Road accident what is the process?

Merlin

Registered User
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120
Hi,
I was cut off by a driver at a roundabout today, came off my bike and broke my arm. I was in such shock that i just took the driver's phone number and walked home. Went to A& E later. May have to have surgery. I have been in touch with the driver, she wants to wait and see what the orthopaedic surgeon says before going to her insurance.
Am I taking a risk if i agree for her not to involve the insurance? Do I need to do something else?
thank you so much
I.
 
File report with Gardai
Try and get witnesses
Get written medical reports
Swap insurance details with other driver.
Get repair / replacement estimate for bike.
Notify both insurance companies.
 
Go to the Gardai as soon as you can, so that the incident is documented.
If your bike was damaged, but there were no personal injuries, I could understand the driver deciding not to go through insurance. But when there is a personal injury, your medical costs are an unknown quantity.
(I had an incident last year, where a car reversed into me and drove off. I had the reg number. The Gardai were very helpful at finding the driver. He paid for my car repairs without going through his insurance. The Gardai were great. As you have personal injuries, I would expect the Gardai to take this quite seriously).
Before you go to the Gardai, try to recall as much information as possible. Colour of car, make of car, description of driver etc. They'll understand you would've been too shocked to notice much, but do your best.
Good luck - hope you're not in too much pain.
 
Thank you so much Thirsty and POC. I'm just back from the guards. I have an assessment with an orthopaedic surgeon later to hear if I need surgery, hopefully not. Will call the driver once I know and ask for her to use her insurance. This has been a great help.
M
 
Merlin - just be wary that you may get a "frosty" reception when you ring the driver. If you do, then just remain calm, tell them you've reported the incident to the Gardaí, request their insurance details and any other info you may need.
Ideally, the driver should have made a statement of the incident to gardai, especially if there was an injury involved.
Hopefully all will go ok for you & the best of luck re recovery...
 
Thanks Jazz. While I have spoken to the driver on the phone once she has now gone silent and does not reply to either text or voice calls, which is upsetting. She has also not provided her details, which I requested. I am kicking myself for having been so stupid but I was in such shock as this could have ended so much worse because the driver was going so fast. The other thing that shocked me is that none of the other drivers even bothered to get out of their cars. Suppose i give her another few hours before calling the guard I spoke to.
M.
 
Hi Merlin - sorry to hear that it's gone to this and don't be beating yourself up over not getting the driver details - being knocked off a bike and getting injured does not lend itself to be thinking straight.
You will need to contact the guards now. If you can, call back into them and ask for help in tracing the driver. From your own perspective, document everything. I know you made a statement to the gardaí, but you need to record everything for yourself, times, dates, flow of events. Also, document each & every time that you rang the driver and the response you got back.
Hopefully the guards can get things sorted for you and the driver will co-operate.
 
Well looking at it from the driver's side, she stopped, you talked and she probably thought that was the end of the matter. Unfortunately a lot of unscrupulous people suddenly find things wrong with them a while after accidents and usually having confided in friends and family who immediately convince them to play the system. In your case it is clearly not one of those given that you have proper professionals who have looked at your arm. She is now suspicious and is clamming up. Why not text her with an update of what exact;y your injuries are. If they don't include the usual ones we all hear about then she may well be more than willing to get in contact. In this case you have broken your arm which is not on the dodgy list and is very much black and white.
 
had a similar situation years back when my car got side swiped by a lorry. The Gardaí got the driver's insurance details at the time of the accident but no matter how heard I chased the company owner, they never reported it to their insurer. In the end, my insurance company reported it to his insurance company and it got sorted from there with no impact on my premium.

The driver is legally required under the road traffic act to provide the details so if they are not doing so, just go to the Gardaí, a squad car turning up at the door may have the required impact

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/travel_and_recreation/motoring_1/motor_accidents.html
 
Well looking at it from the driver's side, she stopped, you talked and she probably thought that was the end of the matter. Unfortunately a lot of unscrupulous people suddenly find things wrong with them a while after accidents and usually having confided in friends and family who immediately convince them to play the system. In your case it is clearly not one of those given that you have proper professionals who have looked at your arm. She is now suspicious and is clamming up. Why not text her with an update of what exact;y your injuries are. If they don't include the usual ones we all hear about then she may well be more than willing to get in contact. In this case you have broken your arm which is not on the dodgy list and is very much black and white.

It is pretty common for people to be shocked at the time of an accident and not realise the extent of their injuries.
 
Thank you so much all, really appreciate your advice and concern. Just to reiterate: I have texted the driver multiple times and she did call me after I told her my arm was broken on the day of the accident, so I actually spoke to her. I had to see a surgeon the next day to see if they needed to wire the wrist and we left it that I would contact her then. I texted her twice the next day once to ask for her full name and reg and once to tell her that I did not need surgery. Never heard from her again and she is not answering her phone. So I called the guard whom I had spoken to and he said he found her address and to leave it with him. So I'll wait till Monday but I'm worried, currently unemployed and was due to start a part time job on Saturday, which I now can't do. Fingers crossed. I am not looking for handouts just the damage covered.
I always believe in the good in people, but that's a bit shook now. The fact that nobody (other drivers or pedestrians) bothered to check if I was ok didn't help:(
 
Not a totally unusual case history.....

Merlin you are now on the right track.

IF
she contacts you again negotiate absolutely nothing with her including the damage to your bicycle.

You deal with her insurers from now on when Gardaí get that information. This assumes that she is actually insured.

Please remember that your personal injuries claim and your property damage (bicycle) claim are different matters. Don't sign anything or take any payment in relation to the property damage without protecting your entitlement to continue your separate personal injuries claim.

BTW the driver is well offside on several counts......

PS The motorist seems very well informed indeed about the medical course of injuries and treatment ! My inner cynic tells me that she sounds a shade dodgy.........
 
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PS The motorist seems very well informed indeed about the medical course of injuries and treatment ! My inner cynic tells me that she sounds a shade dodgy.........

Just curious where you're interpreting that from? My reading the OP's posts suggests the driver hasn't responded since the original conversation.
 
Just curious where you're interpreting that from? My reading the OP's posts suggests the driver hasn't responded since the original conversation.

I draw my suspicion from the evidence of the conversation referred to in the OP's first post. It is just the way that I was trained..............:)
 
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Benedict Cumberbatch eat your heart out... Her words on our one phone call were:"I can't believe it's actually broken it didn't look that bad at all" and "it's hard to remember what really happened it was all so fast"...
No word from the guards yet I will wait till Monday to call them again and as Jazz suggested I have typed it all up (with one finger - took forever)
 
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