Had a bit of an incident today which ended up with me both me and the bike on the floor :(

 

 

Waiting to turn out of a junction out of my village into a 30mph road. Checked left and right multiple times. Then found a gap in the traffic - the woman coming to my right had her indicator on to show she was turning into the junction I was coming out of. So I wait for her to slow down to turn in. She starts obviously slowing down to turn, indicator still going. So I quickly checked both ways again before starting to pull out...  next thing I see the very same car in the corner of my vision - she had decided to go straight on at the very last minute  :peek:

 

Luckily I always cover the brake at junctions, so hit the brake hard and due to the angle of the bike ended up falling over with the bike :(

 

Fair play to the rest of the traffic - people were out to check if I was ok and then helped me pick the bike up straight away. The guy who was behind her also backed me up with regards to her manoeuvres and indication.

 

To cut a long story short, she stopped the car up the road and came to see if I was ok. I said she had her indicator on, to which she replied 'oh yeah I thought I needed to turn it off' !!!

 

As for damage, luckily the crash protector has taken the worse of the damage. Fairings are all ok. Scratch on the exhaust and side repeater, more scratches on the mirror., powdercoating has been scraped off the side of the brake lever.

 

The woman has written her details down for me, so fair play she seemed nice enough. I wasn't remotely irate with her either, as I was a bit shaken. So my question is, how would people play this one? I completely understand what would happen if it went to insurance - they'd say I was at fault for pulling out etc..  regardless of her questionable actions. The bike is an old bike so I can pick up the parts relatively cheap. Would people be asking her to cover the costs? Or at least 50% of the costs? I can't see it costing more than £60.

 

I suppose today has been a bit of a learning experience. I'm quite a defensive rider typically and always wait for concrete proof that someone is committing to a change in direction before I do anything. Contrary to this, it seems if I had waited 1 second longer today it would have been more apparent what was about to happen. Bit of a wake up call what would have happened had I not seen her and slammed on the brake... I would've been on her bonnet more than likely :(  I was shaking for a bit after.

 

Stay safe out there guys!

Good job you are ok and nothing serious happened. Given its only a small bit of cosmetic damage and she did the right thing and stopped to check if you're ok, I'd just move on with life, confirming that you should never trust indicators

 

There's not always a blame and there ain't always a claim, regardless of what some might have you think.

I'm afraid this one comes under "never trust other road users' signals" and you are not just liable but actually at fault.

 

Still, as long as you're not hurt, the bike is repairable, and you've learnt something then all's come out for the best.

Really sorry to hear this fella, never good to hear of a biker hitting the deck. Glad you're Ok and the bikes repairable.

Please don't read this the wrong way but take this one as a pointer to never assume drivers do what you think they're going to do or indicators suggest they're going to do.

I'd of waited until they had actually turned and wait for another gap. That's defensive riding.

Hope you get the bike all sorted out.

Sorry to hear it mate!

Live and learn eh.

People dont think do they.

I reckon with the witness' statement you'd get a favourable outcome with the insurance as she gave a false indication.

Glad you are OK  I thought that indicators were not to be taken literally in law, as they show intent only? So even though common sense says you were in the right, the law will say you weren't. May well be barking up the wrong tree though

No one uses indicators here, so when they are used, I treat them with the ultimate scepticism lol. Sounds like a good one all in though, no injury, no big damage and no third party claim.   Unless you have a genuine £0 excess, likely more cost effective to self repair as you seem to have surmised already. Insurance should be informed of an accident regardless of fault or any claim made within the last X years of course, but essentially as a 'I dropped it', may not come under that definition...... very loosely speaking.

Good you are OK

But as everyone else says it is one of those things.

People give incorrect indications all day long and if the body language/road positioning of the other vehicle does not correspond to their indicator ignore and wait.

Yeah cheers guys. As everyone is reflecting... it could have been a lot lot worse had I not seen the intent at the very last second after I started to move. Thank god I hover over the brake lever! I would've been over the bonnet of the car...

 

Unfortunately yes, technically it would be classed as my fault legally, which is annoying to say the least - especially with the admission of guilt from the driver. However, it's really not worth the insurance route for what is probably only £60 worth of damage (with second hand parts) and a bit of my time. Luckily no contact was made with the other party.

 

I've gone out of that junction for the last 15 years, as it's the way out of where I live. Hence I'm very used to seeing which cars are turning and how they are behaving. Ultimately on this one obviously a bad call was made probably by 1 second - as I definitely do consider myself to be a defensive rider. It's the fact that it wasn't just the indicator, but as said above more the reduction in speed and positioning of the car as if it were to turn, as I have always seen in this spot over these last 15 years. The driver didn't admit to this, but I'm convinced that they had every intention of turning and then completely last minute chose to change their mind.

Ironically, I waited before pulling out to assess the speed of the vehicle and what it was doing. Hence if I'd have pulled out earlier instead of 'making sure' that this car was going to turn, then I would've been fine! 

 

Goes to show the difference that 1 second can make in your life! So if someone gets the message a bit more, then this thread was worth it