Is There Ever An Excuse for Motorists Who Claim They Didn’t See Cyclists Coming?

Personal Injury solicitors are constantly inundated with compensation claims from cyclists involved in road collisions with drivers who have claimed not to see them coming, but Cambridge lawyer, Daryl Robinson has recently attacked these drivers, arguing that this is not an acceptable excuse and believes more needs to be done to protect cyclists on the road. This comes following recent figures released from Cambridge County Council showing that during 2011, more than 468 cyclists were injured on its roads. It is generally believed that this figure may be even higher as many collisions go unreported by cyclists. Reasons behind the failure of accidents being reported can be anything from a lack of knowledge of their rights, to a busy lifestyle, to the fear of having to pay out large costs if the case is unsuccessful. Compensation claims filed by cyclists include injuries that can vary in severity from minor bruising and lacerations, to broken limbs and brain damage. The effects of these accidents can affect the victim’s life in a vast way. For example, a broken leg could prevent a personal coach from working, therefore result in a loss of earnings. More seriously, a patient suffering severe brain damage will have to give up work, but also receive around the clock care, therefore affecting more than one person’s life on a daily basis. Because of the extreme impact these injuries can have, these compensation claims are often high priority for Personal injury solicitors. One of the most common reasons given by drivers in the defendant cases for such compensation claims is that they failed to see them coming at junctions. There is growing pressure among personal injury solicitors to educate road users about what they can do reduce the risks of hitting a cyclist. This is considered especially important as cyclists have so little protection in collisions in comparison to drivers of cars and other larger vehicles. In a recent poll for The Times newspaper it was discovered that nearly two thirds of drivers felt that a significant improvement to safety would be to ensure that cyclists are given the same importance at junctions as motor drivers. There was also big support for the idea of separate cycle lanes. Although some motorists simply saw them as taking up road space, 47% of cyclists and 51% of drivers embraced the idea. The recent demands to decrease the amount of cyclist and motorist road accidents has seen large scale advertising campaigns in place across the media, via radio, television and internet, to remind road users of their duty to look out for cyclists. However, in some compensation claims, personal injury solicitors have found that the liability is not always straightforward, with some people claiming that cyclists are also partly to blame in road accidents and need re-educating in a similar way to drivers.

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