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Motorcycle accident - Advice needed
Hello everyone,
My little sister was involved in a motorcycle accident today, she is a new and un-experienced rider and from what I understand, was riding home and turned slightly wide around a tight, blind corner and clipped a car coming around the bend. The bike has then skidded and has fallen on her as she has hit the road. She has numerous injuries mostly to her back, legs and ankle areas and required emergency surgery this evening.
I am a student living away from home and I do not know the outcome yet nor have I been able to speak to her as she is currently too ill and distressed to talk on the phone. However I am a biker myself and know the exact part of road she came off on; the area is in deep countryside and the stretch of road is without road markings. The corner is blind and there is little room for more than a single car as the road becomes extremely narrow at that point. Unfortunately living in the countryside there are quiet a few roads that become like this; worn away/no markings, blind corners etc that come from out of nowhere. I can see it being confusing and dis-orientating for any new rider/driver.
My sister is an extremely careful rider who I had instructed to be extremely careful at all times. She knew the dangers and has been unfortunate to have had this accident so early on. The reason I write is the accident has left her with bad injuries, ruined the bike and with insurance being so expensive, she only had the basic third-party insurance with a large premium which, although the bike is not quite a write-off, the £600 premium/excess is almost the value of the bike anyway. This premium, as well as the damage repairs to the bike, helmet and protective gear will all cost into the thousands. Money none of us have. I was wondering as due to the nature of the road (if you could see it you would the death-trap it really is) it really was an accident waiting to happen.
Is there anything or anyway of claiming some sort of compensation in any sense, due to the road state? Does anyone know or had, a similar experience?
Doing some quick research I came across: roadtrafficaccident.org - as well as many others with a similar idea however I am unsure if these are actually reputable or just those spam advert type companies you get adverts from all the time. I just want to know of someway/some where I could get some advice from. If anyone could help me, I would be most grateful. Thank you for your time.
My little sister was involved in a motorcycle accident today, she is a new and un-experienced rider and from what I understand, was riding home and turned slightly wide around a tight, blind corner and clipped a car coming around the bend. The bike has then skidded and has fallen on her as she has hit the road. She has numerous injuries mostly to her back, legs and ankle areas and required emergency surgery this evening.
I am a student living away from home and I do not know the outcome yet nor have I been able to speak to her as she is currently too ill and distressed to talk on the phone. However I am a biker myself and know the exact part of road she came off on; the area is in deep countryside and the stretch of road is without road markings. The corner is blind and there is little room for more than a single car as the road becomes extremely narrow at that point. Unfortunately living in the countryside there are quiet a few roads that become like this; worn away/no markings, blind corners etc that come from out of nowhere. I can see it being confusing and dis-orientating for any new rider/driver.
My sister is an extremely careful rider who I had instructed to be extremely careful at all times. She knew the dangers and has been unfortunate to have had this accident so early on. The reason I write is the accident has left her with bad injuries, ruined the bike and with insurance being so expensive, she only had the basic third-party insurance with a large premium which, although the bike is not quite a write-off, the £600 premium/excess is almost the value of the bike anyway. This premium, as well as the damage repairs to the bike, helmet and protective gear will all cost into the thousands. Money none of us have. I was wondering as due to the nature of the road (if you could see it you would the death-trap it really is) it really was an accident waiting to happen.
Is there anything or anyway of claiming some sort of compensation in any sense, due to the road state? Does anyone know or had, a similar experience?
Doing some quick research I came across: roadtrafficaccident.org - as well as many others with a similar idea however I am unsure if these are actually reputable or just those spam advert type companies you get adverts from all the time. I just want to know of someway/some where I could get some advice from. If anyone could help me, I would be most grateful. Thank you for your time.
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Comments
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Her insurance will deal with any claim from the third party, presumably the £600 excess you mention is for any fire or theft claim, and won't have to be paid for the third party claim.
Unless she has accident/injury insurance separately then she will have to do without any compensation and third party cover means no help from her insurer regarding damage to her bike/property.0 -
Portly_Pig wrote: »Third party cover would make no difference for injury, if she is at fault would it not?
It makes no difference what level of cover you have as far as injury is concerned - motor policies usually only cover damage to your own vehicle (comprehensive or third party cover).
Third party cover means any liability for damage or injury to third parties will be paid for by the insurer.
As far injury to yourself where you are to blame you would only be covered if you had a separate policy covering accident/injury irrespective of whether you had comprehensive or third party insurance.0 -
Your sister was involved in a serious accident and within hours your thoughts are devoted to compensation.Hello everyone,
My little sister was involved in a motorcycle accident today,
She has numerous injuries mostly to her back, legs and ankle areas and required emergency surgery this evening.
Is there anything or anyway of claiming some sort of compensation in any sense, due to the road state? Does anyone know or had, a similar experience?
Doing some quick research I came across: roadtrafficaccident.org - as well as many others with a similar idea however I am unsure if ...
You seek out MSE, (hardly the obvious choice for motorbike accident advice), register and start this thread.
Why aren't you at your sister's bedside or helping to support her other family?
Why are you not waiting for news of this emergency surgery?
Are you sure you are not just trolling for reactions?0 -
Your sister was involved in a serious accident and within hours your thoughts are devoted to compensation.
You seek out MSE, (hardly the obvious choice for motorbike accident advice), register and start this thread.
Why aren't you at your sister's bedside or helping to support her other family?
Why are you not waiting for news of this emergency surgery?
Are you sure you are not just trolling for reactions?
Calm down!
He/she is a student living away from home as stated, so rushing home might not be possible at the moment and as sister isn't dying, maybe not necessary if parents are there.
He/she might be looking into compensation to do the best for sister to try and recoup losses, help her get back to work etc.
As for the original post, sorry but there are thousands of country roads just as you describe. If your sister ran wide and collided with an oncoming car then unfortunately that's sadly down to her, no matter how well you instructed her. It's going to be expensive for her, losing the bike and gear, but one of those things that will eventually have to come down to experience.0 -
Calm down!
He/she is a student living away from home as stated, so rushing home might not be possible at the moment and as sister isn't dying, maybe not necessary if parents are there.
He/she might be looking into compensation to do the best for sister to try and recoup losses, help her get back to work etc.
As for the original post, sorry but there are thousands of country roads just as you describe. If your sister ran wide and collided with an oncoming car then unfortunately that's sadly down to her, no matter how well you instructed her. It's going to be expensive for her, losing the bike and gear, but one of those things that will eventually have to come down to experience.
This I'm afraid. Just be happy your sister isn't seriously injured. Whilst it is expensive to replace her kit, you can't replace a person so the protective gear did it's job well.What if there was no such thing as a rhetorical question?0 -
Sadly, I don't think you have any kind of case here. If there is a danger which a careful rider could not have reasonably anticipated (such as a dangerous pothole) and if you can show that the local authority knew about it and failed to act, then you might be able to claim some compensation. But this accident sounds like a tricky road layout and poor road markings, which are just things that we all have to anticipate and deal with. I can appreciate that you feel very protective towards your sister, but in this case I think it is just a matter of failure to read the road and/or control the machine correctly. Running wide on a corner is a very common error for inexperienced riders.
You say that your sister is unfortunate to have this accident so early in her riding career. I would say the opposite - she has made a very common mistake and had a nasty accident, but while she has taken some damage she is still with us. Sometimes a crash early on is a good lesson. If she learns from it, she will be a much safer rider as a result.
Just trying to look on the bright side, as I don't think there is much else you can do.
Riding >40 years.If someone is nice to you but rude to the waiter, they are not a nice person.0 -
The prospects do not sound favourable to her from the information you have posted up.
But, rather than allowing the armchair lawyers on here to pass judgment and criticism, I would recommend you speak with a law firm that specialise in claims involving bikers as this is a pretty specialised area. Try someone like http://www.whitedalton.co.uk/0 -
Because a "specialist" will take ALL factors into consideration and will probably want to see views of the locus before confirming for absolute certainty that no claim can be made.
I agree, as I pointed out, that the prospects do not sound good from the description given in the OP, but if the injuries are serious and could have a life long effect, even if 10% negligence can be attributed elsewhere, it is something.
I like I said, best if considered in a solicitor-client environment rather than housewife blogger stylee0 -
I've seen too many of these "hit and run" threads to take them at face value.Calm down!..
If the thread is genuine then I have sympathy for the sister but the accident appears to be her own fault and for a family member to start thinking about chasing compensation within hours strikes me as rather odd.
My opinion, others may disagree.0 -
By "specialist", I assume you mean "ambulance chaser".BertTheRaccoon wrote: »Because a "specialist" will take ALL factors into consideration and will probably want to see views of the locus before confirming for absolute certainty that no claim can be made.
I agree, as I pointed out, that the prospects do not sound good from the description given in the OP, but if the injuries are serious and could have a life long effect, even if 10% negligence can be attributed elsewhere, it is something.
I like I said, best if considered in a solicitor-client environment rather than housewife blogger stylee0
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