Crash!

[Sam Kennedy]

I was just cycling out of the school gates on my way home, when a kid on a mtb came flying at me, he was going too fast to stop, hit my front wheel, and went over the handlebars, somehow landing on his feet. He managed to hit my front wheel hard enough to make the tyre rub against the inside of the fork, I re-adjusted the quick release and it is fine now, and the wheel is still true. However, I'm not sure if the impact could have damaged my forks (they are carbon).

I know the person by face, because he is often cycling into and out of school at the same time as me, what are my options if he has caused damage? Will his parents insurance cover it, or will he have to pay the cash? Would we have to go through court or anything?

I don't want to go fast on my bike now, because I'm scared incase the forks fail

 

[Banjo]

If you have insurance just pass the details on to them and get it checked out/ repaired.

If not then still get it checked out keep any receipts try to get witnesses etc. Wether its worth chasing the lad for it depends on wether you think he or his family are likely to be decent enough people to pay up.

Forget about the legal system,not worth the grief and you may still not get paid.

 

[Chris S]

RE: "I was just cycling out of the school gates on my way home"

It sounds like he was already on the road that you were joining? In that case he would have right of way, regardless of what speed he was travelling.

It might be a good idea not to pursue this matter, otherwise you might end up paying him damages.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

RE: "I was just cycling out of the school gates on my way home"

It sounds like he was already on the road that you were joining? In that case he would have right of way, regardless of what speed he was travelling.

It might be a good idea not to pursue this matter, otherwise you might end up paying him damages.

No, he was 100% in the wrong, I was coming out of the gate, I wasn't on the "main" part of the road where I would have to give way, he turned off the "main" part of the road, couldn't slow down in time and hit me. If there was a car where I was, he would have crashed into them, he wasn't cycling safely, and was going too fast for the conditions, it's a weird bit of road, I will try and draw a diagram.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Okay, blue line is where I was, yellow line was his path, white lines show the width of the opening: