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Original poster

Dd hit car whilst riding her bike

1000 replies

Sfuandtired · 22/04/2024 21:48

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?

OP posts:
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18
Vaccances · 23/04/2024 11:43

YaMuvva · 23/04/2024 11:40

Good advice.
Id also be inclined if I were the OP to recommend your own repair shop.
Id also maybe have a cheeky stab at asking to split the costs if I was very very skint

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Really? unless photos taken at the time of the accident & agreed upon, how on earth do you know if any damage was caused by the cyclist?

As you don't think head butting the car is in anyway likely to be serious, then hardly likely any damage occurred in the collision.

CrappyBarbara · 23/04/2024 11:44

DrJoanAllenby · 22/04/2024 22:04

Dent could already have been there and he's a scammer taking advantage of a young woman perhaps thinking she is 18 or older and would cough up.

Like those rear end scammers.

Or maybe he’s a person who was driving to work, following all of the rules of the road and a cyclist negligently dented his car? We don’t know. That’s why the police and insurance companies need to get involved. But if it was OP’s daughter’s fault why shouldn’t she be responsible for paying?

CrispieCake · 23/04/2024 11:45

Lifestooshort71 · 23/04/2024 10:36

My 12-yr old son (30 yrs ago) was cycling in the twilight, on the pavement and going hell for leather to get home in time for tea. A car reversed very slowly out of its drive and he went slap bang into the side of it, he flew up and bruised his face a bit and his bike ended up in a crumpled heap. The woman driver was horrified and bundled him (and bike) into her estate car and brought him straight home where they both stood on our doorstep, bawling their eyes out. My husband insisted on sorting her car out (she would quite easily have let it go) and son was without a bike until he'd earned enough to buy one himself. I'm adding this to the thread to highlight how little compassion has been shown for this 17-yr old (still a child if my grandchildren are anything to go by) and, regardless of whose fault it was, it must have been a dreadful shock for them both. Yes, the onus is on her parents to facilitate the repair of his car and hopefully she'll be more careful in the future but sending her a hug.

Yes, I would do the same if I collided with a young child - totally different situation though.

I imagine an adult man 'bundling' a 17yo girl into a car, even in order to take her home, might be open to misconstruction. I agree ideally he would have waited with her and called someone but maybe she did just seem fine to him. And it's unclear that he would have known she was 17 and a child, as opposed to an adult who seemed reasonably composed in the circumstances.

YaMuvva · 23/04/2024 11:45

Woohow · 23/04/2024 08:21

Maybe, maybe not. OP has not confirmed whether it was a shared cycle/foot path, if it was then the car driver was at fault for driving across the path before checking for oncoming traffic.

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Even if it was a shared cycleway, the cyclist has to slow down approaching a junction not just carry on! Road markings will indicate that too.

Just imagine a child coming round the corner. Is it ok just to plough on and hit them because it’s a share cycleway

Technically if cycleway markings end - which they do before junctions - she is on the pavement, and she should be.

Its a red herring

MACx71 · 23/04/2024 11:46

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

umberelladay · 23/04/2024 11:46

CrappyBarbara · 23/04/2024 11:44

Or maybe he’s a person who was driving to work, following all of the rules of the road and a cyclist negligently dented his car? We don’t know. That’s why the police and insurance companies need to get involved. But if it was OP’s daughter’s fault why shouldn’t she be responsible for paying?

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Because she is a minor, therefore not responsible (legally) Parents are also not legally responsible when their child causes damage.

taxguru · 23/04/2024 11:47

noshadowatnoon · 23/04/2024 11:25

As a pedestrian crossing that road, no, none of the responsibility is theirs, it is entirely the driver coming out of that road. As a cyclist cycling along that road, again, none of the responsibility is theirs.

What is less clear is that the OPs daughter was cycling on the pavement, which is technically illegal, but as far as I can see, the responsibility is entirely the driver's no one elses, for not checking that noone was travelling along the main road.

Of course, as a pedestrian, you may choose to check no one is driving irresponsibly before you cross, that does not mean it is up to you, it is up to them

He has broken the high way code, and the law

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A pedestrian crossing the road and walking into the SIDE of a car would be the one at fault. Cars can't crab sideways!! Same with a cycle crashing into the SIDE of a car!

noshadowatnoon · 23/04/2024 11:49

taxguru · 23/04/2024 11:47

A pedestrian crossing the road and walking into the SIDE of a car would be the one at fault. Cars can't crab sideways!! Same with a cycle crashing into the SIDE of a car!

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no, the car should not drive out in front of anyone crossing that road, so no, that does not apply

BIossomtoes · 23/04/2024 11:49

umberelladay · 23/04/2024 11:46

Because she is a minor, therefore not responsible (legally) Parents are also not legally responsible when their child causes damage.

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I think you’ll find they are. If you’re legally responsible for damage inflicted by your animal, you most certainly are for damage inflicted by your child.

umberelladay · 23/04/2024 11:49

taxguru · 23/04/2024 11:47

A pedestrian crossing the road and walking into the SIDE of a car would be the one at fault. Cars can't crab sideways!! Same with a cycle crashing into the SIDE of a car!

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No the pedestrian would not. They changed the Highway Code. Pedestrians have right of way.

Kittywittywoo · 23/04/2024 11:49

Sfuandtired · 22/04/2024 21:57

Dd is shaken up and worried she’s going to have to pay for the damage, but not injured, although we think her face may bruise, I am seriously thinking we should possibly call the police?

Call them , speak to them first . Get your side of the story in first , then inform the other party what you have done

ArcticOwl · 23/04/2024 11:49

This reply has been deleted

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Not sure if you meant to put this here, but you should make your own thread if you want responses!

ArcticOwl · 23/04/2024 11:50

umberelladay · 23/04/2024 11:49

No the pedestrian would not. They changed the Highway Code. Pedestrians have right of way.

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wrong, it doesn't give them carte blanche to just step into the road and expect someone to stop.

What the changes have done is mean if they're waiting at a crossing/to cross the road at a junction, drivers should give way and allow them to cross.

YaMuvva · 23/04/2024 11:51

ArcticOwl · 23/04/2024 10:56

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

"You must report the collision to the police if you were unable to exchange details at the scene, if anyone was injured, or if you suspect that the other person may have committed a driving offence. "

Accepting a childs insistence they're ok when they went over the handlebars and hit your window isn't 'no-one was injured'

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Unless the 17yo- who apparently was 17.5 8 months ago, so is definitely days or at the most weeks off 18 - states “I’m still 17” how on Earth is the derived supposed to know?!

BellsAndFootfalls · 23/04/2024 11:51

I'm confused by the number of posters that seem to think that hitting the side of the car automatically means the cyclist is at fault because cars can't "move sideways"? Read @GiantHornets post on page one about her DH hitting the side of car that turned into his path, and the driver being prosecuted for dangerous driving. I'm not saying the cyclist isn't at fault - none of us know because we weren't there. @Sfuandtired speak to your home insurance, it's for the insurance companies to decide who is at fault now. I hope DD is ok and not too bruised this morning

umberelladay · 23/04/2024 11:52

BIossomtoes · 23/04/2024 11:49

I think you’ll find they are. If you’re legally responsible for damage inflicted by your animal, you most certainly are for damage inflicted by your child.

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I think you will find they are not! You are only responsible if you failed to control them. That is why you are responsible for animal damage.

Everyone knows that teens can not be supervised or controlled at all times.

YaMuvva · 23/04/2024 11:52

WarshipRocinante · 23/04/2024 10:59

I doubt she actually went over the handlebars in the way that sentence usually describes. It sounds more like she went “splat” against the car, her front wheel hitting the passenger door, and then herself splatting against it. She didn’t break the window or anything so I doubt she actually flipped up over the handlebars and her full body tumbled against the car. More like, she was sent forward a little and pancaked against the car whilst still having her legs on her bike.

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It’s very hard to go over handlebars you have to be going insanely fast and brake very very suddenly. I suspect she lunged forward having braked last second

JudgeJ · 23/04/2024 11:53

Wolfpa · 22/04/2024 21:51

Do you have any personal liability insurance? I would give them a call.

I wouldn’t be paying them direct, if you don’t have insurance advise them to go through their car insurance.

Why should the motorist suffer financial penalties through increased premiums because some idiot on a bike should not be on the road if she's so unobservant? This is why cyclists should carry some insurance, or are they all going to claim they're innocent of whatever they do?

MACx71 · 23/04/2024 11:53

Sorry, posted incorrectly & don’t know how to delete it!!!

YaMuvva · 23/04/2024 11:54

ArcticOwl · 23/04/2024 11:10

because he has pulled out of a junction to turn into a road without checking it was safe to do so.

Its the responsibility of a driver when turning out of a junction to check the road and the pavement and that it is safe to proceed, they're the bigger more dangerous vehicle. While the OP's kid is also to blame for not checking it was safe to cross, in insurance terms/legal terms, the OP's child is the more vulnerable road user and therefore the onus of responsibility here is on the driver of the car.

Edited
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Why do you think he didn’t check? He seemed to be either stationery or creeping out, and given he can’t see round corners (or massive hedges) bow is he supposed to see a cyclist on a pavement going like the clappers?

umberelladay · 23/04/2024 11:55

ArcticOwl · 23/04/2024 11:50

wrong, it doesn't give them carte blanche to just step into the road and expect someone to stop.

What the changes have done is mean if they're waiting at a crossing/to cross the road at a junction, drivers should give way and allow them to cross.

Show quote history

Then by default, the car should have stopped! In practice it means the car driver will always be at fault.

YaMuvva · 23/04/2024 11:55

HcbSS · 23/04/2024 11:18

Regardless of who was at fault…

the man collided with a child, who while uninjured has suffered bruising to her face, then prioritized getting to work over making sure she was at least with a trusted adult before leaving the scene. He doesn’t deserve another second of your time. Delete and block his number. That is not how claims work anyway.

Unless she told him “I’m 17” how is he supposed to know she’s a child?? She’s also on the brink of turning 18. Most people will assume they’re an adult.

taxguru · 23/04/2024 11:56

ArcticOwl · 23/04/2024 11:53

From that link...

"It does not remove the need for everyone to behave responsibly."

That includes an unobservant cyclist riding on a pavement!!!

ArcticOwl · 23/04/2024 11:56

ArcticOwl · 23/04/2024 11:53

Rule H3 - Rule for drivers and motorcyclists

You should not cut across cyclists, horse riders or horse drawn vehicles going ahead when you are turning into or out of a junction or changing direction or lane, just as you would not turn across the path of another motor vehicle. This applies whether they are using a cycle lane, a cycle track, or riding ahead on the road and you should give way to them.
Do not turn at a junction if to do so would cause the cyclist, horse rider or horse drawn vehicle going straight ahead to stop or swerve.

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