My X9 is no more....

[danielchurch]

Thanks to a white van/truck man my X9 is currently off the road, and not likely to be back.

Last Thursday i was travelling along the A24 away from London in a bus lane. There were 3 forward lanes, leading to traffic lights, with a left slip road just before. As i approached a red light, with my lane clear, a large white truck which was stationary in the middle lane, adjascent to the left turn off, decided to pull left across my lane to go left. If he wanted to go left he should have been in my lane about 100 yards further down. It is clear that he simply changed his mind at the last minute.

I hit him exactly in the middle of his truck at about 20mph. Luckily he was directly horizontal across my lane and i didn't slide off somewhere else. I hit my knee on the truck, and left a head shaped dent in the side of it. The bike then fell onto its left side trapping my leg underneath. As i was at a weird angle i couldn't get it off myself. I had to wait for a few kind ladies to pick it off me.

I was very lucky, and managed to escape without any major injuries. I have an eyewitness who saw everything, so i don't think blame will be an issue, although the driver did dispute it at the scene. I think it will be pretty obvious to the insurers it was his fault.

The RAC would not pick the bike up for me as i was 14miles from home. They only collect if within 10 miles on my policy (thanks RAC). So i had no option but to ride it home (on the advice of the police!!). It must have bent forks, as it was trying to pull left the whole way home. My arm was aching a lot from holding it straight!

With all the plastic damage, the forks, and the fact that the ignition barrel has somehow got damaged, i imagine it will be a write off. I was looking to sell it in 2 or so weeks as i will be moving jobs and no longer need it. I suppose that is called irony?

I suppose i can be glad that i came out of it OK. It has put me off bikes for a while though!

[JJ]

Sorry to hear of that Daniel. Are you OK though?

JJ

[jimc]

Ouch!  Sorry to hear that Daniel.  At least you don't sound too badly damaged yourself.

There are some right idiots on the roads.

[danielchurch]

Yeah i am fine. I had a headache for 3 days, tight neck, swollen right knee and badly bruised left foot. The foot is still giving me a bit of jip and i have had to pull out of cricket and football for the next week. Not happy.

It was an outrageous manoeuvre to try. He claims he did check his mirrors, but didn't see me - in my yellow jacket, on my red bike, with headlights on.

It really has hit home that an accident can come out of nowhere. After a while you seem to feel you are invincible, but all it takes is being in the wrong place at the wrong second in time.

[julian]

I hope you saw a doctor about the head, neck and knee.

Where on the A24 was this?

[joyce]

So sorry to hear off your accident, hope everything gets sorted to your advantage.

Write everything down exactly how it happened - it is surprising how you tend to forget the small details within a short time. Go back and take photos of the scene and then get a map printout of the named roads. Mark with a red pen where he was and you were and where the witnesses were. Hopefully you will not need these but if he contests the evidence you will find it helpful. Good luck.

[Huskyteer]

Ow! Really sorry to hear that - hope the claim goes smoothly.

[Dave Milnes]

Get in touch with Your Keyhttp://www.yourkey.info/frontend/wordpress/accident-support and let them sort it out. You should get a decent pay out...eventually, but as you are in no need of the bike, persuade your insurance assessor to write it off. You'll get a valuation pay out fairly quickly then Your Key will get you damages later as a bonus.
Should be a doddle as you have the reg no and witnesses so it's fairly straight forward.

White vans eh?

[julian]

I saw a Pret white van in the A23 under Waterloo station yesterday. It had tried cutting up a bendy bus at the end of a bus lane. Clear this had happened as bus was still hard against the kerb in the bus lane, but what was left of the van was at 45 degrees across two lanes with the left-hand wheels off the ground. That particular white van won't ever be doing that again! Unfortunately the bendy bus looked barely harmed.

[jimc]

I'm no fan of bendy-buses as a 'solution' - except for the very few routes between main-lne rail stations and the City.  There, at rush hour (but not thereafter) they work very well in moving people quickly, efficiently and cheaply.

Apart from that caveat, I'd like to see them all burned.

[Big Ears]

get a map printout of the named roads.

I print screen grabs of Google Earth. Paste it into Word and "draw" coloured boxes to indicate the positions of relevant vehicles. Add arrows to show movement. Do two or three versions - before, at impact & after (if you were throw or slid).

The advantage of this over a hand drawn map is that it is perfectly to scale and shows road markings, furniture etc. You can print off identical copies for all interested parties (eg insurance - legal team - court ....... ).

[Mr.Chips]

After the truck was rammed at the roundabout near the London gaff, I took photos, waiting for some until vehicles were in roughly the same places as mine and the offender's then downloaded them and printed them with an explanation.

 

PS Some of the bendybuses here have rear-wheel steering
It means they can follow the path of an ordinary bus and not have to take corners from the wrong side of the road.

[julian]

When I witnessed a multi-car accident a couple of months back I drew a detailed map as son as I got home to show what I had seen. It was invaluable when I got the police andi nsurance forms. I mainly just sent them a copy of the map annotatedand dated to say it wasa contemperanious record of what I saw. Obviously I answered the questions not answered by myplan, but it ssaved a lot of paperwork. Did the same when the insurance forms arrived, I simply sens a signed and dated copy of the police statement I made.

[joyce]

I'll have a glass of whatever you are on this morning Julian .

A street map was suggested to me by my insurance people when I had my accident and it proved invaluable when I claimed.

[smurph]

Sorry to hear about your Accident mate, I hope you feel better soon , all sound advice on the insurance /Health Front  ,  i hope there's a swift result for you , how a driver Can dispute he was not in the wrong is beyond me, don't forget also claim for new Lid, boots ,gloves etc as they would need replacing also


 

[Big Ears]

I drew a detailed map as soon as I got home.

From precise measurements taken at the scene, no doubt?   

[blueflame]

Hi Dan, sorry to hear about the accident, i hope you're back on your feet in no time. Sounds like you've had plenty of good advice. I hope it doesn't put you off two wheels for too long.

Speaking of claiming for lid, jacket, boots etc, is it worth taking insurance out for that - does that just cover you in the event that it's your fault? These insurance policies have sooo many add ons!

[julian]

Sorry Joyce - in a hurry between getting to work and disappearing off on a day of meetings.

As for measurements etc, the accident took place about half a mile from here on a road I have travelled every day for most of the last 20 years involving a car which stopped right next to a road junction (point of reference 1) a car that went through a front wall of a garden (point of reference 2) and a car that stopped leaving literally just enough room between it and an island for a bus to get through (point of reference 3). I used a 1:25000 OS map for reference and orientation. 

[x9 rider]

sorry to hear about your bad experience....however, look at the bright sight at least you're still in one piece....