In a Collision, Document Everything.

The familiar adage of ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is critically true if you’ve been involved in a collision with a motorist on your bike. Police, insurance companies, and defence lawyers will play every anti-cyclist stereotype in the book, along with a healthy dose of victim blaming.  For some inexplicable reason there seems to be a keen desire to place fault wholly or at least in part at the feet of a vulnerable road user.

When I was right hooked by a motorist in a painted bike lane, I took pictures of the black mark by drop bars had left on the side of his car. Mistakenly I then left the scene, as did he, and we both reported the incident later to police. However, years later in our lawsuit proceedings I saw the pictures police had taken of his vehicle the next day at the reporting centre. The motorist had gone there only after cleaning my bar tape markings off the side of his car.  He then lied about how the collision occurred. Thankfully, I had my pictures from the actual crash scene, and the matter resolved in my favour.

Recently, I was examining a defendant driver in a case of a very seriously injured young cyclist. The motorist, who had a stop sign, turned right into my client, shattering their knee. The cyclist was on a bike path with no stop sign and the right of way. In his Examination for Discovery the driver (apparently a cyclist himself) blamed our seriously injured young client. The driver said that there was a white stop line on the bike path, which would have required the cyclist to stop. When asked he also said there were no warning signs in advance of the stop sign for him to have seen to be aware of upcoming cyclists right of way.

My client’s parents who rushed to the scene were foresighted enough to take pictures of the crash site and surrounding area.

Yes, there is now a white line on the path as seen on Google Maps.

But as documented by my client’s parents the bike path did not have a white stop line on it at the time of the crash. That came later.

Indeed, there was a warning sign too.

Their pictures also showed that the motorist’s widows were partially covered in frost/condensation – clearly reducing his visibility.

Documenting a crash scene helps prove your case. It helps demonstrate who was at fault and who bears responsibility for your damages.

In the above case, our client is a young person with a professional career ahead of them that will be impacted by their knee and head injury. Significant income loss is anticipated.

Had the driver’s attempts to contribute some of the liability for the crash to our client been successful, the damages award would be reduced by that contribution. A finding of the cyclist being 25% at fault would mean an automatic deduction of $250,000.00 in a million-dollar case. For a young person at the start of their career, a million-dollar income loss claim over a 30+ year career is entirely realistic and therefore a reduction in the value of that case is a big deal. [See our article on Contributory Negligence.]

It’s not just the defendant motorists that try to duck out of responsibility.  We have numerous cases where police unfairly target the cyclist. In one case, the police report says the cyclist’s brakes were not working, but thankfully by saving the mangled bike frame we were able to get our bike shop friends to test the brakes and prove that the police’s findings were baseless. [A great example of why you should also never get rid of damaged bikes or helmets after a collision, without speaking to a lawyer first.]

With so many hurdles and pre-conceived notions about cyclists, it’s critical that you document everything at the scene of a collision.

If you aren’t able to because of injury, ask others to do so for you (either bystanders or call someone to come help).

If you are a bystander and witness a collision, assume the cyclist is in shock and document it for them.

Provide your name, email and phone number and then send them the pictures/video/etc. right away. Pictures, license plates, witness information gathered by bystanders helping people in shock has been critical in many of our cases.

Here are a few things to document after a collision:

• Involved vehicle(s) license plate

• Any property damage

• Driver insurance and ID information

• Nearby cameras

• Witness names and numbers

• Any relevant signage (no parking, no right turns, yield to cyclist signs, etc.)

• Crash scene, where the parties stopped, road markings, and any hazards

• Construction signage or nearby projects (get construction company names)

To help prompt you to gather the right information always keep a Biking Lawyer Crash Card with you. Email us you mailing address and we will send you one: info@thebikinglawyer.ca.

Ride safe friends, document everything should the unfortunate occur and always contact us for help.

STAY INFORMED

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