Soulgirl

Just had a 12 year old boy crash into the back of my car, causing enough damage to warrant a respray and a dent rollout. 12! I can't even sue the little ****. I was stationary as well. He came hairing around the corner and before he saw me it was too late. He was going that fast it threw him almost over my car! This was in a school parking lot too.

Im going to call the school... in fact, Im going to lobby the Government to make insurance for cyclists obligatory!! I have a £350 excess so not even worth me claiminig.

My first reaction was to storm out of my car..... and in no uncertain terms........ asked if he was ok LOL

jason77

speak to the kid's folks.. they'll have to sort it out i'd reckon.

j

Richard Askew

I would have bray'd the little ****... well done on the self-restraint

Soulgirl

Must be the Mum in me... I was probably concerned that he hadn't hurt himself. He was really sorry I could possibly squeeze a claim from the public liability of his parents home insurance?

Franko

I agree with Jase,
Speak with the kids folks they should help sort it

Silver Scooby Sport

iTrader: (15)

Got a small dent in the passenger door on mine from a little b***** throwing stones...... !!!!!!!
Only there was a group of them and not one seen what happened !!! So sweet to be able to lie at such a young age !!!
i know the feeling all to well !!!

Simon

DJ WATTS

I know how you feel.
I had to have 2 doors resprayed on my car because of people not watching what they are doing.

I also agree, talk to their parents and see if they can sort you out.
If not and they get arsey tell them that you have informed the Police on this and you will persue this further under damage to peoples property or something and if they still don't care then talk to CAB to see if you have any leagal rights over this and whether you can do something about it.
My guess is that you can as at least you know who has done this and you could have witnesses to the event.
With me the idiots just dented my doors and i don't know who they were.
Dont just take this, i wouldnt. Go and stick up for yourself, your rights and your Scooby for gods sake!!

Soulgirl

When I told the insurance company I said to the guy "but its my baby"... he hesitated... brought up my details and said "god, now I see why it's your baby".. What a beast LOL.

That made me feel better momentarily. I am going to speak to the schools Headmaster to record my disdain of the whole episode.

It gets you thinking thought doesnt it. Cyclists and pedestrians should have some form of insurance cover for such situations.

Nick99

A friend had someone run in to the side of his car whilst he was driving along - the person wanted to cross the road but didn't look

He took them to the small claims court and got the money for the repairs.
Worth considering.

Mind you - the police may be interested coz he was driving under age

[Edited by Nick99 - 10/23/2003 5:46:44 PM]

greasemonkey

As has been said, the parents are the best bet. They may simply agree to have the car repaired. If you don't know who the parents are, then the headmaster's the next bet to identify the youngster concerned.

Either way, no reason to sit here obsessing about it, get it sorted!

SWPT

Similar thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago - kid on a bike came flying out from in front of a parked van without even looking, straight into the front of my Scoob!!!

Luckily the little bugger was ok as I was only doing about 10mph, otherwise he'd have probably been killed.

This resulted in: smashed foglight, dented front bumper, deep scrape in bonnet, smashed wing mirror, damaged rubber seals around passenger window and a few other scrapes and scratches on front wing and passenger door [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Thought I'd better report it to the Police and when I did they informed me that if I had any witnesses I should be able to claim it all back (didn't say exactly how) as long as I knew where he lived (which I do).

Decided to do it through the insurance so that their legal team could deal with it and consequently am now driving around in a Ford Ka courtesy car (aaarrrgh!) and will shortly be £370 (excess) out of pocket.

Am not holding out too much hope of getting the cash back as I've only got one witness who seemed a bit cagey about how much she saw when I spoke to her, but if you've got any decent witnesses then you should definitely be able to claim back the full cost of the repair.

Si

(Edited coz i can't spell)

[Edited by SWPT - 10/23/2003 7:49:34 PM]

[Edited by SWPT - 10/23/2003 10:09:12 PM]

mart360

Blimey dont our attitudes change when we grow up!!!

how many times did you as youngsters bash into things on your pushbikes and ride off with out telling anyone!!!

i can understand if it was deliberate,, and fair enough but accept it for what it was an acci dent! i know it hurts ive had it done to me but thats life...

on the other side of the coin imagine if every car ownner knocked on your door for every scuff / chip dent that had occured its the " your son kicked a ball, that hit a pigeon who dropped a stone on my car" syndrome...

prehaps you need to take up the claim with Subaru,, its them who pressed the doors out of tinfoil!!!

Mart

Soulgirl

Which is why I question why cyclists, who have a high incidence of accidental damage, are not made to carry insurance!

Im not going to take it further... as said and as I rightly know having kids myself, it's a matter of course for children to not consider danger. It just pi55ed me off at the time.

Anyway, I shall soon be getting my respray

RON

SG,
Do you still have Dean's e-mail addy???

Are you gonna fix it, or live with it bent for a while?? Oooeer!!!!

BOB.T

I'd of asked him if he OK, then beat him to within an inch of his life and then asked again, maybe it's mid 20's yob in me

greasemonkey

Sorry for sounding blunt Karen, but if there's one thing I hate it's knee-jerk reaction bullsh*t.

Please state the evidence you have that supports your statement that "cyclists have a high incidence of accidental damage".

I think you'll find (well, I don't think, I know), that in the vast majority of accidents involving cyclists and motor vehicles, when fault is found, it's usually with the motorist.

While many cyclists do contribute to their own problems by actions such as riding on the pavement and jumping red lights, the situation remains that most such collisions are actually caused by motor vehicles driving too close. It would appear that the vast majority of drivers don't know that cyclists (and motor cyclists) should be given the same space on the road as a car, as they need said space to dodge round the potholes, drain covers and other obstacles that don't worry cars and lorries in the slightest.

Why should they? Given that the average cyclist plus bike weighs about 70kg, is primarily a soft object and tends not to move particularly quickly and thus carries virtually no kinetic energy, the odds on one causing serious damage to a motor vehicle are somewhere between slim and anorexic.

Why not? If the kid rode into your stationary car, it was his fault. Why are you here laying on the big sob story and milking sympathy if you're not prepared to get off bum and sort the matter out in the correct manner?

And the only way they'll learn is via experience and parental guidance. If the financial implications of repairing your car encourage the parents to instil some more commonsense into him, it'll be good for the kid, as well as your wallet.

Obviously. That is, however, no excuse for ill-considered ramblings on the "dangers" cyclists pose to the car-owning public, especially when you obviously don't have a clue of the statistics involved.

Good-oh. Maybe you'll feel better if the kid's folks pay for it eh?

[Edited by greasemonkey - 10/23/2003 10:45:17 PM]

Reib

That sucks. Any any how much in £'s worth of damage there is yet?

vulnax999

iTrader: (7)

But if the cycle rider is injured then who gets the compensation claim? The car driver who is statutorily insured.

If cyclists hurt some one else ( lets leave vehicle damage aside for a moment ) who covers the medical costs, time off work, lost earnings and the injured parties compensation, etc? The parents? What if they can't afford it?

It's even worse for horse riders - no road tax yet they hog the road and leave droppings all over country roads ( it's illegal for dogs to do it so why are horses allowed ? ) and complain if / when you drive past them, even slowly ( in a scoob anyway! ) and if the horse goes mad and kicks a few people and / or cars, then what's their liability for the injury / damage, as they also carry no compulsary insurance for damage they cause.

Suppose it's the same for these motorised scooters, that new gyroscope thingy, etc., they don't need insurance as they are not cars.




...are not made to carry insurance!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Why should they? Given that the average cyclist plus bike weighs about 70kg, is primarily a soft object and tends not to move particularly quickly and thus carries virtually no kinetic energy, the odds on one causing serious damage to a motor vehicle are somewhere between slim and anorexic.

In Disguise

If you hit him, he would claim, so what goes around comes around

SHAGGY6603

Greasemonkey are you kidding?

so what if they're small and have little energy?

They don't have to hit you cause damage- you can damage your motor on something else swerving to miss the little angels.

And how about a teenager/adult doing thityish d/hill on a bike hitting say a small child? No serious damage there?

All road users should have some form of public liability insurance I think- especially in light of the fact that I've read of cases (sorry can't remember where) where health authorities have been succesful in claiming the cost of treating cyclists injuries from car drivers insurance even where the cyclist was proven to be at fault.

[Edited by SHAGGY6603 - 10/24/2003 5:06:19 AM]

f1

I had a mate have the same thing happen years ago, he claimed of the parents home insurance. Maybe worth the try.

greasemonkey

If the cyclist was at fault, they wouldn't be able to claim compensation from the car driver. If the driver was at fault, OTOH, of course he/she would be responsible for compensating any injured parties - whether they be pedestrians, occupants of another car, whatever.

You seem to be assuming that all cyclists are juveniles here!

Was my post filled with 's?

Then (in reply to Karen's post) the chances of them doing serious damage to a motor vehicle would be somewhat slim.

In which case you'd have to sue the cyclist concerned. In general terms though, if you were forced to "swerve" to avoid something, you were probably travelling too close in the first place, or not observing potential hazards correctly.

Speed limits don't apply to pedal cycles, so "thirtyish" is a moot point. If a cyclist did hit a kid in the middle of the road, the first question would be why the kid stepped onto the road in front of an oncoming cyclist. If the cyclist was careering down the pavement of course, it'd be his fault. If the accident happened on the road though, it'd be treated the same as if the kid had been knocked down by a car.

And how would you propose to implement this, on a practical basis? How do you define a "road user"? Anyone who drives, walks on or crosses a road? Anyone who owns a device equipped with wheels?

Skateboarders? Segway riders? Wheelchair-bound disabled folk? Old grannies with wheeled shopping trollies? Where would you draw the line?

Motorists have TP cover anyway, but what about the seven year olds on bikes, how are they supposed to arrange insurance cover? Also don't forget a large number of road accidents are caused by pedestrians walking onto the road without proper observation. Are you going to insist that every person in the UK has PL cover for when they're crossing the road? Would everyone in the UK have to have a covernote before they were allowed out of the front door of their house? Tell us in practical terms how you would implement this!

To say this idea is unwieldy and impractical is understating the case!

If indeed that has happened, it sounds like an iniquitous situation. The onus would be on the driver(s) concerned to defend the action though. Suppose the moral of that story is to give cyclists plenty of space!

Either way, insisting that all "road users" carry TP insurance cover sounds like a rather silly idea - unless you can think of a simple and enforceable way to define the terms, and make it work...

SHAGGY6603

Greasemonkey,

Now I know you're joking!!- did you really just argue that if you have to swerve to avoid something then you must have been too close or too fast and not "reading the road", and then in the next sentance say that if a cyclist hit a child in the middle of the road it's the childs fault?

Are cyclists absolved from common sense behaviour on the road then? A bike can potentialy come out of a side road/ off a pavement a lot quicker than a child on foot and yet in your example you expect us to bring our 2 tonnes of metal to a halt without clattering the cyclist but the much lighter more manouverable cyclist is blameless?.

Methinks you may have contradicted yourself a tad.

As for insurance maybe I was shortsighted, I should have said everyone should have some form of third party Public liability insurance that would cover all instances not just road use necessarily. Parents Insurance could cover under 16's 0r 18's or whatever. Maybe the govt could provide it? I believe in New Zealand you can't sue anyone ever for personal injury because the govt covers it and sets the payouts/ covers medical bills etc.

[Edited by SHAGGY6603 - 10/24/2003 7:21:34 AM]

greasemonkey

No, don't put words in my mouth. I said that in the event that a cyclist riding down the road happened to collide with a pedestrian, the accident would be investigated along very similar lines to what would happen if a motorist collided with a pedestrian.

Factors like the speed of the vehicle/bike and the observation of the pedestrian would be taken into account when establishing any blame. In the event that a pedestrian stepped out straight in front of an oncoming vehicle, said pedestrian would carry a large share of the blame in the event of a collision, would you not agree?

Of course not. Why are you so keen to invent things?

As a matter of course, you should be observing potential and emerging hazards, whether they be sideroads, kids riding on the pavement, parked cars (around which pedestrians can emerge) or whatever. Anticipating their behaviour and driving in a manner that leaves you best placed to avoid an accident no matter what the eventuality is the basic tenet of advanced driving. If this concept really is alien to you, try doing the RoADA course, you'd learn a lot.

If you are approaching a side road, you should be aware of hazards (be they car, motor or pedal bike) emerging without warning. Similarly if you're driving along and see a kid riding a bike on the pavement, you should be anticipating him acting like a goon and driving accordingly, rather than being forced to react if/when he jumps onto the road.

Two tonnes? What do you drive? Imprezas typically weigh in at between 1250 and 1450kg. Even large executive saloons like the Jaguar XJ, Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-series weigh in at well under two tonnes. Either way, it doesn't matter what your car weighs, you should be driving at a speed that leaves you able to bring it to a stop in the distance you can see ahead to be clear of hazards.

Of course, as far as possible. If you are driving in a manner that leaves you unable to avoid colliding with any emerging hazard, you are by definition driving without due care and attention at the very least. None of this is rocket science, it's basic commonsense driving technique.

Again you're putting words in my mouth. At no point did I say the cyclist would be blameless in this scenario.

Only in your mind it would seem.

Gary H2

"No, don't put words in my mouth. I said that in the event that a cyclist riding down the road happened to collide with a pedestrian, the accident would be investigated along very similar lines to what would happen if a motorist collided with a pedestrian."

I've been knocked over on a pedestrian crossing by a cyclist. The b*****d didn't even stop to see if I was OK.
Also a motorcycling friend was knocked off his motorbike by a cyclist running a red light, again the cyclist didn't stop.

How can you investigate that?

lightning101

Funny how everyones got good advice until the same thing happens to them. The boy on the bike was obviously a joyrider, should have got the two cops and the mechanic from earlier police thread about cavalier, to check the bike over - £60 fine, was his mobile hardwired in ? LOL, Enough tread on the tyres, fluid in his washer jets, MOT, Tax.

What a laugh, funniest thread in ages IMO.

If he's 12 he's an adult, according to nearly all airline companies in britain - child = 11 or under.

greasemonkey

In both cases, from your (Gary's) description it would appear that the rider was at fault. However, I'm not sure what underlying point you are attempting to make. If you are trying to tell us that pedal cyclists occasionally cause accidents, you're not saying anything we don't already know.

I have no doubt, however, that the statistics will show you that cyclists are much more likely to be injured as a result of a motorist's mistake than anyone else is likely to be injured as a result of a cyclist's mistake. Apart from anything else, there aren't 26 million cyclists in the UK...

[Edited by greasemonkey - 10/24/2003 6:22:38 PM]

mart360

But havnt we veered from the original thread!!!!

as far as i recall it was to do with a child coliding with a car on his pushbike...

one possible way round this sort of scenario is not to have such huge excesses on your insurance policy and then you wouldnt be so out of pocket..if this happened...

I accept that accidents happen and as my previous posts have given my views on this ... re having third party liability for children

who,s side are you on... welcome to the sue you society... as i said earlier its the dog that barked at the cat who ran away in fright,which scared the pigeon who flew of in panic and dropped the stone it was carrying in its beak, which dropped onto the car and dented its bonnet...









so who you going to claim from......???

Mart

jonnyconcrete

greasemonkey I quote you:

Please state the evidence you have that supports your statement that "cyclists have a high incidence of accidental damage".

I think you'll find (well, I don't think, I know), that in the vast majority of accidents involving cyclists and motor vehicles, when fault is found, it's usually with the motorist
.................................................. .................................................. ................................

Well I have to disagree how many cyclists do you see run red lights instead of waiting at them ?? Or for that matter how many cyclists mount the curb and go round red lights on the pavement when they change.

Also how many modes of transport allow you onto a road at the age of 8 onwards without any given tuition whatsoever or the need for a licence or insurance.

I have some sympathy for cyclists in a way , but (and this is going to cause this topic to go on fire) how much more of the british public roads do we need to donate to cyclists with no insurance and road tax. I have a cycle lane near my work that last for fifteen yards from start to finish - incredible.

Soulgirl

Yes Greasmonkey... your statements are rather loud. I could turn them around and ask you to justify your "ramblings".

The cost of a boot respray and dent removal must be coming on a couple of hundred quid I reckon.

I think if you use a road, you should be just as liable financially as car users. Yes, cyclists do have a high incidence of damage, be it to themselves or to others. The amount of time I myself have had to swerve because they have done something out of the blue. I was an avid cyclist myself so I am not anti-bikes. If you damage something you should have to pay for it. If you are a minor then it should be your parents responsibility to recompense the assaulted. So, stick that with the rest of your spanners