DC knocked over a cyclist

[blueirishues]

The situation was that I pulled up and dc opened the car door, a cyclist went into it and over the top. My door is damaged and cyclist shouting all sorts about going to sue what are the rights and wrongs here?

Actually, scrap that. Person opening door must always look, no?

In Germany (some) people actually buy insurance in case their kids hurt or damage things/people.

This happened many years ago to my grandad - he was badly injured and lost an eye. You are lucky the cyclist wasn't badly hurt.

And even wide roads in uk are not wide enough to go along so far out as to avoid a door flung open quickly. That would mean riding in the middle of the road. Which the car traffic would never tolerate.

OP, please do not listen to well-meaning people who are saying you need to admit liability. That's the last thing you need to do, if you are in an accident and you admit liability, then your insurance becomes null and void, they won't pay out and you will be liable.

Just tell him that you have no comment on fault, you'll call your insurance company and ask their advice. When you call them, they will ask you if it was your fault, it's at that stage that you can admit liabilty, to them. But you must not admit it to the other person. If you have said you're liable, deny that to your insurance company, say you didn't say htat and he must have misunderstood.

In the end, whether the OP says she's at fault or not (and she is) she's not the one in control of whether the cyclist gets strung out having to wait for ages. Her insurance company is.

It's immoral I know but hey, we live in late capitalism in the twenty first century, so...

We all know cyclists who have had this happen to them.

A friend of mine landed on his head, he was very lucky to be wearing a cycling helmet, the paramedics were categorical that it saved his life.

AskBasil

So... couldn't do it myself. Wouldn't do it. Pious bastard that I am.

*Notyoda

Where possible. Not should

Person opening door should look every time. Not "where possible"*

You've lost me... i did say that the passenger should have looked, no?

The person opening the door must look every time

The person on the bike may (if it is safe to do so), choose to give cars a wide berth. But re-read all the other posts listing why this is not always possible or safe.

So, not the cyclists fault. Never.

No?

Yes?

As a cyclist I was taught to pass cars with enough room so that if someone opened a car door we wouldnt get hit.

As a driver I was taught to check for cyclists.

As a cyclist I was taught to pass cars with enough room so that if someone opened a car door we wouldnt get hit.

Yes quite. Mind you can you get them to invest in some freakin bike lights to give motorists a chance to avoid them at night . Saw 8 without lights on the high street the other night, wet and raining and rather misty.

Was the cyclist riding up along the inside as the car stopped?
Surely undertaking on a normal road is illegal whether it's a car or a bike?

I think the cyclist is at fault.

it was an accident and these things happen, poor kid probably traumatised and as long as everyone ok why the need to involve insurers, hope your little one ok and of course hope the cyclist is ok

We kept our child locks on until our kids were 10 or 11. Still got caught out when giving lifts to their friends who obviously hadn't been taught to get out on the pavement side, look before you open the door or even to wait until the car has stopped properly.

So now they go back on when we are giving lifts.

Sparkly

Read the thread.

Askbasil

Admitting liability in a car accident doesn't null and void your insurance. They might be pissed off with you and refuse to insure you in future but they can't legally refuse to pay a claim.

If you have admitted liability tell them. It's better they have all the facts rather than lie. The sooner they know the truth, the sooner it can be sorted.

Lying in a claim could cause a person to be uninsurable in the future.

starfish when I was smacked by the car door - I had a choice of go into the car door or under the wheels of an articulated lorry. If you ride far enough away from parked cars so that you won't be hit by them if someone flings a door open open, you need to ride about 2m from the parked cars. That's a recipe for really pissing drivers off in urban areas as they can't overtake you very easily at all so then you become a slow moving vehicle which needs to pull over regularly to avoid a build up of traffic.

So the answer is that people in parked cars look before they open their door, thus avoiding accidents and road users being pissed off.

Really? It certainly used to about 20 years ago, I remember Which saying you must never admit liability, I didn't realise it had changed. Sorry for wrong info OP.

I'd still not admit it, though, just in case. You don't have to outright lie, jsut be non-committal.

Some of these cyclist stories are really tragic.