DH knocked off his bike

[BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability]

Really quick question. DH was knocked off his bike on the way home from work this morning, car pulled out of junction as he was crossing it. The driver stopped to check he was okay, but both she and he were shaken and he never took her details. Bike is damaged and will need to be serviced (its not a cheapy one). Am I being melodramatic to say he should ring the police to report it, and then hope she will do the same?

He is fine btw :)

Is there any CCTV at the junction - if there is no way of tracking what car it was he won't be able to claim on their insurance.

Glad its just the bike and not DH though

No cctv, just a normal residential street (she lives there, dh knows her by sight) - only a few streets away from us too so wasnt far for him to walk.

I would inform the police to get a crime number then go and see the lady concerned, or at least wander round and get her registration number.

Does he know where she lives then? Can he look and see where the car is parked if not?

Yes I'd get a crime number too.

If he knows what she looks like, knows what the car looks like and knows the road she lives in, I would try to make contact with her rather than involve the police right away.

He knows its that street but not which house. Also where she works, as she was in her uniform on the way there this morning.

Its the same street my grandad has lived in since it was built too, so shouldnt be too hard to find her :)

You're supposed to report it to the police right away. Having had my fingers burnt by not calling them, after someone I vaguely knew hit my car, then I would never give anyone the benefit of the doubt again. People just don't want to pay up after the event, when the shock has subsided.

That sounds like a 50/50 incident to me if neither of them reported it though then they are equally at fault did she admit blame ?

Personally, I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. If she refuses to do anything then there is still the option of going to the police. It only happened this morning.

That sounds like a 50/50 incident to me

No, the driver was clearly at fault.

Brian, I had a feeling it was one of those things you are supposed to report regardless of who it is and what happens (i dont drive) i remember being in the back of my mums car when she hit someone (very slow, they were fine) and we went straight to the station to report. Same street, funnily enough.

Dont know if she admitted blame, though he did say she asked to take him to hospital. Hes power napping atm, so cant ask him

From the Met website:

"Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires drivers/ riders to report to a police officer or police station that they have been involved in an accident involving in any of the following;

any personal injury
damage only, where the other driver/ rider did not stop
damage only, where names and addresses were not exchanged with the other driver/ rider/ cyclist and any other owner of property damaged (even if the other driver stopped)"

I would say the third option matches yours: my interpretation of this is that if there was damage but there wasn't personal injury, you're obliged to report if there was no exchange of details (sorry about the idiot bolding).

Here's the link if you want to dig further
content.met.police.uk/Article/Collision-forms-and-reports/1400005513174/1400005513174

Ahh, that is very helpful, thanks mrssteptoe!

I didn't know you were there Owl
he was crossing she was pulling out it's hard to say unless you witnessed it

Sound advice given though go through the proper channels

If someone is driving (or riding) down a road and someone 'pulls out' of a junction it is clearly the fault of the one that was pulling out of the junction, not the one driving along the road (unless they were doing silly speeds for the road of course). Bikes travelling along a road don't have to give way to cars coming out of turnings so I'm not sure why there's any doubt that it was the car drivers fault?

Dh has just gotten off the phone, has an incident number. However, the woman on the phone said that as she stopped, she has complied with the law (even if she didnt give details), which contradicts the info above??

Presumably, you want the details so you can claim the costs of repairs to his bike on insurance. So, now that you have a crime number, I would also try to find out where she lives and speak to her about it.

It's quite bad that it isn't regarded as a punishable crime. She could have killed him for goodness sake! DH and my sons do loads of cycling, things like this terrify me.

Moomin - but a normal car accident is not punishable unless someone is badly injured or killed - so why is it different for cyclists?

Because it's dangerous, at the very least careless, driving isn't it? And the stakes are a lot higher if you pull out on a cyclist. I hate the way people drive with complete lack of consideration for cyclists, even normally sensible people.

My mate was moaning the other day because a cyclist kicked her car as she overtook him on a country lane. She really couldn't get that she was too close.
Cars pulling out of junctions make me a massively nervous road cyclist, because there is nothing you can do about it. You are completely relying on someone else to be careful.

But you are with another car too - I know that there's more protection for the other person if they are in the car rather than a bike but its still bed driving to pull out into them and such a driver won't be prosecuted unless serious damage is done.

Yy moomin, I dont drive so have no idea as to driving laws at all. But i'm shocked that she can pull out on a junction without checking and not even be chased for paying for repairs unless dh does it. All this encouragement that everyone has to ride on the road and tough luck if you get hit.

He's a big bloke on a heavy touring bike, also weighed down with all his work stuff, and he has a couple of minor scratches and the bike is bent. Imagine what it could have been for someone smaller riding on a normal bike though.

I don't think anyone is saying that she shouldn't be chased to pay the bills for repair. But 'punishable crime' is completely different - that suggests fine or prison sentence - and that wouldn't get your DH's bike fixed. Very definitely he should be knocking on her door to get her insurance details to pay for the damage to the bike - these things can be costly to repair and weakening of the frame through bending might mean that it really should be replaced, for instance - but I'm sure a reputable bike shop would be able to advise on that.