Got A Bike Get Insurance...

[Spicerack]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9343692/cyclist-pay-compensation-yoga-teacher-phone/

[ladybirder]

He's doing OK so far - £47k raised!

From the DM. //A cyclist who was slapped with an eye-watering compensation bill after a Yoga instructor walked in front of his bike has thanked well-wishers who are rallying to save him from bankruptcy.

Robert Hazeldean was this week ordered to pay 28-year-old Gemma Brushett £4,161.79 in damages and foot her hefty legal costs which could spiral to £100,000.

But many have shown sympathy to the cyclist - who only collided Ms Brushett when she stepped out while looking at her phone - and have raised almost £47,000.\\

[gness]

Thanks, LB..... Dave and I have now donated. We are both insured but this has taught me, from reading about what happened, that should a stupid pedestrian walk out in front of me I'll declare my injuries and begin action before the numpty does. Had Robert done that he wouldn't have ended up as a victim of the money grabbing woman who walks into the road against the lights without looking.

[ladybirder]

Good.
I hope he gets what he needs to cover the costs and some left over.
He is still very upset and stressed over the incident itself and the time it has taken to go through the courts. I hesitate to say his life is ruined but I think he has felt like that, according to a report I read somewhere.

[gness]

He has said any left over will go to charity. I wouldn't mind him having a bit for himself. He has been through a bad time which must have come as a shock. He was more badly injured than she was yet didn't take action against her. I so wish he had.
It must have been hell having this hanging over him for so many years and wondering how on earth he would pay if he lost.
I hope she is ashamed of herself but I doubt it....x

[david small]

I thought that we were responsible for our own actions. Apparently, culpability should be deferred until you’ve consulted an avaricious legal shark. What a world we’ve let exist.

[Spicerack]

He was in the wrong, so was she. However, he ran into her, she didn't run into him.
Going forward, the fraudsters will have their neck braces already bought and be waiting for a slow cyclist to step in front of.
Head/body-cams might be a good investment if you're a sensible cyclist.

[ummmm]

How was he in the wrong?

Any sensible person knows not to cross the road using a phone.

[Spicerack]

Just because pedestrians are doing the wrong thing, like running across the road to the ice-cream van, ummmm, it doesn't give you the right to run them over.
How many times have you been stopped at a green light while pedestrians merrily cross over against a red light. You can't plough through them because you're in the right and they're in the wrong.
If matey had been in control of his bike, he could have stopped.

[horselady]

This ridiculous judgement is going to be wonderful news for the sort of people who purposely run into the back of some poor driver and claim compensation. A whole new scam just made for them.

[vulcan42]

" If matey had been in control of his bike, he could have stopped."
That is not always true. I witnessed an incident a few months ago, I was second in line in a row of cars waiting at traffic lights. A young woman texting on her phone was standing at the pedestrian crossing and although the lights for her were green she didn't move. As our lights changed to green the driver in front of me moved off, at this point the pedestrian stepped out in front of him, the driver was in complete control of his car but there was absolutely no way he could have avoided hitting her.