Ins. Question about crash today

[Stu]

Crashed today, I'm OK, but bike is damaged.
Front fairing, headlights and the front frame it's all attached to plus the gearlever drill & bolt needs to be rebolted. R&G's saved any further left side damage when it got laid down rather heavily (f*** why did I paint over all the left side damage last week )

My question is.... The driver was turning right across the dual carriageway but stopped blocking both of my lanes. He will say that he saw 2 bikes approaching him too fast and froze & didn't know what to do (Honda SP-1 on my inside did not stop)
So who was at fault for insurance purposes?

And will someone please teach me to stoppie - my emergency stop just showed a real lack of commitment.

Bummer mate. Glad you're OK though.

Were you filtering? If you were, you have to accept some element of risk in the move. Fight that though to get as little responsability as possible.

If you weren't filtering, the highway code would suggest that if he claims he saw 2 bikers coming fast & froze, then he didn't look properly before the move. If he had of looked properly, he should of seen you & been able to judge how fast you were coming.

Just my 2p.

firstly sorry to hear about the off stu, but good to hear you're OK

sounds like it would have been totally the car driver's fault if he pulled out in front of you from a side road and you weren't speeding. where did it happen?

Sounds like a 50:50 job. Perhaps better to settle direct.

Originally Posted by thor

Sounds like a 50:50 job. Perhaps better to settle direct.

why 50:50?

Damn! Glad you're okay mate. From you explanation Stu it sounds as if driver is at fault. They did not give way and caused an accident. I'm shocked that the SP-1 did not stop unless he had reason to run (speeding, insurance etc) One thing though......no matter what speed you were doing they will always say you were speeding. Speed is very difficult to judge from head on. i crashed doing 30 in a 40 zone and the driver tried to claim I was doing 80!

Good luck with it mate.

Originally Posted by sv_dan

I'm shocked that the SP-1 did not stop

yeah that's my feeling too - who wouldn't stop when they see another biker go down?! even if they weren't hurt we all know what a hassle it can be with insurance claims...

Sounds like the driver is at fault, it doesn't sound like you were filtering since wouldn't a couple of cars be in the same predicament as you if you had been filtering?

Presumably he will go for the "you were going too fast" argument but surely this is only a mitigating factor for him at best - he's more at fault for pulling out without the road ahead being clear, as he stopped blocking the dual carriageway. Depending on the shape of the road perhaps you could defeat that with an argument that would go like:

"You were going too fast, so I saw it as clear but by the time I pulled out you were on top of me"
"From the shape of the road and hence your visibility, I would have to be going at xxx mph for me to cover that ground before you were able to reach the other side (assuming the other side was clear) - I clearly wasn't going that fast since the accident would have been much worse had that been the case and/or my motorcycle cannot travel that fast and/or the length of the road prior to my becoming visible is not great enough to allow that speed etc etc"

Sounds to me like the car driver was 100% in the wrong, speed is a bit of a red herring. Now if he was still moving and was unable to get out of the way in time then maybe speed would be a contributory factor, but it would still have been the car drivers poor judgement that caused the problem.
You've got him by the curlies I say.
similar happened to me many years ago when both lanes where blocked around a blind corner by someone stopping in opposite carriageway to let someone out of a side turning, who then stalled the car. A head on ensued for which I got done for due care and attention I wouldn't take that again without a fight
Good luck and at least your ok to post about it

P.S. freezing and not knowing what to do when you're in a position you shouldn't be in, isn't a valid excuse...!