Hi,
I was wondering if I may get some advice. I was returning home after doing some food shopping and I went to turn right into the road where I live. There was queued up, stopped traffic coming from the other direction (it is always really busy along that road). There is a bus lane coming from the other direction also on the inside. As the traffic was stopped I moved into the other lane and was about to cross the bus lane, but saw a motorbike coming up the bus lane from the other direction so I stopped in the other lane between the cars (I was doing less than 5 mph before I stopped). I did not enter the bus lane. The motorcyclist then slammed his brakes on, lost control of his bike and he and his pillion fell off and the bike slid along the road towards me. It stopped however before hitting my car.
My girlfriend and I got out of the car to see if they were alright, but the women (who was the pillion) started shouting at us saying it was our fault that they had crashed. My girlfriend took some photos of where our car was, the skid marks in the bus lane from the motorbike and the motorcylist and his pillion by the side of the road after they had got up and moved their bike out of the way.
I then moved my car into the road that I was going to turn into while my girlfriend waited with them, parked and went back to speak with the motorcyclist. Upon returning I saw that there was damage to the side of the bike, his helmet and both the driver and the pillion had what seemed to be minor injuries to their hands (bruising - no cuts). I gave him my name and number and he gave me his. The rider stayed faily quiet, but the pillion however kept on saying that she thought it was my fault and they would claim on my insurance.
To make matters worse, another driver who had been speaking with the motorcyclist prior to my arrival after parking my car, said that he would back up the motorcylist with whatever he says and that I was to blame - I am not sure for what though as like I said, there was no collision and I did not enter the bus lane that the motorcylist was in when he lost control of his bike and crashed.
I reported the incident to the police over the phone when I got home and sent them the photos my girlfriend took and a description again of what happened via email after the call.
I guess my questions are then:
Is there any way I could be liable for what happened and a claim could be put against my insurance? I really don't see how as I did nothing at all but get ready to turn, it worries me however that the pillion thinks it is my fault and apparently has a witness to back up whatever they say.
Should I inform my insurance company? Bearing in mind, I was not actually in an accident. There was no collision and I did nothing to cause the motorcylist to lose control - it seems to me that he simply got spooked, thought I was going to turn when I was not and did not, lost control and crashed but I don't want to incur any increased premium when I did nothing at all other than just watch someone else crash and I have read that insurance companies can be funny about reporting things. I guess what I am asking is does this qualify as something I should report?
There is a bus lane camera (not sure if it works or can see what happened) just along from where the guy crashed. Do you think that I can get the footage of the the guy crashing from the police?
Thanks in advance.
I was wondering if I may get some advice. I was returning home after doing some food shopping and I went to turn right into the road where I live. There was queued up, stopped traffic coming from the other direction (it is always really busy along that road). There is a bus lane coming from the other direction also on the inside. As the traffic was stopped I moved into the other lane and was about to cross the bus lane, but saw a motorbike coming up the bus lane from the other direction so I stopped in the other lane between the cars (I was doing less than 5 mph before I stopped). I did not enter the bus lane. The motorcyclist then slammed his brakes on, lost control of his bike and he and his pillion fell off and the bike slid along the road towards me. It stopped however before hitting my car.
My girlfriend and I got out of the car to see if they were alright, but the women (who was the pillion) started shouting at us saying it was our fault that they had crashed. My girlfriend took some photos of where our car was, the skid marks in the bus lane from the motorbike and the motorcylist and his pillion by the side of the road after they had got up and moved their bike out of the way.
I then moved my car into the road that I was going to turn into while my girlfriend waited with them, parked and went back to speak with the motorcyclist. Upon returning I saw that there was damage to the side of the bike, his helmet and both the driver and the pillion had what seemed to be minor injuries to their hands (bruising - no cuts). I gave him my name and number and he gave me his. The rider stayed faily quiet, but the pillion however kept on saying that she thought it was my fault and they would claim on my insurance.
To make matters worse, another driver who had been speaking with the motorcyclist prior to my arrival after parking my car, said that he would back up the motorcylist with whatever he says and that I was to blame - I am not sure for what though as like I said, there was no collision and I did not enter the bus lane that the motorcylist was in when he lost control of his bike and crashed.
I reported the incident to the police over the phone when I got home and sent them the photos my girlfriend took and a description again of what happened via email after the call.
I guess my questions are then:
Is there any way I could be liable for what happened and a claim could be put against my insurance? I really don't see how as I did nothing at all but get ready to turn, it worries me however that the pillion thinks it is my fault and apparently has a witness to back up whatever they say.
Should I inform my insurance company? Bearing in mind, I was not actually in an accident. There was no collision and I did nothing to cause the motorcylist to lose control - it seems to me that he simply got spooked, thought I was going to turn when I was not and did not, lost control and crashed but I don't want to incur any increased premium when I did nothing at all other than just watch someone else crash and I have read that insurance companies can be funny about reporting things. I guess what I am asking is does this qualify as something I should report?
There is a bus lane camera (not sure if it works or can see what happened) just along from where the guy crashed. Do you think that I can get the footage of the the guy crashing from the police?
Thanks in advance.
