Hi,
I was cycling quite a distance behind a van on Oxford street when the van slowly moved to the left hand side of the road, as if he would be parking (without indicating left), leaving enough room for a car to go past safely (even though this is only a single file road).
I continued to go straight past as he was coming to a standstill and as I was alongside his window, he indicated right and turned right at the same time, going straight into me. He intended to do a u-turn and had positioned his van to the left hand side of the road so that he could do it in one swoop, then didn't check his mirror before going straight into the following traffic; in this case, me on my bike.
Because there was no oncoming traffic at the time, he was aiming to perform the move quickly and suddenly to start heading in the opposite direction, and this adds to the fact that I had absolutely no time whatsoever to stop or change direction.
I managed to escape the collision with no serious injuries, only some scratches and minor bruising thankfully, but that's more than I can say for my bike.
After reading all the evidence I wanted to ask on this forum; in this incident, who's fault is it? The van driver's fault for going into the path of the cyclist who was going straight, or the cyclist's fault for going into the path of the van driver doing a uturn?
I was cycling quite a distance behind a van on Oxford street when the van slowly moved to the left hand side of the road, as if he would be parking (without indicating left), leaving enough room for a car to go past safely (even though this is only a single file road).
I continued to go straight past as he was coming to a standstill and as I was alongside his window, he indicated right and turned right at the same time, going straight into me. He intended to do a u-turn and had positioned his van to the left hand side of the road so that he could do it in one swoop, then didn't check his mirror before going straight into the following traffic; in this case, me on my bike.
Because there was no oncoming traffic at the time, he was aiming to perform the move quickly and suddenly to start heading in the opposite direction, and this adds to the fact that I had absolutely no time whatsoever to stop or change direction.
I managed to escape the collision with no serious injuries, only some scratches and minor bruising thankfully, but that's more than I can say for my bike.
After reading all the evidence I wanted to ask on this forum; in this incident, who's fault is it? The van driver's fault for going into the path of the cyclist who was going straight, or the cyclist's fault for going into the path of the van driver doing a uturn?
