Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire White Trash Throwing Trash at Bicyclists

It is what it is. Whoever is at fault is going to pay. If the guy is dead, he's dead, and his personal representative gets the make the claim on his behalf.

And I live in SE Virginia and work for an insurer with a claims office in Chesapeake. I've been handling insurance claims in Virginia for my full 31 years, and am licensed in every state in the US that requires an adjuster license. I've been handling claims in Virginia, DC, Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina, and West Virginia, Alabama and Germany for the last 25 years, as well as other locations as needed.

My experience is that both bicyclists and driver are the causes of bike/car accidents on about an equal basis. Either group si more righteous tha the other.

The worst claims I'ver handled have been bike versus bike. Bicyclists colliding with each other on northern Virginia bike routes. I've seen some really bad injuries coming from bike v. bike collisions. Neither rider wants to admit they rode negligently. Both claim the other was a complete dumbass. And when it comes to property damage, they tend to try and outdo each other. "I was on a Lightspeed that I paid $10,000 for three years ago." "Oh yeah, I was riding a Lightspeed I paid $13,000 for two years ago." These claims [bleep] suck.

One of my favorite pastimes 😁

Small world. I am Chesapeake as well. You could make a good living off Pungo and surrounding roads on the weekends. Do you remember when somebody spread tacks all over the road to take out the bike tires and not the car tires? There is seriously a lot of hate with the residents down there against the bikes lol

Damn, this is a really interesting post. I really appreciate you taking time to share this.

I tend to think the 50/50 split on at fault is pretty accurate. I have done a lot of reading on it and most suggests pretty close to a 50/50 split. Can you ball park a percentage of the cyclist at fault cases where the bicyclist was an indigent or for some reason couldn't hold a license? The reason that I ask is that those that I most often see riding against traffic and riding without lights look like they fall into that category.

The individual duty to stop begs a little discussion. I don't ride in large groups and can picture what you are talking about and agree that the long line moving through without stopping is a bad idea. If my group, say 8 riders, comes to a stop sign. We bunch together and occupy the footprint of a typical motor vehicle. If a car is coming, we stop and yield right of way. When we can safely go, we move through as a unit. I see that as pretty harmless, and if it's a busy 4 way stop intersection, it serves to allow cross traffic to get through much more quickly.

I don't do and don't like the filtering thing.

The cyclist swerving into an overtaking car. How often in those cases is it clear that the cyclist did the swerving? Do you work in one state or multiple? If those states have minimum passing distances (3 feet in most states) it would be one hell of a swerve for a cyclist to drift 3 feet over and into a car. I would guess that these cases are often he said/she said? If I were a betting man, I'd bet that in most of these cases the auto driver wasn't giving the minimum.

Something to consider for those that have an open mind or are reasonable. The three most common auto driver at fault collisions that you mention all have something in common. Cyclists who want to mitigate those risks would move further out into the lane. And we all know how that plays with motorists. Just something to think about.

I just wanted to parse this out of your post.

"I don't like his whiney posts"

lolololol

Yep, I remember the tack incident well.
https://www.pilotonline.com/news/article_068b3f8c-fc88-50c2-94bd-45713e509d33.html

Hi Muffin. Who would have thought that you would join our circus? lol

We loved our vacation down there. You live in a very cool place.

Was that Paul?

It is a neat place, getting a bit crowded for my liking. The DEMs seem to be pushing their folks into our state.

They will leave when we run out of fresh water though................

I live in one of the oldest demographics in the state, it's dangerous when I am in my truck.....

If you cycle here you are far braver than I......

cheers.

I didn't love what I saw there from a bicyclists perspective. I took my bicycles down there the first time I went. Left them at home this year!

Took time to watch that. The cyclist was completely wrong. If he had dismounted the bike and walked across then he would have been afforded the legal status of a pedestrian. That was not an extension of the bike lane. It was a crosswalk.

But, wait for it...

The truck driver never came to a complete stop.

I don't know a percentage, but can say most bike accident claims arfe with casual riders, not the more serious cyclists. The ones riding against traffic are usually the ones that are coming home from a convenience store run and has a bag hanging from the handle bars, or a kid, or something like that.



None of the states I adjust claims in view a group of riders as a single entity. They all have their indiviidal duties. Each has a duty to stop. Most drivers do let a group come out, but often times there are stragglers a few yards behind trying to catch up to the group who will ride right through a stop sign without stopping.

The other issues is passing a line of bicyclists and then have the lead guy way up ahead throw out a left turn signal and all the bikes following swerve left like a snake. They all have a duty to ride appropiately and signal their individual intentions.




This is probably the most common accident I've seen involving serious bicyclists. Riding to the right and needing to a make a left turn, and swerving left without regard to a overtaking car in the "blindspot" position. Happens all the time, particularly in northern Virginia. It's usually an easy one to defend for the driver. Often times there are witnesses, and with the proliferation of dash cams and security cams and Ring doorbells, we end up finding a lot captured on video.



I regularly work in Virginia, West Virginia, DC, Maryland, Delaware and NC. I do have a resident Florida adjuster's license and that is reciprocal with all other states that require licenses, so I have licenses to adjust claims in all states that require a license, including Louisiana. I handle claims in other states as needed.



Cars do sideswipe bikes regularly. But many of these accidents seem to arise from the bicyclist needing to switch from the right side of a straight lane to a left turn lane to make a left turn


Almost 100% of these accidents arises from inattention on either the rider or the driver. A little more attention on both sides would solve the vast majority of these collisions.

Truly appreciate the info.

"Cars do sideswipe bikes regularly. But many of these accidents seem to arise from the bicyclist needing to switch from the right side of a straight lane to a left turn lane to make a left turn"

This would be another instance in which a cyclist's mitigating strategy wouldn't sit well with some motorists. The rider should set himself up mid lane in the right lane, move into the left most lane well ahead of time, signaling as he does, and enter the turn lane at the beginning.

I think trying to set themselves up in the center of the lane may be what some of therm are trying to do when they get hit.

I also notice a fair number of claims involving riders wearing ear buds. That's illegal while driving a car. And if not illegal, at least unwise and imprudent when riding a bike.

I do believe serious cyclists have a better record of fault/no-fault for collisions with cars than causal riders. Maybe 70% not at fault versus 30% at fault. Causal riders are riskier riders and do a lot of dumb things. Wearing dark clothing and riding at night with no lights or reflectors is a big one and produces a fair number of fatal collisions.

Pauli would take part more in what this forum is about if he could get a gun manufacturer to produce an an accurate rifle that he could buy. They keep selling him inaccurate ones, but at least it gives him another topic for his whining bitching diatribes where he looks for sympathy but seldom gets it because of his arrogance and his low IQ.

The folks in TN don't have a clue about what's coming with the one window lean-to that he's planning to build in their HOA.

Steve let's play with that question a bit. It's a common one that often people don't think all the way through. A bicyclist riding alone or in a single file would want a cushion of about 2 feet from the right hand edge of the road. There are several reasons for this. A bicyclist would occupy a footprint of about 3 feet from elbow to elbow if you add in a very little lateral movement. We are at about 5 feet of lane use at this point. Now lets add in a safe passing distance of 3 feet since that's what most states specify as minimum. The right hand edge of the car would be 8 feet from the curb at this point. An average car width mirror to mirror would be about 7 feet. That's 15 feet total we are at now. With that total, the car would have to at least partially enter the left lane to pass the cyclists.

Whether the cyclists are side by side or in single file the motorist will need to enter the left lane to pass. Tests have shown that it will take cars longer to pass a line of cyclists than if the cyclists were spread out in a single line. In this case being side by side meant saving the driver time spent in the passing lane.

Now, let me ask you this question. Given the complete lack of other motor vehicle traffic and the fact that they would have to move at least partially into left lane anyway, why does it matter that the cyclists were side by side?[/quote

No!! They need to get off the road when a car is coming. Just common sense!!! Oh!! That’s right they don’t have any..😁😁😁🥴😁
]

Total and complete butt holes for doing this..

Took time to watch that. The cyclist was completely wrong. If he had dismounted the bike and walked across then he would have been afforded the legal status of a pedestrian. That was not an extension of the bike lane. It was a crosswalk.

But, wait for it...

The truck driver never came to a complete stop.[/Quonset



FY