Knocked off on cycle path by dog – injured. What to do?

If it was a road or cycle path then i would agree that the dog owner was completely at fault but this was a shared use path. Just because you can ride full whack doesn’t mean you should. The blame here is 50/50. If I see a walker in daylight on a shared use path I slow down to pass them, just in case there is a dog or child running around.
I’ve had a dog killed on a road. My fault. I taught the dog to fetch things over obstacle courses so when I threw a ball too hard up a hill and it cleared the fence at the top, so did the dog. I couldn’t shout quick enough to stop him. He took out the valance of teh car and died in my arms. Cost me a few hundred to fix the damage and I had no qualms in doing so BUT that was a road set aside for vehicular use. Shared use paths are a different matter requiring responsible actions and respect for other users.

I might have missed this amongst the various arguments but what do you want out of this OP?

As annoying and painful as the incident sounds there appears to be blame on both sides. I mean no disrespect but it sounds like you just want to know you are less to blame than the dog and aren’t too fussed about any real compensation, in which case the £100 or so damage to the helmet so isn’t worth worrying about and it sounds like you are in a position to take sick leave if needed so why worry?

Dog owners fault imo.

I don’t see how a dog can be held responsible for anything, as a cyclist he should have been more aware of the potential pitfalls of dog walking at night, idiots some of them. …

Spot on DirtyDog. If you’re going to take an animal on to a shared path at night it should have some sort of reflector vest or at least a collar.

The fact that the path is shared use means the OP is looking for people or bikes. Dogs don’t come into the equation at all. I’ve no idea how fast the op was going but if he’d had a chance to see the dog then I’m sure he’d of slowed down and not hit the thing.

There may be no criminal case but the dog owner should do the decent thing and cough up for the helmet at least.

No, but you’re fully to blame for not helping to find a potentially seriously hurt and scared dog instead of reporting the incident to the police immediately.

Regardless of who’s fault it was and how strong your desire to be compensated surely a bit of compassion would have been well received.

The OP had his ow injuries to worry about. Didn’t sound like the dog owner showed an awful lot of compassion for the OP, and given that it sounds like he was pretty dazed and confused helping to find the dog was probably the last thing on his mind.

But the op mentions the dog owner asking about his injuries several times. And when he asked the op if he was going to the hospital, he says no but I’m going to the police? Just seems odd to me

Not nice mate, but does sound like an accident

We aren’t American so let’s leave this suing culture behind us

Some times accidents happen, the UK doesn’t my head in with this blame claim culture

I can understand your frustration… Especially with the guys bad attitude!
Not cool!

tonyd – Member
Tough one to call, playing devils advocate it doesn’t sound like the dog was dangerously out of control to me (as classified in the link above), more like an unfortunate collision.

Could he have seemed aggressive through concern about his dog? You were up and walking, albeit a bit bruised and bloodied, but as far as he knew his dog might have been dying in a bush. Also consider that while you’re £120 down, if his dog is alive it could be costing him a small fortune in vets bills. He might see the incident very differently to you and feel just as aggrieved.

This. A really unfortunate accident.

We aren’t American so let’s leave this suing culture behind us

Some times accidents happen, the UK doesn’t my head in with this blame claim culture

An avoidable accident by the sounds of it. A deer or a fox running out would of been unavoidable. Someone’s dog should of been.

He’s not looking for a massive payout by the sounds of it, just a couple of hundred quid to get a new helmet. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Can I just check:
somebody bangs their door into your car in the supermarket car park = shit happens?
somebody runs into the back of you in a traffic queue = shit happens?
somebody comes round the corner too fast on their bike and knocks you over, breaking your leg = shit happens?

in all of those cases to claim off the other party = American suing, blame claim culture?

Worth reading this thread just for this gem…

i love cycling but i hate cyclists….generally they’re all pricks!

😀

If it was me, i’d just put it down to bad luck. Martinxyz, hope your hand heals well and you get back on the bike soon.

wtf? So he’s just been knocked off by a dog which the owner couldn’t be bothered to control properly, and now whilst injured and dazed it’s his responsibility to help find the dog?

Ah, so your complaint is that the OP wasn’t completely rational following a head injury?

Ouch!…..hope you get sorted out one way or the other martin – the dog caused the accident – simple!.

Take amusement with the usual arguing back n’ forward on your thread amongst the STW rightous moral minority and be thankful the collision didn’t leave you with more serious medical issues.

Best o’ luck!

Injured and dazed in as much that he went to the police first instead of the hospital? Not that injured then..

And not his responsibility at all but I’d have helped

Just because you can ride full whack doesn’t mean you should.

😆

You are at it! ::keeps evidence of single digit speed at time of incident on Garmin as evidence:::

Andy, I was told there was no hospital in town.

Injured and dazed in as much that he went to the police first instead of the hospital? Not that injured then..

Pretty dazed then….

So how did you suffer such awful injuries and smashed your helmet at such slow speed? You must have been very unlucky.

andy3809 – Member
But the op mentions the dog owner asking about his injuries several times. And when he asked the op if he was going to the hospital, he says no but I’m going to the police? Just seems odd to me

Odd to me too,Andy. I was on the ground getting asked questions after cracking a Giro Hex in two at the forehead, please forgive me for not thinking rationally! I was worried that if I asked him for his details, he might have done something as I just upset him by hitting hit dog. He wasn’t all nicey nicey when I moaned on the ground about his unleashed dog. I wasn’t wanting this guy to just vanish into thin air on a dark night having not kept control of his dog. His idea of taking a dog for a run with no safety in mind has caused me all this injury through no fault of my own. I was doing everything I’m entitled to. Can you not see that? I ended up meeting him while I was with another dog walker and it turned out that he also reported the dog missing, AFTER I reported the incident of a dog injured through owner negligence,lost because it wasn’t on a lead, being exercised down an unlit path by a guy on a bike with it running around him wherever it likes, leading to an accident causing mild concussion, broken hand/ligament damage, burst chin.

I had an 18 mile drive home after cracking my helmet open,my hand was aching and I knew it wasn’t great as pressure on it was like it was broken, my chin was dripping blood with folk giving me the ‘ooh, it looks well gashed’. I laid on the path not knowing what to do or say for 3-5 mins. If you put yourself in this position are you telling me you’d just turn a blind eye and go home with those injuries that were of no fault of your own? Pull the other one!

iolo,Maybe because the guy was riding down a hill at greater speed,with a tailwind, with a dog at the same speed and it had more of an impact on me?

Do we have the first superman with xray vision on this thread!
POSTED 4 HOURS AGO #

What because I am not temporary blinded every time I pass an oncoming car.

I might have missed this amongst the various arguments but what do you want out of this OP?

I’ve been wondering this for 4 pages now. I can’t decide wether it’s

1. A need to vent. Fair enough, job done.
2. Looking for confirmation that he’s in the right. Lots of that here, tick.
3. Looking for some encouragement to sue the arse off of the dog owner.

As a dog owner who runs and rides with the dog I think the dog owner was in the wrong here. If it were me I’d have either stopped and made the dog sit and wait or (more likely) slowed and called her to heel on the opposite side to where the OP would pass. If he’d given some indication he had a dog with him the chances are the OP would have slowed down or at the very least been more aware and so if the dog bolted he could have reacted and the incident probably wouldn’t have happened.

OP, have you actually found the guy and spoken to him? If not then that might be a good start. You’ve made a lot of assumptions and assertions based on a few minutes interaction when you were dazed and confused and he was no doubt distracted by worry about his dog. Perhaps if you go and talk to him you might actually resolve the situation to your mutual satisfaction and this thread can be left to die quietly as it should have done about 3 pages ago 🙂

Some folk think I’m after as much cash as I can get. I’d be happy to come out of it as rich as I went in. That’s £40 for a helmet.

The guy has caused himself grief by his actions and I’m not happy that his dog walking choices have caused it so much harm. He’s also lost the dog. I’m not happy with that and I hope he chooses to walk dogs safely in the future. It would also be nice to see a future law enforced to not ride a bike on these types of paths with unleashed dogs. I’m surprised nobody has mentioned that it could have been a child riding beside or in front of me and his dog ramming it and causing harm. Different story then,eh?

You’re not talking straight now… Either you were concussed with a totalled helmet confused on the floor or you were well enough to report to the police then drive 18 miles home after a slow speed collision according to your garmin?

As a dog owner who runs and rides with the dog I think the dog owner was in the wrong here. If it were me I’d have either stopped and made the dog sit and wait or (more likely) slowed and called her to heel on the opposite side to where the OP would pass. If he’d given some indication he had a dog with him the chances are the OP would have slowed down or at the very least been more aware and so if the dog bolted he could have reacted and the incident probably wouldn’t have happened.

Aye, in a law abiding world. I wish this was the way it went!

I’ve posted about 20 times over 6 pages,Tony. 35 posts to each page. The idea was to see if anyone had experienced something similar or if anyone was in a job that could give me an idea.

andy3809 – Member
You’re not talking straight now… Either you were concussed with a totalled helmet confused on the floor or you were well enough to report to the police then drive 18 miles home after a slow speed collision according to your garmin?

Yes,Andy.Confused,not replying to questions,Dizzy and a bit spaced out. Taking a wrong turn on the way back to the car,cycling off when one woman asked if I was going to get seen to and not giving her a straight answer, forgetting I heated a meal in the oven later in the eve and looking for more food once I got home weren’t normal. I shouldn’t have been allowed to drive for 24hrs following mild concussion (although I wasn’t unconscious) but I kept telling folk I’d be fine.

Should I have only stayed on the deck until someone picked me up after mild concussion? Is it not possible for the way I described to have happened like that?

or if anyone was in a job that could give me an idea.

Of what?

Everyone wanna donate A quid to his PayPal to pay for a new lid and end this thread?

I’m in a job to give you an idea op… How about not using the emergency services to ‘data capture’ for a minor accident. If youre hurt, especially with a head injury then call a ambulance amd don’t drive 18 miles home putting people on the road at risk. If you have issues/damages with somebody after an accident, give them chance to sort things with you. Maybe after a couple of days he’d have bought you a pint and a shiny new helmet due to being at fault. Who knows as you didn’t give him chance, just presumed.

I’m surprised he didn’t realise all that. There must have been something wrong with his head.

FWIW, I think the other guy should have at least warned you he had a dog.
But mainly – OP, I hope you heal quickly, and that you don’t have problems with work. I hope the other guy finds his dog. He might have had to explain to his kids that Fido wasn’t going to be coming home. Which is not a job I’d relish.
Of course you’re pissed off. But it sounds like both of you had a shitty evening. I sort of hope the other fellow posts on here and finds this thread – and that the two of you end up resolving things amicably over a pint.
But then I’m a bit stupid like that. The whole tone of this thread has been unnecessarily confrontational*. IMVHO.

last weekend i was riding on a quiet but twisty shared use path, possibly a little fast as a bit distant from carparks so lacks punters – a jogger coming the other way put his hand up for me to slow/stop – was already slowing – the reason for his panic was his small dog was on “my” side of the path and hidden from my sight by bushes on the bend, he didn’t have a lead at all, or call the dog to heel.
The path is signed keep left and is signed dogs on lead (conservation area) – now i know it could have been an orphan child with a terminal illness crawling to hospital but I just concluded that the guy was just plain selfish.

Similar anyone riding in the dark with a dog off lead – dog injured, other cyclist injured and out of pocket = person enjoying their ride with dog off lead for their pleasure/convenience 100% at fault

I am with the OP.
this is a accident that could have been avoided if the dog was under control via a lead.
Reflective coller, hi vis or flashing lights on the dog might have made a differnce too.

P.S I hope they find the dog and its in good health aswell, after all it was in a accident too.

Indeed – the other cyclist was also at fault (I hope rene is paying attention) in failing to look after his dog properly – the dog can’t be expected to know better.

Was the dog joining the path from a slip road?

As well remembered above…

I’m not sure how to go about it all.

File it under sh&t happens and move on.

Maybe the dog was dazzled by your bright lights?

The main problem is these “shared” cycle paths are unto grade if being used for proper commuting.

Its fine if you just out MTBing you can stop but if you actually want to be getting somewhere you cant be stopping every 2 seconds.

I was on national cycle path 4 the other day. It is a BOAT that rather strangely goes over Bowsey hill in Berkshire.

The path is pretty wide as its almost a road, although very dirty in Winter.

A horse was coming one way I was coming the other the horse rider wanted me to stop completely and let her past because
“she does nt know how the horse reacts round bikes.”

Know this was fine I was just out on a Sunday morning.

But officially this is the main Cycle way between london and bristol.

This is akin to take a horse down the A4 or M4 and expecting every car approaching to stop “she does nt know how the horse reacts round cars.”.

The main problem here to be fair is the NCW4 goes a very weird route at this point and there should be a cycle path built onto the A4 at the foot of the hill.

But it seems to me it should also be the riders responsibility to make sure her horse does know about cycle before getting on a National Cycle Way.

I’ve had a similar experience where I hit a dog in the dark and broke both wrists and my face.
If you want any advice and help give me an email (in profile)

Hope you’re ok

Junkyard=KatyHopkins-KatyHopkins=Junkyard EUGGHHHHH!

She takes an outlandish [ no one really could believe] position and expresses it in the least sympathetic way possible in order to get attention for herself. If you read the exchanges on here and think that I am the one doing it I pity you

If you did it as a witty ironic homage to her style I salute your efforts.

So in summary the OP has an accident which is not his fault and items are damaged as a result of the actions of a dog not under proper control.
OP does not want to sue, but would like recompense from the person responsible for the dog to cover the replacement of damaged items.
Seems reasonable to me. Why should he be out of pocket through no fault of his own?

If a child hits a cricket ball in the wrong direction and it breaks someone’s window, should the person whose window was broken just “suck it up” too?
No.
The child or their parent / guardian should pay to repair the broken window.