaps that were not really there, so I am not saying this from an ivory tower, but the truck drivers really did nothing wrong.
You put yourself in an unusual and dangerous position, and no one made you do it. As a general proposition of the law of road traffic liability, the more unusual your manoeuvre the greater the care you have to exercise. Pulling away in a straight line at a green traffic light is a wholly predictable thing for the drivers of both trucks to do. Squeezing your bike into a gap which was not really there, probably in both drivers’ blind spots is an unusual and an unwise thing to do and because it is a result of a complete misjudgement on your part it is my opinion that you have no case.
No doubt you will find some claims monkey who will tell you something different, but the downside to that is that if you go to one of the claims monkeys, they will inform the driver of the UK registered truck of a potential claim. They probably will not know how to deal with the foreign truck driver which actually takes a bit of knowledge and experience, but at that point you then have an official record of a collision that you were involved in, which your insurance company will like very much indeed because they will not have to pay a penny out either on your bike, because it was not damaged or to the third parties, but they can load you for the next five years on the basis of this ‘accident’ which was in fact a misjudgement with no claim arising from it.
But if you flag it up you will be on the dreaded database of claims, and as such you will allow yourself to be mugged for many, many years and many, many pounds. So for you, my best advice is to keep your head down, your mouth shut and learn from your painful experience.