DH in Accident with Cyclist - Any Advice

[LilacPombear]

DH has just given me a quick call to say he was in an accident this morning. He never calls me in the mornings and had to cut the call short as he's at work and no phones allowed. He said he was driving into work (around 7am); the roads are fairly quiet at that time around here and he's done the route for years. He looked before turning left, all clear, but as he turned, a bike hit the car.

He got out and checked the rider, who was unharmed and seemed more concerned about his bike than anything else. The bike was not damaged or un-rideable. DH said the rider had added mods to the bike, which is why it was moving so fast. The rider had no helmet, high-vis, nothing. Initially, the rider was angry and called someone, speaking in another language, and making threats about DH ruining his bike.

DH has no idea how he stayed so calm but said he wanted to deal with this amicably. The first thing he checked was if the rider was unharmed, which he was. But there is damage to the car. They exchanged details, but the rider was not able to speak English very well. He got back on the bike and left. DH then headed into work and gave me a quick call to let me know.

I'm glad the man was okay as is DH, and it could have been so much worse, especially since he had no helmet. DH seemed quite shaken on the phone. What happens now? What do we do? I'm sure DH knows what to do next, but I just feel worried, especially as the rider was making threats. Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

He needs to contact insurance and police

Police don't need to be contacted and won't be interested in the slightest.

He can either a) forget about it, b) get the car repaired somewhere at his own cost, or c) contact insurance for repairs.

Whatever he does he needs to pay more attention even if he's become complacent with the route. Next time he could kill the cyclist.

Same as above he needs to let the police and his insurance company know. I would assume he was turning left into a road and didn't check his blind spot to ensure there was anything to the left of him, so the blame would probably go to him. I wouldn't worry as long as he was driving sensibly it will just be a hit on the insurance.

If he had checked, was signalling the turn, and someone came up inside him as he took the turn, especially if cyclist went into side of car rather than other way round, he shouldn't be at fault.

But notify insurance and maybe report to non-emergency police in case there's any cctv locally they can find etc.

Whilst the police won't actually do anything it still needs to be reported. Against the law if you don't.

And contact your insurance.

He'd need to contact his insurance to inform them whether or not he's making a claim. He can then have the repairs done through insurance or fund them.

Notify the police via 101 (not that they'll do anything)

Hi-viz and helmet are irrelevant as they're not mandatory.

From which side did the cyclist emerge?

Depends if the bike hit his nearside or offside.

Either way, as above it'll need to be reported to police and insurance. The police won't be very interested, but it's the right thing to do in the circumstances.

Thank you. Yes he was signalling the turn and cyclist hit the side of the car, the passenger door. The part that holds the bike chain was slightly crooked but still attached while the damage to the door was more prominent.

I will advice to report if he hasn't already, he may already have done - I'll ask when he calls me.

I know its law / right to contact police and I don't doubt DH won't contact them, he may already have I didn't think to ask at the time. What do police tend to do when you report?

He should have seen the bike, he needs to report. There are not "mods" to make a pedal bike go faster, and helmets and high viz are optional.

Did your DH take photos of the rider and his bike in case the bike rider decided to take your DH to court for accident otherwise it could become a he said with no proof.

What do you mean by mods, was it an electric bike?

Pain in ass but need to inform insurers… If otherwise if cyclist decides to report / make claim either for bike or personal injury.
unfortunately premiums may go up at renewal even if claim isn’t made 🙄

police will just give out a crime number. but your insurance will likely need it to progress the claim.
unless it is very clear who is at fault each party will likely need to pay for their own repair.

the bike repair might cost anything between 200£ (just a new gear box & chain) or 2000 (if the bike frame is dented).
a bike might be insured via home insurance or membership of a biking club.

Are you mad? Of course the police need to be contacted. A good friend of my oh was driving one day, a man who had had a few drinks stumbled off the pavement in front of his car and he hit him. He stopped the car, the man got up, annoyed but seemed ok, said he didn’t want any help and walked off. Later that evening my friend was watching the news about how earlier a man on that road had been hit by a car, got back up, walked down the road for a bit before collapsing and dying from a brain haemorrhage. My OH’s friend went into the police station the next morning, it went down as a hit and run, he got arrested and served 5 years. We don’t know the whole story, but from the ops description it very much sounds like the cyclist had right of way. If you run someone over then you report it!

Yes DH said he took pictures. It was the word dh said, he said he was really fast his bike had all these mods. But I don't know if it was an electric bike or what.

Such a shame all round.

So the bike was on the same road as your DH and cycled up his inside (passenger side), then hit the car as the car turned left?

The same thing happened to me the driver was so busy looking right for a gap in the traffic that he didn’t notice me right in front of the car but I was shaking. I wasn’t injured. My bike was damaged. Basically nothing happened afterwards. Did they exchange details were there any witnesses, be very difficult to prove what happened

Police should be notified since it is an RTC. An electric bike could potentially be modified however as PP have said, a standard road going bike can't be.
Would a bike come up so quickly inside a car at a junction that it couldn't be seen by the driver? That bit sounds a bit strange

The way you describe it it sounds like DH was at fault, unless I'm getting confused. He should have checked his left passenger side mirror before turning left.

Agree with this. It’s also on your partner to judge the speed. A car can go at a range of speed just like a bike so I don’t buy this excuse. He just didn’t look well enough to notice the bike.

Not necessarily complacent - as he was turning left it’s just as likely the cyclist wasn’t paying attention when he undertook the car.

Yes there are - electric bikes enable them to go a lot faster (not necessarily legally!). If the cyclist undertook when the driver was indicating then it’s the cyclists fault.
This is coming from a cyclist who cycles on busy roads daily.

hence I said pedal bike. The Op has not indicated this was an electric bike, or a motor bike or anything like this

While obviously ideally your DH should have been aware of the cyclist, the cyclist should not have undertaken and should have been looking out as well. I was a witness to an accident where cyclist injured by a bus turning when the cyclist had come up the left and the police explained it was the fault of the cyclist. Obviously still report.