Cyclist hit my car... what to do?

Obukit

Hi guys,

Looking for some advice if possible. I was driving along this bit of road here: -

http://g.co/maps/73aad

on Sunday when some sort of cycle race was on - the road was still open, but there were loads of cyclists all ignoring the junctions and cycling as if it was a race track.

Rounded this corner, which is quite steeply uphill, slowly because of all the idiots (had already had six cut in front of me to turn right at a junction) and saw a cyclist on my side of the road (i.e. close to my nearside verge) overtaking three cyclists who were already riding abreast. I stopped dead but because it was a hill he didn't and went full speed into the front of my car, damaging the lights in the bumper and denting the bonnet.

Got out to exchange details and got a torrent of abuse and then he got on and rode off.

My car is quite old so although the damage is annoying it can probably be fixed for less than the cost of my excess. Is there anything else I need to do? I'm not sure if I should tell the police but I'm worried if they track him down (which presumably should be possible if it was an organised race) he will just get other cyclists to say it was my fault rather than letting sleeping dogs lie.

anotherbaldrick

Notify the Police and make a complaint about the cyclist (identity unknown) who damaged your car. This is just in case the muppet damaged his bike and makes a complaint against you, someone may have taken down your registration number.

Strider590

Sounds like a copy/paste from an insurance report, I'll wait for the helmet cam footage to appear on Youtube


For all you know, the road may have been closed and either missed/ignored the signs OR you may have gotten onto the road via a "shortcut" route that hadn't been considered by the organisers. It's worth trying to contact them first.....

Also an FYI, if he'd been going "full speed" (25+ mph) his bike would have been a write off for absolute 100% certain, nothing left but a twisted chunk of aluminium.

Obukit

Strider590 wrote: »

Sounds like a copy/paste from an insurance report, I'll wait for the helmet cam footage to appear on Youtube

The annoying thing is I actually have one of those small in car cameras which would have captured it perfectly... if I hadn't left it in my work van on Friday

kevin52

Won't the organisers of the race have insurance that you can claim against?

thelawnet

kevin52 wrote: »

Won't the organisers of the race have insurance that you can claim against?

A good point, OP should be concentrating on identifying the event first of all, if the bike was damaged at all then the organisers are likely to have some more info.

Obukit

thelawnet wrote: »

A good point, OP should be concentrating on identifying the event first of all, if the bike was damaged at all then the organisers are likely to have some more info.

Cheers for the idea, I have found the event - http://www.southernsportive.com/index.php?go=cx&page=eventinfo&eventid=120129 - and have emailed them (for a paper trail) to ask for the riders details or their insurance details.

Strider590

Obukit wrote: »

Cheers for the idea, I have found the event - http://www.southernsportive.com/index.php?go=cx&page=eventinfo&eventid=120129 - and have emailed them (for a paper trail) to ask for the riders details or their insurance details.

I'm looking at this and seriously wondering if you strayed onto a marked out route???

Comprehensive and clearly marked route
Mechanical assistance
Sweeper wagon and first aid
Manned support/ feed station on Full & Mid Routes
Unmanned drinks station on all routes
Free SIS energy drink
Free allocation of energy snacks for each rider at support stations and finish.
Electronic timing for all riders
Immediate results for each rider at the finish with Bronze, Silver and Gold standards.
Web results published post event
Hot food and drink will be on sale at the finish.

You want to be thinking yourself lucky you hadn't strayed onto a World Rally stage........ I've seen some horrific video clips where people have been in collisions with multi million £ rally cars by accidentally straying onto a closed road.

Quentin

Strider590 wrote: »

You want to be thinking yourself lucky you hadn't strayed onto a World Rally stage........ I've seen some horrific video clips where people have been in collisions with multi million £ rally cars by accidentally straying onto a closed road.

Scaremonger or what???

This is the pertinent bit you have missed out:

This ride takes place on open public roads and / or rights of way. Full road laws and access by-laws apply to all riders at all times; no special dispensation or otherwise is granted by either the organisers or highway authorities. Dangerous or illegal riding, or abusive or aggressive behaviour may result in ejection from the event or further action.
In entering this event, you agree to abide by these laws, and to behave in accordance with the practices and procedure for the event as laid out in the pre event information made available to all participants.

thelawnet

Strider590 wrote: »

I'm looking at this and seriously wondering if you strayed onto a marked out route???



You want to be thinking yourself lucky you hadn't strayed onto a World Rally stage........ I've seen some horrific video clips where people have been in collisions with multi million £ rally cars by accidentally straying onto a closed road.

He didn't do anything wrong by going on this road. It's nigh on impossible to get a road closed for a cycle event. 'Sportives' such as this one, are not, technically speaking, races, although you do get a time - people go out one-by-one. They are also 99.9% of the time run on roads open to the public, usually on Sunday mornings as it's quietest.

The road was certainly NOT closed, the driver obviously had a duty to be extra-careful because of the number of cyclists though.

thelawnet

Strider590 wrote: »

Also an FYI, if he'd been going "full speed" (25+ mph) his bike would have been a write off for absolute 100% certain, nothing left but a twisted chunk of aluminium.

Not necessarily, this is a CX event, so people would not be running on super-fragile bikes, they have to go both on and off road and a reasonable amount of durability is required.

Would expect some sort of damage to the bike, but saying it would 100% be a write-off is silly.

Also even if he was going downhill at full-speed, doesn't mean the impact was at full-speed, presumably some braking was done.