Crashed into an out of control dog – what next?

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I suspect it won’t help but see Highway Code rule 56.

Maybe contact local council, mention rule 56 and get a statement re the path concerned, as apparently there can be local bye laws.

“But anyway if you want to settle, please give me a quote with the cost breakdown and I will provide the quote from the vet which will include potential X-ray and further treatments as she recovers.”

**** ****

I’d just give up if they’re not willing to go through their pet insurance for the xrays etc, vet bills get expensive fast. Not worth it for a broken Garmin and a scraped knee.

New helmet + GPS.   No insurance contact.   Price it up and give them what it’d cost you (with links) and say either they put it direct to your bank account or you can bob round and pick up the cash if it’s local.   Faster payments take a couple of hours.

Would do that asap, and if they’re not forthcoming then tell them you’ll be going to popo/insurance and they can sort it out from there in a more expensive fasion.

If they stump up, that’s the end of it.

– I have a speed log for the ride, which is linked to a map which shows where I hit the dog.

Instantaneous speeds  on a GPS are pretty unreliable at the best of times let alone in tree covered areas like the WoL path where the speed typically under-reads. Maybe you might get away with it in a small claims court but the reality is the speed log proves very little.
I really think you’d struggle to demonstrate the dog owners were at fault in this one once they counter-claim that you weren’t riding carefully enough.

According the the above definition the first dog was behaving dangerously too (although didn’t cause an accident in itself), and forced the OP into the ambush of the 2nd dog. A canine conspiracy…

If they are decent people they will be mortified and see you right.

Realise that it doesn’t help you but if they have to fork out for vet bills/see an increase in insurance premium then it’s their own stupid fault. Importantly they should learn from it unless they can afford not to.

Is the traditional behavior in these situations not shitting down their chimney? Do they prove they have actually taken the dog to the vet or are they just threatening it?

Disappointing response from the owners. I’d be inclined to pop back and suggest that if their only gauge of how fast you were going was forensic they might find they’re on a shoogly peg. Suggest to them if they want to go that route you exchange insurance details but it would be sensible for them to check their position regarding their dog being under control in a public place. They weren’t even in a position to recall their dog never mind see what happened. I’d call their bluff.

I let my dog off the lead on shared paths and despite headphones I’m very mindful of other users as I expect them to be of us, but equally I’d take it on the chin as I stated previously if it all went wrong.

Bon chance op

http://Water of Leith Management Plan 2020-2030 – Edinburgh Council https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/downloads/file/28361/water-of-leith-management-plan-2020-to-2030.

I would contact the organisations mentioned in R18 of this document too, and advise them of the incident.

Bombers and frozen sausages it is then.

I was going to suggest accidents happen and just move on until I read their response.

Their dog caused the accident, yet they think you’ll be contributing to their vet bill? I don’t think so!

The reality of it is we’re into he said / she said, there is no real evidence, we have a cyclist knocked off their bike, but could they have reasonably avoided it, we don’t know, there is no video, there is no witnesses by the sounds of it, as others say, GPS is pointless, you’re going small claims, anything short of witnesses or signed declarations are all smoke and mirrors, the whole 4.8mph is weird as well, why were you going so slow on the path, oh you were aware of dogs in the vicinity but didn’t stop or be more wary, how did you go over the bars at such a slow speed, surely to do that much damage you were going faster………

All the above is just questions anyone would ask in small claims or the likes, not my opinion, hell i’ve been on the other side of a claim and having the only witness testify to our claim wasn’t enough to win, the more i see this type of stuff the more i actually think i’ll have to buy a camera for the car and/or bike!

Ask for a copy of the receipt from the vet.

Then ask for their address so you can pop round and pay. But don’t, just send them poop in the post.

I wonder if they have an equivalent thread on ‘dinlow dog owners’ forum?!

Ruff justice!!

I’ll get my coat

“But anyway if you want to settle, please give me a quote with the cost breakdown and I will provide the quote from the vet which will include potential X-ray and further treatments as she recovers.”

Well, that was a ballsy response. Over to you Munrobiker! 🤨

Its a crap situation for sure , I’ve had fairly similiar a couple of times . I hit a teenager at about 25 mph who had just came off a bus with ear phones in , then a network rail van hit me as he couldn’t see me for low winter sun. On both occasions I was shook up but didn’t pursue it as I had only minor scratches on the bike and my body.

Regarding dogs and X rays I was quoted £900 for an xray on my pug so they wont want to go down that route. If you want to still go after them I’d maybe try a tactful letter saying to meet you half way on the helmet and Gps . Im in east lothian but I know where this happened and Its very similiar to both the bonnyrigg to penicuil old railway line and closer to me the pencaitland old railway where I wouldn’t have my dogs on a lead but are busy with bikes. A dog can bolt after anything at the drop of a hat and you have been unlucky . Substitute the dog for a fox or deer and there is no claim but the same result. Anyhoo good luck and I hope you both come to an amical resolution.

wow thats a surprising amount of damage / injury from a slow falling off.

Nah, I’m trying to remember the term , sack of shite or something like that when you go OTB  slowly and your whole body weight just drops vertically to the floor , does a lot of damage, and nasty if it’s your face hitting the floor first.

Involve the Police for the dog being out of control in a public place resulting in your injuries….

It’s a subject thats been in the news the last few days, they may want to be seen to take action

Realise that it doesn’t help you but if they have to fork out for vet bills/see an increase in insurance premium then it’s their own stupid fault. Importantly they should learn from it unless they can afford not to.

That’s a rather dickish response.

Sadly not isolated it would seem.

If the dogs been injured and has in fact needed treatment then regardless of your version without proof it’s your word against theirs. If you fancy trying it on the phrase ‘play stupid games, win stupid prizes’ comes to mind, that treatment could end up being orders of magnitude more than your GPS.

Try and look at this with some objectivity, from your story their dog caused you to fall but from their perspective your speed caused their dog to be injured. How do you fancy your chances in a balance of probabilities case?

And FFS stop with the dangerous dogs nonsense, that doesn’t apply here since the dog didn’t in any way attack you or give you reason to think it would. The dog was roaming, end of. It’s already been explained

I was always in British Cycling for the legal support/ insurance as this type of thing can turn into an expensive nightmare.

Any of the legal eagles in the house tonight to give us a legal perspective ?

Someone’s black lab comes bounding out of the undergrowth and over to him, so I tell him to sit and distract him with chicken strips whilst shouting for the owner to recall their dog. “It’s fine, he’s friendly”, until the inevitable happens and the untrained Labrador and it’s owner gets a valuable lesson in why not let their dog with crap recall approach other dogs.

You were waving chicken strips around and wonder why a lab waddled over to you!!

As I understand it, if you do decide to pursue this through the small claims court, the other party are not permitted to counter sue you.  IANAL, but there are some on here, who may be able to provide clarification

If the garmin was buggered, how does the OP know how fast he was going?

<span style=”caret-color: #ffffff; color: #ffffff; font-family: Roboto, ‘Helvetica Neue’, Arial, ‘Noto Sans’, sans-serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, ‘Apple Color Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Emoji’, ‘Segoe UI Symbol’, ‘Noto Color Emoji’; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: #444444;”>I was riding along a shared used path on the way to the Pentlands today. It’s an old railway line with a new tarmac surface in a tunnel of trees. A dobermann type dog ran out from another path on my left so I slowed, moved over to the right and then another dashed out from the vegetation on my left. I hit it side on at 4.8mph according to Strava, went straight over the bars and hit the deck tangled up in my bike.</span>

The other parties legal counsel would take you apart if this was your statement to the court. Frankly I’d chalk this one to stuff happens as the other party will not be paying out without a fight and your position isn’t as strong as you think it is.

“But anyway if you want to settle, please give me a quote with the cost breakdown and I will provide the quote from the vet which will include potential X-ray and further treatments as she recovers.”

Seems they want to go knock for knock. Any tips?

He’s been on dogwalkertrackworld getting moronic adivce from billytwodogs and all his twatty online fwends.

The other parties legal counsel would take you apart if this was your statement to the court

Good job it’s an informal post on a bike forum then.

Because I’m just wired this way, I would go for a response to call a bluff to thier bluff.

Go on then, send me the vets bill and your address then please so we can settle this…

sadly I did call it as the likely response from the dog owner.  sorry.

I doubt they will have taken the dog to the vet .  yet.  you can bet they will if you call their bluff, just out of principle to cost you.

He’s been on dogwalkertrackworld getting moronic adivce from billytwodogs and all his twatty online fwends.

Yep, spoke to someone, now going to protect themselves, it’s inevitable, as stated earlier, there’s no real evidence by the sounds of it, small claims or magistrates don’t tend to work like TV courtrooms, evidence has to be indisputable for it to go that way, otherwise it’s he said / she said.

I believe it’s a streamlined process now in small claims for this level of claim, so even more onerous if no real evidence is there and it’s just counter claims being reviewed.

But anyway if you want to settle, please give me a quote with the cost breakdown and I will provide the quote from the vet which will include potential X-ray and further treatments as she recovers.”

Seems they want to go knock for knock. Any tips?

I would go at it like a bull at a gate just to piss them off. But I think you should just let it go, only stress and frustration to gained. For the sake of what £300?

Off lead dog on shared use path. No way would you be legally accountable if you hit it. IANAL

As others have said it is your word  vs his. I would leave it.
There are always 2 versions (not saying yours are wrong) and he is probably saying to his mates “ I was out walking the dogs today and this cyclist came pelting down the path, no bell or warning. The dogs got spooked as he appeared so fast from no where. He was going so fast he nearly hit one dog but as he swerved out of control he hit the other dog and has injured it. I might need to take it to the vets. Do you think I should contact him and see what he says, do you think I should be compensated for his actions as it was clearly his fault…… You will never guess what, the cyclist has just been on to me and he is looking for me to replace his helmet and a garmin. I never even saw any garmin and he never mentioned it before taking off. Sound fishy to me!”

That’s a rather dickish response.

@squirrelking owner immediately accused the OP of riding too fast rather than admit that they were not in charge of their dog. That’s a dickish move especially as OP had his speed recorded on a Garmin which showed that it wasn’t fast. This could have been settled amicably, oops sorry I took my eye off my dog and I hope you’re not hurt but instead leaves a bad taste.

I was driving my car safely and legally at 30mph past a primary school at 3:20 when a child suddenly appeared from between 2 parked cars – who could possibly have foreseen such a thing – nothing I could possibly do to avoid hitting it.

Anyway my car got a dent in the bumper and the bits of blood and skull have marred the paint

How do I proceed? Grieving parents aren’t responding to my WhatsApp messages

Contrary to how some owners behave, dogs are not children. Laws that apply to dogs do not apply to children and vice versa. Strawman argument is dismissed.

A previous incident and commentary…

https://road.cc/content/news/give-cycling-dedicated-space-reaction-291115

@cinnamon_girl

owner immediately accused the OP of riding too fast rather than admit that they were not in charge of their dog.

Well given he moved to the opposite side of the path from where the dog emerged and still didn’t have time to stop I think they may have a point. Look at it from their perspective. I’m not saying they’re right but your response of just rinsing them is pretty OTT.

No winners here, I’d leave it and get on with my life.

As others have said it is your word  vs his. I would leave it.
There are always 2 versions (not saying yours are wrong) and he is probably saying to his mates “ I was out walking the dogs today and this cyclist came pelting down the path, no bell or warning. The dogs got spooked as he appeared so fast from no where. He was going so fast he nearly hit one dog but as he swerved out of control he hit the other dog and has injured it. I might need to take it to the vets. Do you think I should contact him and see what he says, do you think I should be compensated for his actions as it was clearly his fault…… You will never guess what, the cyclist has just been on to me and he is looking for me to replace his helmet and a garmin. I never even saw any garmin and he never mentioned it before taking off. Sound fishy to me!”

Reality is in Scotland i believe this type of small claims is online these days, and just a coin toss for the outcome with no real evidence, hence why i just see it as being a lesson in life, we’ve all been there, i’ve had a couple like this over the years in cars and a bike.

If you are to make a claim, do it online, get their details, as you’ll need more than a name and email i believe, they’ll counter of course, then let fate decide, nothing on here will help, going via text or email is pointless, you’ll just antagonise each other more, if i was on either side i’d just block the numbers/email and ignore, you either take the hit, or raise it via small claims now i’d say, it’s amazing how people can change when their perspective changes from ‘a bike cost 100 quid these days’ to ‘you’ve damaged my 5k bike’.