Son's motor accident - how to settle
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Programmer wrote: »I've just had a phone call from my 25 year old son. He was turning right on to a main road in fairly slow moving traffic. Somebody let him in but he had to nose forward slowly as visibility was impeded by a lorry. A motorcyclist hit the car and the rider came off. Police and ambulance were called. Brief facts:
* no damage to car apart from minor paint scuffing
* some damage to bike; some instruments a bit loose and handles slightly out of alignment, but rideable
* rider not seriously hurt but paramedic said he could possibly have a sprained ankle; rider was happy to continue his journey to work (on the bike)
* after speaking to a witness, policeman said no obvious offence had been committed and said police would take no further action; invited son and rider to sort it out between themselves or with insurers
* my son remembered his Dad's previous advice and did not offer any apologies or admit blame (that's my boy!
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My son said there was no hostility and they shook hands. On the question of blame, he was unsure. He thought the rider was going too fast, considering he was approaching traffic lights. and the bike hit him, he didn't hit the bike. ...but was my son nudging forward too quickly? Hard to say.
In the post-accident conversation the rider said the damage to the bike would be £300 max (bike value £1000) and invited my son to pay the garage bill, in which case (he said) he would make no insurance claim, either for the bike or his ankle. My son invited him to let him know the cost but made no commitment. The insurers already know about this offer, by the way. The black box in my son's car registered the impact and they were on the phone immediately. The insurer's initial advice is for my son to pay the garage bill, in which case (they say) the incident will be treated as a non-event and have no impact on future premiums.
My son now wants my advice. My first thought was he should pay this garage bill and keep the whole matter out of the hands of the insurers. But I'm having second thoughts. This bike rider SAYS he will not take further action if his bike repair costs are met, but what is to stop him settling in front of the TV in the afternoon, watching an ad put out by some firm of ambulance-chasing solicitors, and immediately rushing out to buy a walking frame, neck brace, crutches and other where-there's-a-blame-there's-a-claim requisites, then phoning the 0800 number, pound signs flashing in his revolving eyeballs? And if my son pays this bill, could that be taken as an admission of responsibility is some future compensation claim?
By the way, the £300 approx would be easily affordable and not a problem.
Its registered with the insurance company now anyway, so if your son "gets away with" paying a £300 garage bill then thats a result all round.
Its going to be a waiting game.....0 -
I would suggest that the rider could be at fault: if son pulled out into the main road, and stopped because he could not see whether it was clear to turn into the carriageway, and was stationary for 60 seconds, and the rider didn't notice him and just ploughed into the side, then I would say the rider was at fault. But that probably isn't what happened here: son was probably still edging forward when the rider hit him; the rider had no time to see/avoid/sound horn. I would take the rider at face value, most motorcyclists are reasonable - he will have seen the very low speed that son was edging forward and understand that he was not being reckless.The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.0
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Your son was turning right, so he didn't have priority. He continued his turn, even though his visibility was impeded by a lorry. The fact that an oncoming car allowed him to make the turn does not alter the priority for any other vehicles. Unless the bike was breaking the speed limit, which you can't prove, and which would only be a contributory factor.
I can't see that he really has any defence.
I'm surprised that if the car had no more than a scuff, that the telematics box detected an impact?No free lunch, and no free laptop
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I had an accident a while back:
- I was driving on my side of the road, approaching some lights.
- There was a side street on the opposite side of the road and an oncoming driver in the queue there had left a gap.
- A person came out of the side street and ran into the side of my car.
- It was their responsibility to ensure that it was safe to pull out.
- The accident was entirely their fault.
As for the biker speeding, I suspect there would have been more damage (and possibly injury) had that been the case.
Now, my son had a minor bump a few years back and the person he ran into was good enough to give him a break and let me settle (there was no damage at all).
It's good of the biker, and I hope he does turn out to be genuine.0 -
In exchange for the £300, get the rider to sign a disclaimer that the £300 is in full and final settlement of the incident. Without legal advice I'm not sure this is watertight, but will give you an idea if they do actually intend to claim later once they've got £300 cash in their pocket.0
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I'm pretty sure that it says either in the Highway Code or that book 'Driving' published by the old Ministry of Transport, that when you do not have a clear view of a lane you are turning in to, it is permissible to move your car forward until you can see round any obstruction. After all, what else can you do? The obstruction might be a parked car. You can't sit and wait for the owner to return and drive it away. The bike wasn't speeding, but may have been going too fast considering adjacent traffic lights....will be clearer when I have made my next post.....I had an accident a while back:- I was driving on my side of the road, approaching some lights.
- There was a side street on the opposite side of the road and an oncoming driver in the queue there had left a gap.
- A person came out of the side street and ran into the side of my car.
- It was their responsibility to ensure that it was safe to pull out.
- The accident was entirely their fault.
As for the biker speeding, I suspect there would have been more damage (and possibly injury) had that been the case.
Now, my son had a minor bump a few years back and the person he ran into was good enough to give him a break and let me settle (there was no damage at all).
It's good of the biker, and I hope he does turn out to be genuine.0 -
Programmer wrote: »I'm told the policeman took account of the lorry blocking his view, presumably confirmed by the witness.
You are told this by who?0 -
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Programmer wrote: »I'm pretty sure that it says either in the Highway Code or that book 'Driving' published by the old Ministry of Transport, that when you do not have a clear view of a lane you are turning in to, it is permissible to move your car forward until you can see round any obstruction. After all, what else can you do? The obstruction might be a parked car. You can't sit and wait for the owner to return and drive it away. The bike wasn't speeding, but may have been going too fast considering adjacent traffic lights....will be clearer when I have made my next post.....
"Creep and peep" as my instructor called it.They call me Dr Worm... I'm interested in things; I'm not a real doctor but I am a real worm.
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...I wanted to post a picture from Google Street View to show the precise situation but this forum doesn't seem to have the facility for inserting images from a file.
However, if anyone is able to access Street View....search on Brooke Street Cleckheaton and take position at west end of Brooke Street facing the A638. You should see two lanes of traffic approaching the (amber) lights and facing left; Mercedes in adjacent lane and small truck towing a large yellow mower in the middle lane; there is only one lane in the opposite direction. My son was turning right into this lane, and the bike that hit him was in the van-and-mower lane. The lights were red at the time.0
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