Hi All, Looking for some advice. I did speak to a Community Support “Officer” about this on Saturday, but upon reflection I’m not so sure…
Basically riding home on friday night after leaving colleagues from work in a pub (no, I wasn’t drinking, not even one) I was riding through Edgware, it was dark, but I had lights on full beam and was wearing a hi viz jacket.
As I’m riding down the road I saw a pedestrian cross and stand in the centre of the road (not a crossing and no central reservation)… I saw him from quite a distance, so I slowed down accordingly as it was wet and I wasn’t sure what he’d do. It seemed as though he was waiting for me to pass as it was clear he had seen me coming, however when I got about 3ft away from him (after already slowing down and moving over on the road) he decided to run for it. I didn’t have time to sound the horn as had to get straight on the brakes, but I did shout which made him jump out of the way; as it was wet I came off and the bike went down. Now, fortunately it didn’t hit him but he did put his arms out and touch the bike as it was sliding, making his glasses fall off. Meaning I came off worse than he did. In his limited English, he apologized several times, picked up his glasses and then ran off. The person in the car behind who almost hit me got out to see if I was ok and after realising I was simply pulled around me and carried on their way. So I picked the bike up and limped it to the side of the road. Some people at a bus stop asked if I was ok but left me to it. I was fine and the bike wasn’t too bad, so all beit a bit shaken I carried on home…
Upon reflection I don’t know if I should have reported it to the Police as an accident. Nobody got hurt but I did come off and some damage caused. The guy had ran off, no real witnesses (who all left anyway) but is it still leaving the scene of an accident? Never experienced anything like this before… So any help, advice or input would be much appreciated…
If the pedestrian was clearly uninjured and his glasses were undamaged, then there is no requirement in law to report the accident as technically an accident has not occured.
However, if it had been a reportable accident, it is not a case of report it within 24 hours, the key words are “As soon as practicable, but in any case withing 24 hours”
What this means is that if you pass a Police station on the way home, you must go in and report it there and then, not go home, have your tea and then go back and report it, and it must be reported in person.
It does not even have to be at your local police station or the nearest to where the crash occured, any Police station is sufficient as the legislation covers people who may for example have a minor crash on the Motorway and continue on their journey and report it at their destination even thouugh it may be at the opposite end of the country.
In this case, no accident in law occured, no requirement to report it.
You can get in **** if he claims against you… pedestrian have right of way no matter what unless they really throw themselves out there and you can prove you did not see them in time… witnesses.
Would be good to report it to police… if you have witnesses… if you don’t you are in crap either way if they decide to claim and they have your details and a witness of even a non factual witness (yes insurance fraud but you get the end of the stick). Or you could have some dude that was there saw the accident got your details and claim against you that you hit them… instead of the guy you did hit.
Whatever you do don’t report to insurance unless you need to claim for repairs, I had similar incident but I reported it since I had witnesses etc, just in case the woman decided to claim… or may still do for 3 years I believe, wasn’t my fault and police decided I was in the right but my insurance doubled.
Frankly whatever you do you get f0ked unless they/someone else never claim.
nothing to report. the guy was a spanner and caused you to fall off. he clearly knew he was at fault otherwise he’d have stuck around. certainly nothing to be gained from reporting. I’d be surprised if the police station was even interested.
Firstly, if it is a non reportable RTA, the Police will have no interest in recording the crash as they refuse to be the middle man for the insurance companies.
Secondly, whilst the statute of limitation is indeed 3 years from date of injury or date of knowledge, whichever is the soonest, the longer it takes for someone to submit their claim the less chance of it passing the risk assessment that is required before any personal injury claim can be progressed.
Whilst pedestrians do have the law on their side to a certain degree, they would still have to show that their injuries were consistant with having been involved in a crash as described, but burden of proof is on the pedestrian, especially if several months passed before deciding to make a claim.
Even if it is reported to the Police, they will no doubt screw up recording the details accurately.
I look at dozens of Police reports every week, and 4 out of every 5 are a complete waste of paper and ink.
All sounds a bit weird to me. You say he ran off? But his arms touched the bike as it slide down the road? Was he stretch Armstrong or something? The fact he picked his bifocals up and legged it leads me to believe he could of taken your reg an reported u for trying to mow him down or somthing???
Report it son don’t leave yourself open to an allegation
Sorry, must have been a little unclear. He didn’t run off immediately. The bike was down, I believe I stood up and asked very politely what he thought he was doing ahem he apologised, picked up his glasses, apologised again and then ran off.
Don’t believe anyone took my details - there was a few people around, but only one spoke English, which was rather broken. So hoping nobody did take my details as I could be open to a fraudulent claim. eek! I really hope not.
I’m guessing too much time has passed now anyway - lesson learned, don’t listen to PCSO’s haha.
Thanks to everyone for their input, some interesting issues and facts.
Safe riding and watch out for those pedestrians!
Steve
