Had a bit of a prang with a car whilst hacking to the train station today.

I was on the road bike, in a cycle lane on Kirkstall Road in Leeds. It’s a route I ride regularly.

I noticed a gold Honda Civic Coupe (ghastly car) waiting to turn right into a side road ahead and then notice him set off – I had absolutely no **** chance whatsoever. Managed to scrub most of my speed off before I chose which bit of his front wing to hit. (Went for just in front of his wheel).

Ended up prostrate on the bonnet.

The driver was profusely apologetic and really worried, I was unhurt. Some six hours later I’ve noticed I have a tiny friction burn about the size of a 20p coin on the top of each wrist (no idea how but can only be from the car bonnet) and my left knee is going to have a small bruise. Frankly I’ve had much bigger accidents on my own.

I’ve checked the bike over and the front wheel is slightly out of true – not quite enough to be fouling the brake pad but it was straight before and isn’t now.

So the question is thus; Should I:

A) Accept that I was trucking on a bit, it was an accident and no one got hurt.

B) Get the guy to pay for straightening a wheel that ordinarily, I would put up with.

Trucking it a bit? – Unless you were descending a good hill, I dare say you were going a fair bit slower than you would be if you were in a car.

On the flat and pulling about 25mph if that helps.

Road bike brakes are shite!

Mirror, Signal, Manœuvre

It’s that order for a reason.

Though if it were me, I’d just true the wheel myself

If you were doing the same speed in a car, would you have been able to stop, or would you still have hit him ?

Just wondering really.

EDIT:

….and get a personal injury claim in.

100% Not this ^

Car is an irrelevant question really as he wouldn’t have pulled out and I would have been in the middle of the road, rather than on a cycle lane with a closing gap to ride into. It’s also easier to change direction in a car when standing on the brakes.

MTB would probably have stopped with a bit of arse in the air action.

Gribs – what brakes are you running? My roadie stops ok but nothing like either MTB (both on XTR).

Well, I just reported someone.

OP – Simply put, you were almost certainly going too fast. You could not react quickly enough to the road situations, therefore, despite the driver pulling out, you were equally at fault, I’d say.

Lucky break to not have any major damage, though.

B) Get the guy to pay for straightening a wheel that ordinarily, I would put up with.

Idiot motorists should learn to judge the speed of other road users.

I’d argue that as I managed to lose enough speed to make it a small accident, and hit the very front corner of his car, it was certainly not my fault. I had right of way, had already seen he was stationary, and the guy pulled into me. Plus he admitted liability.

I’m certainly not even considering a personal injury claim – just bullshit. I’ve had much worse from falling over on the way back from the pub!

I’d be tempted to get them to pay for wheel truing. If only to remind them it could have been a lot worse.

You sound like a rational guy and a breath of fresh air from the camera wearing blame game cyclists so many others are giving us a reputation for. He was in the wrong, but he sure as hell learnt his lesson and won’t make that mistake again. The realisation of what could have happened will make him think cyclist every time he drives again. Luckily you weren’t broke, he sounds like he was genuinely sorry. Buy a spoke tensioner, enjoy learning to straighten a wheel, and revel in the good Karma for forgiving and moving on. Hopefully this guy will tell others of his experience, make them think a bit more about cyclists too.

It’s always worth photographing the scene, vehicles and other driver in a case like this as you don’t always realise the extent of the damage at the time. I had a case where I was knocked off by a postman driving on the wrong side of the road, I thought my mtb was okay until my forks snapped off further up the road.
I was knocked off my motorbike in a situation like yours. I took photo’s immeadiatley and then called for the police as I knew my knee was injured and told the driver, she left me her details and drove off before the police arrived. It turned out in addition to ligament damage to my knee I had broken ribs which I didn’t feel until the adrenalin had worn off. She lied to the police and insurance about what happened saying she had a witness that was in the car with her and tried to sue me. I produced my photo’s and the case was settled imeadiatley in my favour.

Whether or not it was a minor injury and a wee bit of damage, he shouldn’t have pulled across in front of you. If it were a car, he’d have waited, to go just because (exaggerated) “Oh, it’s only a cyclist” is just plain wrong. Whether you’re injured or not, it’s an RTA.

OP – Simply put, you were almost certainly going too fast. You could not react quickly enough to the road situations, therefore, despite the driver pulling out, you were equally at fault, I’d say.

Say whut?

If that was true I’d have to drive everywhere at 10mph.

Gribs – what brakes are you running? My roadie stops ok but nothing like either MTB (both on XTR).

Campag Veloce with Conti Gp4000s tyres compared to Hope tech m4’s and Avid elixir 3’s on my fs and ht respectively. Tyres on the front of the mtb’s are a Fat Albert and a Ardent. I should add that the gp4000s offer a lot more grip than the Rubino tyres that came on the bike. I also have strong hands.

I’ve used road bikes that didn’t brake well at all but that seemed to be down to the calliper arms flexing with increased hand presure. Currently if I squeeze as hard as I can I’d be over the bars on any of my bikes.

Simply put, you were almost certainly going too fast. You could not react quickly enough to the road situations, therefore, despite the driver pulling out, you were equally at fault, I’d say.

You what? So if driving along in a car under the speed limit somebody turns right in front of you and you don’t have space in which to stop, would that be partly your fault? If not, why is a cyclist partly at fault in a similar situation.

The ones on here who want to blame the victim and think the car is king are the ones who are the problem, not those who suggest putting in personal injury claims for injuries which are caused by somebody else’s mistake. Assuming that’s what was in the post you reported, I’m very tempted to report yours.

Exactly why should the OP be inconvenienced by a driver running into them? That inconvenience including having to spend time straightening a wheel (one which will never be as strong as it was originally). Exactly what is wrong with him putting in a claim for at least a new wheel, if not also for his injuries?

Ended up prostrate on the bonnet.

On the flat and pulling about 25mph if that helps.

You stopped on the bonnet of the car, I doubt you were going 25mph, maybe 5mph?

Personally I wouldn’t bother taking it any further, you were barely hurt, truing your wheel won’t take long.

On the brakes issue, I can endo any of my road bikes, hence I can stop just as fast as on an MTB. That’s with bog-standard brakes (various Shimano, one set of Campag Record), nothing special. If you can’t, then changing the pads is the simplest solution and should make a huge difference – some stock pads aren’t all that good (though I have stock pads on mine and they’re fine).

You stopped on the bonnet of the car, I doubt you were going 25mph, maybe 5mph?

Managed to scrub most of my speed off before I chose which bit of his front wing to hit.

Car is an irrelevant question

Fair enough, was only asking.

Wasn’t trying to make out it was your fault.