advice on bicycle and car accident

Strider590

Aretnap wrote: »

That's certainly a reasonable argument, but one which has nothing to do with cyclists being a persecuted minority.

Well, it does really......

You see, the general attitude toward cyclists in this country is VERY poor and the way this attitude is spread socially as being acceptable to hate cyclists, means that drivers get this idea that abusing them is "ok".



It's no "ok" to bully anyone, especially those who are more vulnerable. But it's the attitude that needs to be tackled before anything else, the only way to do that is to make it socially unacceptable and the only way to do THAT is to not allow drivers to get away with poor/dangerous behaviour towards cyclists. Even if it's just sending them on an awareness course, anything that causes an amount of social embarrassment will very quickly get the message out there.

fivetide

Idiophreak wrote: »

Because Johno said "if you deliberately attack a cyclist with a car you will face assault, GBH, attempted murder or murder charges"

Bah - you can kill a motorcyclist on the motorway and you only get 20 months for dangerous driving. It's a joke http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/420940/Driver-killed-motorway-biker-by-slowing-to-just-10mph

Jack_Regan

Strider590 wrote: »

Ordinarily, if it were car v car then yes.......

But UK cyclists have no rights, even with evidence, the Police rarely prosecute the driver in these instances. The problem is that cyclists are a minority group and everyone else is in the majority.

Decades ago, if you were the wrong colour or had the wrong sexual preference, you had no rights. These are now protected by law, but discrimination still exists.
Cyclists on the other hand have no such protection and suffer the full wrath of discrimination from all quarters.
Even if you find a sympathetic Police officer, he/she can't move forward with a prosecution because they'd be fighting cyclist haters at every step.

It's only when someone posts a Youtube video and that video goes viral, that the Police bother to do anything.

OP, I recommend joining a cycling forum and asking for advice there, you won't get much sympathy on a motoring related forum.

It's been suggested that the 3rd party has changed their story, this is unlikely, it's going to be the insurance company doing this, they know that cyclists are soft targets.

Is there any fact to your post or is it all just personal opinion?

londonTiger

Another example why you cannot be "nice" any more. If you're involved in an accident always press for the maximum you're entitled to. Don't brush it under the carpet.