Turn left? Turn right? pays your money takes your choice

[familyguy]

Sun in the eyes excuses nothing. Long shadows excuse nothing. If the driver couldn't see properly they should have slowed down. Drivers must dial their speed down to the conditions not up to the posted limit. Glad you had a floppy landing hope you're back in the saddle soon.

This. Especially the highlighted bit. How many people do you see tearing along at 60 when you know full well they can't see much because of the sun, they just know that it's a "60km/h road"?

Heal up.

Jim

[AndyRevill]

Hope we treated you well at work? lucky escape.....

Faultless! Can't speak highly enough of the people in there - I was no where near in need as much as some poor people coming in that day but if I was I know I'd be in the best hands.

Can't believe how many bike riders work there

Ok Andy you can fess up now, your really the 6million dollar man in retirement aren't you!

Nothing broken after you did that to the car, you must be bionic.

Well modesty forbids but...............

[g-boaf]

You got lucky there - looks like it could have been a lot worse.

Hope you have a speedy recovery/

[Crawf]

Are you related to Jonathan Brown sheesh?
Very glad to see you walked away from that one.

[m@]

+1 to glad you came out of it relatively intact. Definitely replace that helmet—it's earned its retirement!

The car's not flash by any means, but looks reasonably well cared for (tyre black on the bumpers etc), so you never know, getting cash mightn't be too difficult... I could be wrong but he may have committed an offense by leaving the scene without exchanging details? Maybe take it up a level with the Police and mention that you were hospitalised—or just ask them to pass along a message requesting the driver contact you. Then again, $50 to see the accident report may be a sound investment if you end up in court.

Bright clothes, sun out, 50Kmph zone; "didn't see you" = distracted or just not paying attention IMO.

[Baldy]

I bet the driver was thinking oh crap I hope he is not badly hurt. But also secretly hoping you were hurt enough so you wouldn't get up and wring their necks!

Hope you get the bike sorted mate.

[Philipthelam]

Time to buy a lottery ticket mate. Glad you're ok.

+1

Good time for it as well
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/oz-lot ... 6506388478

[bosvit]

I hope they at least have third party.

Third party comes with your car rego, so if he is registered he has 3rd party.

Hopefully he has Third party PROPERTY fire and theft, which is quite a common insurance and fairly cheap.

Full comprehensive is probably unlikely as their car is not of high value, but you never know and as far as you are concerned third party property will cover you as much as if they had full comprehensive anyway.

If you are unlucky and they have no form of property insurance you can always try contacting them and say something along the lines of; My solicitor has advised my I will need to take civil action to recoup my costs of the accident, I don't want to go down this path as it will end up costing both of us a fortune etc. Can we come to an agreement.

Even if you only get half of the money back for the bike it is better than getting nothing. Most people are fairly reasonable, especially if you approach them in a non threatening manor.

Good luck. It will be an interesting thread to follow over then next month or two.

[Howzat]

Dramatic photos, crikey! Hope your injuries heal soon.

I'd offer the comment that any driver who "didn't see you" in those road conditions doesn't have adequate eyesight to be licensed to drive.

[elStado]

Wow. Bad luck mate, but honestly you dodged a bullet there in the fact you weren't more seriously injured.

Last time I had contact with a car I snapped my left clavicle in two places, needed a plate and 8 screws to hold it together and two bouts of surgery. Over a year later and I am still having to go to the physio once a week due to ongoing issues. Worst part was that I didn't even put a scratch on the car. My shoulder and front wheel seemed to take all the impact.

[Xplora]

Heal fast, heal well. Get your GP to do another assessment, and lodge a claim with CTP soon. They got rules, those guys, and you don't want a long term problem missed because it didn't affect you now. My knee doesn't like being crossed 3 months after my prang. Seems strange huh?

You know much your bike costs, Trek 1.7 is equivalent to a 1.5 now? 2.1???? Just them that you need them to cover the retail of your bike, helmet, clothes and you won't push for any extras or legal costs. They need to start paying within a month otherwise you will instruct your solicitor to pursue, which puts the bill up 500 bucks instantly. It's not unreasonable, and they don't have a leg to stand on. The cyclist swerved... why didn't you allow enough space? He hit the brakes... why were you so close? He was too far into the lane.... you are obliged to overtake safely? It was too sunny.... that's not within the rider's control, you are the one driving the 1000kgs of metal?

[AndyRevill]

Thanks everyone for the good wishes. Things seem to be healing well. had the dressings changed at the GP, which probably hurt more than the original crash - now I know why the pros shave

The first bit of positive news is I've found I can get the driver details without paying for the crash report so as soon as I get that then I'll start on the road to getting my $$. Spent part of the weekend digging out receipts for the bike and pricing up replacements for clothes, helmet etc.

I'll post an update when things start moving - fingers crossed!

cheers, Andy

[AndyRevill]

Thought I'd post an update for those who want to follow how these things progress. I got the driver details and wrote him a letter informing him of the likely replacement cost for bike etc. subject to getting the quote from LBS and requesting he send me his insurance details or if he wasn't insured I would forward the quote to him. I asked him to reply within 7 days of receipt of the letter (sent registered post) or I would have to get some legal advice. He received the letter on the 15th and as of 4 pm yesterday I hadn't heard anything so I assumed he didn't have insurance and I was a bit depressed about how I was going to fund the replacement and was it going to be worth trying to squeeze money out of him. Anyway at 4:30 and email arrives - turns out he wasn't the owner and the lady who is does have insurance He'd tried to email me the details on Wednesday but had stuffed up the address. Fortunately she'd realised and re-sent it along with the claim reference No. (for the windscreen).

So, hurdle number one is down, just have to deal with the insurance company now. Interestingly when I phoned them to get info on how to lodge the claim the lady looked at the notes and commented that the claim stated I had pulled out in front of the car. Hope that's not a bad sign, though the fact the police issued him with an on the spot fine should cover any arguments.

Will keep you posted.

Andy

[lump_a_charcoal]

Good luck!

How are you healing?

[AndyRevill]

Good luck!

How are you healing?

It's surprising how quickly skin heals. The worst abrasion was on my left buttock (too much information I know) and its completely re-skinned. It's still a bit tender and I think the bruising is quite deep so if I sit for too long or in the wrong way it hurts but on the whole I'm healing quicker than I thought I would.

The prospect of a new bike helps

Cheers, Andy

[AndyRevill]

Final Update:

Things are never as straight forward as you hope. Turns out the claim reference I was initially given was for the windscreen which was excess free. This meant the insurance company couldn't consider my claim - there needed to be a second claim with a paid excess. There then followed a couple of weeks of "interesting" phone calls with the insurance company around what they had supposedly said to the owner vs what they were telling me. Long story short, the owner submitted a second claim and the insurance company paid me in full just after Christmas When the assessor spoke to me he seemed genuinely concerned about what had happened and wanted to do the right thing, which was nice.

Things that I've learnt:

1. It's damn hard dealing with insurance companies as an individual when you're the injured party, mostly through a lack of knowledge about how they work
2. I had always assumed that in this situation the owner would be legally required to use their insurance - apparently not the case (in TAS anyway) so I'm grateful she did that as the driver had no $$
3. Most importantly, the assessor commented that the pictures spoke for themselves - a big thank you to Drew who stopped to take them, I know I'll certainly do the same if I'm ever in that position, without them it could easily have been my word against theirs.

So, a new year and a new bike - should pick it up today - Trek Domane 4.5 (need to change the signature), pics will be in the gallery soon

cheers, Andy

[r2160]

Glad to hear you are OK.

Just make sure that you get your bike to a bike shop to have it properly checked out. There may be damage that you just dont see.

And make sure you make the driver pay for what they did!!!

cheers
Glenn

[Xplora]

Nice upgrade Andy! I'm guessing you'll be picking up a recorder as well?

[beanspropulsion]

Final Update:

So, a new year and a new bike - should pick it up today - Trek Domane 4.5 (need to change the signature), pics will be in the gallery soon

cheers, Andy

Happy ending then, heal well and enjoy the new bike.

I know the horse has bolted but now you have the new bike why not get bike insurance?

I pay $15 a month and get cover for the bike and injury. Cheap peace of mind.

Kind regards

[AndyRevill]

Final Update:

So, a new year and a new bike - should pick it up today - Trek Domane 4.5 (need to change the signature), pics will be in the gallery soon

cheers, Andy

Happy ending then, heal well and enjoy the new bike.

I know the horse has bolted but now you have the new bike why not get bike insurance?

I pay $15 a month and get cover for the bike and injury. Cheap peace of mind.

Kind regards

When I first got the old bike the only way to insure it was by moving our home and contents as well and we didn't want to do that as all our insurance was in one package. However, there are now other options so the new one is insured with Velosure - I agree, cheap piece of mind.

Cheers, Andy

[stinhambo]

Very happy it all worked out well for you:-)

Domane 4.5 is on my shortlist if I can upgrade in September.

Are you going to get a video recorder too?

[AndyRevill]

Very happy it all worked out well for you:-)

Domane 4.5 is on my shortlist if I can upgrade in September.

Are you going to get a video recorder too?

I'm not sure. This accident was/is the first I've had, I can't recall even a near miss before this, so maybe Hobart doesn't really warrant it?