Bicyclist

[meddjay]

What is the name of your state? Arizona....but it's a dry heat!
I am handing this claim for someone who is a little less timid than I, anyway....they were riding their bicycle and was hit by a man who was leaving a driveway of a private business and entering a major street at approx noon. The full size pickup hit my friend as my friend rode in front of the truck on the sidewalk. Obviously knocking them off of the bike and onto the pavement in front of the truck where the driver proceeded to run over his leg with the front and the rear tires. Now in all fairness, my friend was riding his bicycle on the wrong side of this busy street and did see the driver approach the street, but then his view of the driver was obstructed for a min as he rode around a telephone pole and thinking the guy would surely stop he continued riding past the telephone pole and in front of the truck on the sidewalk. The driver apparently never saw my friend , (unless he did when my friend was behind telephone pole but he STILL, surely the driver would have seen him! So he probably never even looked that direction) Not only that... to continue to run over the leg with the front AND rear tires, tell me he probably did not stop or even slow down but accellerated as he came to the end of the driveway and started to enter traffic (what I call a California Stop). Ok, here in lies the problem...the report that the police wrote up sounds biased against my friend and on the side of the driver. The insurance adjuster is eating that up. We DO have a witness (friendly I think?) though her statement was not on police report. I have asked her for one and she is sending it. Am I wrong to assume that even though he was riding bike on wrong side of street, and even though he might have been riding bike fast...and even if report is siding with driver...am I wrong to think that no matter what, the driver is at fault because face it...he hit bicyclist, pushed him into street in front of the truck and then ran over his leg...how much fault can the bicyclist actually have? It's like I was always told in driving, PEDESTRIANS ALWAYS HAVE THE RIGHT AWAY, or bicyclist....and the driver is suppose to be on constant look out for a pedestrian or bicyclist? I mean my friend didn't say..."oh look, there is a guy pulling out of the parking lot, think I will ride bike in front of him and have him hit me!" So, I am gathering all documents and stuff I can....will they really try to fight me on this one? Any advice is appreciated!

 

[justathought]

Okay, so I'm East Coast and we give our *pedestrians* the right of way at all times, but bicycles for all intents and purposes are subject to vehicle laws. I believe we've even pulled over a few students on bicycle DUIs. Go figure?!

It looks like from a quick skim of your laws, that your state as well affords the cyclists all "rights and responsibilities as motorists"... Just a quick Yahoo! search pulled up the following:

http://www.azgohs.state.az.us/bike_safety.html
http://www.oneandzero.com/abccazb/bikelaw.html
http://www.pagnet.org/bikemap/Bike_laws.html

So in their eyes, he might as well have been driving a Humvee against traffic... looks like an uphill battle? Let us know how it goes?

 

[bowler87]

I slowed to a stop, going East, and signaled my left turn to continue my drive North.

Then at 7pm, in the winter, in the dark, some guy going North on his bike on the WRONG SIDE OF THE STREET at this very dark intersection of exit ramp and boulevard, pulled into my field of vision just as I was stepping on gas amd starting my turn.

I ride bikes. And jerks like this guy spoil it for those of us that obey the law. I could have continued my turn and squashed him, had my vision been just 15 degrees further North.

But having just washed my car, I stopped and let him continue.

I then completed my turn, and followed his progress for the next 6 blocks (about 20 mph).

Then the same thing happened----he was smacked when he suddenly pulled in front of a truck that was making a left turn to go North! Driver was not looking for a bike on wrong side of street.

"THE GODS ARE GOOD TO ME!!!" I thought, and waited around for the police and ambulance. I told the police of this biker's escape from death at my hands, and how he continued going North on the West side of the boulevard.

He was whining and talking lawsuit when he lay on the ground next to his crumpled bike, and the young lady that smacked him was in tears--because she thought it was her fault!

I befriended the young lady, took photos of the damages to her car, and helped her to repond to this jerk's lawsuit.

We counter-sued for the damage to her car---and we won!

I wonder if he ever got his bike replaced or if he now knows his right from his left?

 

[meddjay]

I appreciate your story, and you obviously were doing what you were suppose to be doing which was looking out for hazards whether they be bicyclists or whether it be construction debris or what have you. But this guy never even looked the direction my friend was coming from, maybe he looked when my friend was behind the telephone pole...but it is really obvious he never came to a complete stop. For had he come to a complete stop, then when he took his foot off the brake pedal and put it on the accelorator, by that time my friend would have gone past him already. When asked by the officer on the police report, the driver said he was not sure if the damage done to his full size ford pickup was done at the time of the accident or before hand. Now come on I ask you....anybody with a full size 2000 pickup is going to know if that kind of damage was ALREADY THERE! It isn't like it was a parking lot ding either! The driver is trying to skirt the issue because he never stopped, nor did he look in the direction of my friend. So now, all of a sudden, he doesn't remember whether the damage on his truck was there prior or not? Please....! Want to hear something ironic though? The parking lot he had just pulled out of was a medical center for leg and foot doctors....and he ran over my friends leg! But the real clincher is...the witness (I hope) who will be giving her statement to the adjuster and sending me a copy of that as well. Even though she stopped and rendered aid, she had to pickup her son from some event so she couldn't stay and give her statement to the officer, the officer supposedly called her later for that information, though I have yet to see it. I am still unsure as to the bias of the police report though. Is there something I can do about the report sounding so bias? The driver was a nice, well to do middle aged respectible type citizen joe. My friend on the other hand, is in his early thirties, has long hair and tatoos. Can you see the bias? I certainly can.

 

[justathought]

I can certainly see the bias--Bicyclist not following the laws of the road and learning the hard way not to go against traffic as per state law.

Did you even glance at the AZ bicycle laws I linked to? The first link is to the state laws regarding bicycles and how they have the same "rights and responsibilities as motorists". I certainly don't see how a motorist would be totally absolved of being struck while going against traffic... If he was driving against traffic, would you still defend him as strongly? So if the same "rights and responsibilities" apply, why is it okay to bike against traffic?

Listen, I'm not blaming your friend--I can imagine he's in some pain--but if you're trying to find him "totally innocent" I don't think it's going to happen... perhaps a degree of shared responsibility?

 

[meddjay]

Comparative negligence. I figure that is what the insurance ajuster will use when making his assessment. Just to let you know...no one was cited. And yes, I had read the laws on bicyclists before you gave me that link. The bias I saw was in how the police officer worded this report. Remember no one got cited, so the insurance adjuster will think that his client is less than 50% negligent, he has already mentioned to me on the phone that the police report is not favorable for my friend, so he sees the bias as well, thus the adjuster assigning a large % of negligence to my friend and of course a much smaller amount to his client if any. And that was my whole point, and what I asked originally, if because of that bias if the adjuster will give me a hard time with this...but after all of these discussions i think I have answered my own question Though now the new question arrises can the police officer write a report that sounds so bias? Maybe no one should answer that, I would hate to have to go the long way round to find the answer. Though I do appreciate your time and effort writing to me! I will make a point of coming back so you all can find out what the outcome was....lol...I would like to know that myself!

 

[justathought]

I hate to join their bias, but I think I would see them assigning a great deal of blame to your friend...

Think of it this way--if you were hit head on in a car by a car traveling the wrong way up the street, who do you think would be more at fault? If that were the case I bet you'd want to see the guy heading the wrong way at fault, yes?

I know you're seeing it differently because you still have the bike image, but for all intents and purposes it seems bikes are subject to "vehicle" laws.

Maybe the cop was being kind in not citing your injured friend as s/he already knew the uphill battle he's going to face with the insurance company as is... or not to add insult to injury?

Best of luck for a speedy recovery and let us know how it goes?