Dd hit car whilst riding her bike

[Sfuandtired]

Dd 17 has collided with a car tonight whilst riding her bike, she was crossing the road and from what I can make out didn’t see the car turning, she hit the car with her wheel leaving a dent and was thrown over the handle bars banging her head on the window, the driver got out, asked if she was ok, took her name and phone number, then said he was late for work and drove of!
Dd has since had a text saying she will be sent a bill and bank details for the damage to the car! WWYD?

Even more important to contact the police, tbh!

a driver can’t just drive off and send her the bill after this kind of incident. How irresponsible!!

Meant to say as well if you don’t pay it’ll be up to his insurance company if they want to chase for costs. I can’t imagine any insurance company will be chasing up a 17yo. I could be wrong, maybe they will chase you as the parents and say she was your responsibility I don’t know.

He should have reported this to the police so I would take the lead here and there are new rules over priority to be given to vulnerable road users including those crossing roads.
He should claim on his insurance and if she was liable I’d have thought the maximum would be his excess premium.
I would check your home insurance; it is a really good idea to have some cycle insurance - you can buy cover or join an organisation like Cycling UK which will give third party cover and advice.
Your daughter is doing the right thing by choosing active travel over driving and I hope this blip doesn’t put her off. There are some led rides that she could join that may give her extra confidence.

Report this to police

I'd call the police and ask them what to do. I'm sure they'd sort it.

She is 17, the driver hit a child with their car. Call the Police and advise driver go through insurance. Accept no liability at this time.

The new rules about priority to vulnerable road users doesn’t count here for a couple of reasons.

firstly when talking about priority for crossing a side road it relates to pedestrians which she wasn’t. It’s also about cars turning into the side road from the main road which again wasn’t the case here. This car was already in the side road so had priority over everyone.

secondly she was riding on the pavement which she shouldn’t have been.

thirdly she has ridden into the side of his car. How is he supposed to avoid that?

I cycle commute to work and there is what is effectively a pavement which I cycle on for miles but they’ve put cycle route signs up and declared it a cycle path. It crosses a number of side roads, it’s rural and there high hedges. Thankfully the roads are quiet but that quietness has made me a bit lazy as I don’t stop at every side road. I do slow down and have my hands on the brakes ready for an emergency stop. With it being a painted cycle path crossing the side road I’m not actually sure who has priority, there’s no give way sign for me. But the give way sign for the side road is immediately after the cycle path and relates to the main road. I do have cycling insurance though so would be covered.

So much disinformation on this thread. Sounds like the dd is at fault and I hope she has to pay, or her parents have to. She is plenty old enough.

I think that makes it your DD's fault. She was crossing a side road, and should have checked that there was nothing coming before she did so. If she wasn't able to stop in time to avoid hitting him, she was approaching the side road too fast, even more so if there was a high hedge restricting visibility.

I think she should pay for the damage, think about taking out 3rd party cycle insurance (if she hasn't got it already), and be more careful in future. Imagine if it had been a pedestrian coming round the corner, or a small child in a buggy? Someone I know I got a serious back injury after being hit by a reckless cyclist when she crossing the road, and her damages were well into six fugures.

And unless this was a shared use pavement or one with a dedicated lane for cyclists, she shouldn't have been cycling on it anyway.

Definitely report to the police and get your DD checked out at hospital.

Something similar happened to my DS when he's just turned 18 (also not NT so had a horrible experience dealing with the very angry driver) We informed police and DH paid for the damage so DS didn't have any further stress, and as DH said "it's the right thing to do".

If someone rode into the side of your car, would you want their parents to pay for the damage?

Cyclists can get away with anything. That’s the way it is now. A driver has zero ‘power’ in this situation. I imagine he will just have to pay up or use his insurance because of an irresponsible cyclist.

A+E, Police and home insurance in that order.

He should have contacted the police as there was an injury/contact.

Taking her details doesn’t seem to be a full exchange of details and your DD not asking is an aspect of her injuries/being shaken up.

Sort out - with Police - who is at fault.

If it comes to paying you need to see the car and get your own quote or two.

Hope she’s ok and still wants to ride. It can shake you up - been there.

Call the police for advice.
Contact any insurance you have.
All you'll get here is many people giving you their personal opinions of who is at fault.

Hi @Sfuandtired.

I hope your DD is feeling better this morning. If you didn't take her to A&E last night, it might be worth just getting her checked out.

I would also contact the police about the driver.

The Highway Code provides that the person with the greatest potential to cause harm has the greatest responsibility. What this means in practice is that in collisions between drivers and cyclists, drivers have usually been found to have greater responsibility even if the cyclist was also at fault.

Based on what you've said it sounds like both were at fault; your DD for cycling on the pavement and not stopping to check the road was clear before she crossed the junction, and the driver for not properly checking for hazards before he pulled out.

He then stopped and spoke to your daughter, establishing that he had hit a minor, before driving off. The police will take a dim view of an adult who left a minor cyclist he had hit and drove off. He seems to only care about the damage to his car and not whether he has caused her any injury.

He was very stupid to contact her in the circumstances, because now you can give the police his details.

All this talk of 'priority'

How can she have had priority if the driver is already there?! She went on to the side of him! Was he meant to preempt this and reverse back? Or simply levitate so that the cyclist on the pavement illegally going at speed could pass through without having to check her surroundings?!

I've said it again but it bears repeating - she is so lucky it was a car she went in to, and not a child (you know, an actual toddler) or an elderly or otherwise frail person.

You need to take her to A&E to check for concussion @Sfuandtired

My DS when he was 20-ish came off his bike (no car involved), hit his head on the road, and even at slow speed and wearing a cycle helmet, he was concussed- we took him to A&E.

It's hard to know who's at fault here but cyclists aren't allowed legally to ride on the pavement, so that puts the blame slightly more on her.

The driver hadn't pulled out of anywhere! He'd just approached the junction.

Also, she hit him.

And I would love to know where you read the bit that confirmed that the driver 'established he'd been hit by a minor, as I've checked OP's posts and can't see that anywhere.

In our area all the cycle paths are part of the oavement. You are jumping to a lot of conclusions.

Yet again we have this strange idea that insurance takes away your liability for causing damage. It doesn't. If OP's daughter caused the damage (which is not clear), she is liable. All involving the driver's insurance would do is mean that OP's daughter would have to pay the driver's insurance company rather than the driver.

I'm afraid it looks as if it was her fault.

She cycled straight across a junction from the pavement, without stopping to look for an oncoming car and from what you have said, she was obscured from the driver's view by a hedge.

She ought not to have been on the pavement.

She ought to have stopped at the junction before crossing and even got off her bike and walked across the road (like a pedestrian would) when it was safe to do that.

However, the driver hit someone so he has to report as an accident.

I don't think you automatically have to report a collision with a bike IF the person was not injured.

Road collisions and incidents | Police.uk (www.police.uk)

@cakeorwine is correct.

Collisions without injury do not need to be reported.

You do need to report it if anyone is injured, and if you run over a dog.

Where on the car did she make contact? Front or side?

Regardless, I’d approach police as they’ll be able to tell you honestly what should happen next.

If you have hit anyone and they hit the ground I think it's safe to assume a
Possible injury however minor and it's best to report

And it was a junction - so under the new rules he should have given way ?

He spoke to her, so unless she looks a lot older than she actually is he should have realised that she was potentially under 18.

I hadn't understood that he hadn't actually pulled out onto the main road.

What damage has there actually been to his car?