My Thoughts on the RTC Result

I’ve been asked many times if I’m happy with the outcome of the road traffic collision that I was involved in late last year.
The simple answer is yes.

I was involved in a RTC in 2009 where a car pulled out or a minor road into my path on a major road, hitting me side on and sending me flying. It was totally the drivers fault but the police could prove nothing, my only witness left the scene without leaving any details so it was the drivers word against mine as to what happened. The case was dropped and I was left to fight the insurance company to cover my costs. The driver obviously got no punishment for the actions he took.

This case was similar, take away my video footage and it is next to impossible to prove exactly what happened. Add the video footage and it is clear to see that the driver crosses through a bus lane without first checking what was in it. That is what made the big difference in this case!

Was the ‘punishment’ enough? I certainly think so, a 6 point increase on your license is substantial if you have a clean license, add that onto other points and you are very close to losing your license. I’m not aware if the driver had any points on their license before the incident.
The fine might not have been as substantial as some might think, but a £350 fine is still enough to make a dent in the average person.

More importantly the whole experience for the driver will make him think twice about how he drives on the road.

A few have commented and said it was my fault for cycling as i was. I certainly could have read it better but the bottom line is it is the responsibility of the road user that is turning across the lanes of traffic to look for moving vehicles. As Magnatom says

Hindsight – It turns average cyclists into perfect cyclists.


5 thoughts on “My Thoughts on the RTC Result

  1. Problem with having a camera is that you can always review the footage and see where you could have done things better/differently and had a better outcome. I’ve had instances where in the ‘heat of battle’ I’ve assigned 100% blame to a motorist but then seen on the video replay that perhaps there wasn’t really enough room to overtake or that I should have/could have anticipated someone turning even though they weren’t indicating.

    My real reason for this comment is really to ask what camera you use (can’t find any other means of contact on your blog) – the night time footage is very bright despite what I assume are dim lighting conditions. The camera I have performs pretty poorly at night.

  2. Well written reflection. I live the closing comment “Hindsight – It turns average cyclists into perfect cyclists.” Point well made. I also have a bit of an issue with the propensity it seems to blame the cyclist in such situations as you allude to and you are right it is up to the turning vehicle to get it right; you where obeying the law after all.

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