Came off while avoiding pedestrian
I would be grateful if you could help me out as my insurer is not helping me. I was riding home in Canterbury, one lane in either direction both fairly wide. In the oncoming lane was a bus that had pulled over to let people on and off. A car went to go past the bus (there was plenty of room for him to do so without causing me difficulty). However as he did so a lady pushing a pram walked out in front of the bus. The car swerved to the right to avoid the pram entering my lane and causing me to swerve left to avoid the car. I came off but was fortunately not injured but the bike and kit took some damage. My insurer is saying they cannot recover my excess as the car driver did nothing wrong. Is this right? What about the lady?
Ryan, by e-mail
Answer
You did no wrong. The car driver and pram pusher did. The lady should not have tried to cross a road in front of a bus. It is foreseeable that other vehicles may be overtaking. Likewise it should have been foreseeable to the car driver that when a bus has pulled over, pedestrians may try to cross the road in front of the bus. It will depend on the precise movements and timings to give an accurate liability apportionment.
Many buses these days have cctv cameras front, back and side so you should obtain this as it will show exactly what happened and where everyone was positioned. Your insurer should pursue the car driver’s insurer and if they want to bring in the lady then that is up to them. She may have contents insurance covering third party liability or assets to meet the claim.
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