P
Pbwalther
Guest
I was out on a training ride on Sunday. I ended up going against the grain of a local century ride.
There was a crash so I stopped.
Now according to accounts, Rider 1 had been pulling a paceline. Rider 1 ran off the road onto the
grass shoulder (for no known reason even to Rider 1) and fell when he tried to get back onto the
pavement (the pavement was raised about 2" above the shoulder). Rider 2 and Rider 3 ran into Rider 1
and both went down also. No one suffered any apparant serious injuries - just bruises. However Rider
3's bike was demolished. The carbon fiber frame detached from the head tube (both tubes upper and
lower). That impressed me because I had not seen this kind of failure before.
Rider 3 asked Rider 1 for his name and address presumabely to pay for the damage to Rider 3's bike
because Rider 3 believed Rider 1 to have "caused" the accident. Now this does make sense according
to usual custom cycling circles I have been in.
Well I was surprised by this. I this was the first time I had ever seen a rider want to claim
damages against another rider.
But it seems to me that Rider 3 is in error. He was following Rider 1. According to my admittedly
hazy understanding of the motor vehicle code, a vehicle following another vehicle is nearly always
at fault if it rear ends the vehicle in front. Now if you are drafting in a paceline, it seems to
me, that you are following far too closely to give a safe interval for a mishap. I would think that
if there were damages, Rider 1 could collect from Rider 3 and not vice versa. It seems to me that
the law controls here not cycling custom.
So, I have a couple questions for the learned, not so learned, and just plain ignorent members of my
group (heck, I don't want to exclude anyone).
1) Are any of you familiar with one cyclist collecting damages from another because of a cycling
mishap? A brief background and rationale would be interesting.
2) What do you all think of my interpretation of liability? That is that people drafting can not
really legitimately claim damages from riders in front of them because they are following at a
dangerously close interval?
There was a crash so I stopped.
Now according to accounts, Rider 1 had been pulling a paceline. Rider 1 ran off the road onto the
grass shoulder (for no known reason even to Rider 1) and fell when he tried to get back onto the
pavement (the pavement was raised about 2" above the shoulder). Rider 2 and Rider 3 ran into Rider 1
and both went down also. No one suffered any apparant serious injuries - just bruises. However Rider
3's bike was demolished. The carbon fiber frame detached from the head tube (both tubes upper and
lower). That impressed me because I had not seen this kind of failure before.
Rider 3 asked Rider 1 for his name and address presumabely to pay for the damage to Rider 3's bike
because Rider 3 believed Rider 1 to have "caused" the accident. Now this does make sense according
to usual custom cycling circles I have been in.
Well I was surprised by this. I this was the first time I had ever seen a rider want to claim
damages against another rider.
But it seems to me that Rider 3 is in error. He was following Rider 1. According to my admittedly
hazy understanding of the motor vehicle code, a vehicle following another vehicle is nearly always
at fault if it rear ends the vehicle in front. Now if you are drafting in a paceline, it seems to
me, that you are following far too closely to give a safe interval for a mishap. I would think that
if there were damages, Rider 1 could collect from Rider 3 and not vice versa. It seems to me that
the law controls here not cycling custom.
So, I have a couple questions for the learned, not so learned, and just plain ignorent members of my
group (heck, I don't want to exclude anyone).
1) Are any of you familiar with one cyclist collecting damages from another because of a cycling
mishap? A brief background and rationale would be interesting.
2) What do you all think of my interpretation of liability? That is that people drafting can not
really legitimately claim damages from riders in front of them because they are following at a
dangerously close interval?