Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

So my wife is driving to work this morning, 7.15 am on Mounts Bay Rd, turning left on to Mill St, but waiting at the Red light when a cyclist goes full pelt in to back of her car.
Obviously the cyclist thought that my wife's indicator meant nothing, and she was going to go straight, so decided why bother waiting. The fact she was stopped at the lights didn't enter his pea brain I guess.
He has left a lovely dent on the back bumper, and said cyclist cut his self up in the process.

My wife, being the considerate person she is AND IN THE RIGHT getts out to see he's ok. He's busted up, and obviously aware of the fact he is totally at fault, and dented my wife's car, says he's fine, declines to take her number, and beats a hasty retreat. No apology, nothing.

If anyone knows something, or hears something, please let me know. I'm now forced to pay for the repairs myself as it's not worth going thru insurance, and Main Roads told my wife there's only live camera feeds there, and nothing else (which I find strange) to identify this tool.

We all know that if the situation was reversed, and my wife had backed in to him, there would be an outcry.

Don't let me be the one who finds you mate, cos I am not as forgiving as my wife..

My wife's description, cyclist mid - late 40s on a yellow and black 'racing' bike.

Check strava... and scope out who came to a screaming halt at the point of the incident. Long shot but worth a look.

Just have to look at a segment in the lead up to the incident, filter by date, filter to male only. Look at a few rides and see if you have any luck.

No chance of them busting their front wheel and needing to get it fixed either? Hitting a object at speed would imo surely damage the wheel in one way forcing to get it repaired/replaced. Don't think it would hurt to do a ring around a few LBS and put the word out look for guy with damaged front wheel

Good thinking guys.

Being the wife of a cyclist, she is always totally aware and respectful of cyclists, and this really upset her, which now means of course, I have to suffer ....

Pretty low act to cause some damage (in any circumstance) and then nick off without fixing it one way or another.

Just wondered where the law stands on this point. Obviously as a cyclist there's no mandatory insurance, but is the rider still (legally) liable for accidental damage like this?

I'm hoping the answer is yes, but........

(And I also find it very very hard to believe that the traffic cams don't back up to some storage facility for at least a brief period. That seems ludicrous)

MyNameIsNoone wrote:Just wondered where the law stands on this point. Obviously as a cyclist there's no mandatory insurance, but is the rider still (legally) liable for accidental damage like this?

I'm hoping the answer is yes, but.......

Yes - civil property damage. That's not the official term for it but it'll do.

MyNameIsNoone wrote:Just wondered where the law stands on this point. Obviously as a cyclist there's no mandatory insurance, but is the rider still (legally) liable for accidental damage like this?

having insurance or not does not change your liability - it is simply you selling the risk to another entity.

The cyclist caused the accident - they're 100% liable for the dame caused.

Edit: for clarity (dunno if it worked...)

Summernight wrote:

MyNameIsNoone wrote:Just wondered where the law stands on this point. Obviously as a cyclist there's no mandatory insurance, but is the rider still (legally) liable for accidental damage like this?

I'm hoping the answer is yes, but.......

Yes - civil property damage. That's not the official term for it but it'll do.

You are right - civil law. Suing for damages. A number of reasons to justify it, usually something along the line of negligence, failing to take care, etc. Tort law.

Ozkaban wrote:

MyNameIsNoone wrote:Just wondered where the law stands on this point. Obviously as a cyclist there's no mandatory insurance, but is the rider still (legally) liable for accidental damage like this?

having insurance or not does not change your liability - it is simply you selling the risk to another entity.

Insurance does confuse people but your simple one-liner encapsulates it perfectly. I'll file that away and use it myself when the need arises.

MyNameIsNoone wrote:Pretty low act to cause some damage (in any circumstance) and then nick off without fixing it one way or another.

Just wondered where the law stands on this point. Obviously as a cyclist there's no mandatory insurance, but is the rider still (legally) liable for accidental damage like this?

I'm hoping the answer is yes, but........

(And I also find it very very hard to believe that the traffic cams don't back up to some storage facility for at least a brief period. That seems ludicrous)

My wife , obviously concerned as a) she's the wife of a cyclist, and b) being a good person immediately offered assistance, to which the guy, who was cut up and injured quickly said oops, and took off.

It was only when she checked if he had left anything on the road that she noticed the dent, in a perfect shape of a front wheel on her rear bumper.

By that stage, the cyclist had gone.

He's probably the same sort who dent another car in the car park at the shops and take off without leaving a note.

need to get licence plates on bikes - help identify him

It must have been a good impact to put a wheel imprint into the bumper, and he was cut up somewhat, so perhaps he was in shock and didn't actually realise he had damaged your wife's car?

So shocked he managed to get up, tell my wife he was ok, pick up his bike, and beat a hasty retreat.

I don't think so.

Ozkaban wrote:having insurance or not does not change your liability - it is simply you selling the risk to another entity.

OK, Clarity Police here: having insurance or not does not change your liability - it is simply you buying the right to transfer eventual losses to another entity.

Hmm. Seems to be more complicated now.

MarkG wrote:So my wife is driving to work this morning, 7.15 am on Mounts Bay Rd, turning left on to Mill St, but waiting at the Red light when a cyclist goes full pelt in to back of her car.
Obviously the cyclist thought that my wife's indicator meant nothing, and she was going to go straight, so decided why bother waiting. The fact she was stopped at the lights didn't enter his pea brain I guess.
He has left a lovely dent on the back bumper, and said cyclist cut his self up in the process.

My wife, being the considerate person she is AND IN THE RIGHT getts out to see he's ok. He's busted up, and obviously aware of the fact he is totally at fault, and dented my wife's car, says he's fine, declines to take her number, and beats a hasty retreat. No apology, nothing.

If anyone knows something, or hears something, please let me know. I'm now forced to pay for the repairs myself as it's not worth going thru insurance, and Main Roads told my wife there's only live camera feeds there, and nothing else (which I find strange) to identify this tool.

We all know that if the situation was reversed, and my wife had backed in to him, there would be an outcry.

Don't let me be the one who finds you mate, cos I am not as forgiving as my wife..

My wife's description, cyclist mid - late 40s on a yellow and black 'racing' bike.

It was me:)

Please do not hurt me, ohh mighty one

In all fairness, I know the guy did a bad thing, but you cannot go around scaring people on a public forum.
It's just not Australian, otherwise what is the difference between him and you ?

Give me your address .
I'll come around for a chat tonite.

I am sorry for your wife and the cyclist was definately wrong, however maybe the cyclists genuinely didn't know that he dented the car. I mean if your wife missed it as well...

And when crashing your expensive bike into a hard object it is usually not the object that you check for damage first... and (maybe) he wanted to get away quickly because he knew your wife's car was stopped at the red light and would hold up traffic? He would have also been pretty shaken up and not thinking clearly.

Yes the cyclist was wrong by crashing into your wife's car... But when you put yourself in his shoes I don't think you should be so harsh against him, and if your wife had noticed the damage earlier she could have gotten his details.

Then again the cyclist must have been pretty dumb to ride into the back of a car...

Hope you find the culprit Mark. In my opinion thats not on. Had the car hit the cyclist, we'd have a news report and a public outcry of cyclists being a hit and run target, and how hard done by cyclists are. Regardless of who hit who, the person in the wrong needs to own up and do the right (Australian) thing instead of being a coward. If we as cyclists want equality on the road we need to treat others with the same dignity.

rpmspinman wrote:Hope you find the culprit Mark. In my opinion thats not on. Had the car hit the cyclist, we'd have a news report and a public outcry of cyclists being a hit and run target, and how hard done by cyclists are. Regardless of who hit who, the person in the wrong needs to own up and do the right (Australian) thing instead of being a coward. If we as cyclists want equality on the road we need to treat others with the same dignity.

too right mate

Philip - her first instinct was to check on him.
I better not find out it was anyone on here.

MarkG wrote:Give me your address .
I'll come around for a chat tonite.

I'll put it on a facebook event that I will title "Come over and beat me up" with his address.

Id be keen to hear how you go with the strava thing.

Any DNA on the bumper?

Did your wife notice what colour kit he was wearing?

Was it at traffic light were there may be a camera?

Just some suggestions.

Give the dude a couple of weeks for himself and the bike to get fixed then you and the wifey do a stake out on the same route at the same time as the rear end to your car and see if you can spot him.

its likely his front wheel is now busted up in order to leave an impression in your wife's car bumper.

if he was commuting to work in the city, its possible that he took his bike in to Ride Advice as it would be the nearest bike shop in the CBD.

might be worth giving them a call and see if any anyone walked in with a busted up bike this morning?

good luck!

MarkG wrote:I better not find out it was anyone on here.

Why not?

bardygrub wrote: Give the dude a couple of weeks for himself and the bike to get fixed then you and the wifey do a stake out on the same route at the same time as the rear end to your car and see if you can spot him.

That is a great idea and I know of a few people who have found culprits (including a bus who did a runner!) by doing this 'same time, same day' stake out.

Why do you think?
Cos he's a coward.
My wife is still upset and the car has two noticeable dents.