On Friday morning I was dropping my daughter off at school (she was late back from her paper round). The road outside is narrow and quite busy, with cars parked on both sides of the road and traffic weaving in and out. I stopped to give way to a wide box van coming fast towards me between two parked cars in front, and as soon as it had passed I moved into the gap. Except that some lunatic cyclist had flown through the tiny gap between me and the fast-moving box van, so just as I pulled out to go round the parked car he was there and my front offside wing pushed him sideways off his bike.
He fell quite heavily, but got up quite quickly and I picked up his bike. Back on the footway, he was still groaning but professed to be OK. He declined to take my details. We exchanged apologies, and went our separate ways.
Turns out he is in my daughter's registration class.
On Tuesday I had to drop off my daughter at the school again (she didn't want rain on her art homework). I was met by a policeman looking for a car like mine. "Excuse me sir, but please don't be offended if I ask if you were involved in an incident with a cylcist last Friday?"
It turns out that in the evening he went to hospital, and was told he had a broken arm and a broken leg.
So I face probably two years of hassle and paperwork and increased insurance premiums.
In terms of responsibility:
He should not have been flying through that gap
I should have checked my mirrors.
So I suppose it's 50/50 and one for the powers that be to resolve.
But when I am thrown into the deepst dungeon and they throw away the key, please come and get me out!
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