Accident Caused by Storm Drain

[Sethcapes]

Hi,

I was recently involved in an accident which resulted in a large tear to my face requiring a number of stitches and which has left a large scar. The accident happened in Penzance, Cornwall and was caused by my front wheel falling into a gap in a storm drain. The slots ran parallel to the direction of travel - something I've not seen anywhere else in the country.

Has this ever happened to anyone before and did you make a claim against the council? I am considering doing so as I cannot fathom why you would make drains like that. I consider them to be at fault for my injuries.

Anyone had any joy on such a claim? Do you think they are at fault?

 

[hiero2]

Hi,

I was recently involved in an accident which resulted in a large tear to my face requiring a number of stitches and which has left a large scar. The accident happened in Penzance, Cornwall and was caused by my front wheel falling into a gap in a storm drain. The slots ran parallel to the direction of travel - something I've not seen anywhere else in the country.

Has this ever happened to anyone before and did you make a claim against the council? I am considering doing so as I cannot fathom why you would make drains like that. I consider them to be at fault for my injuries.

Anyone had any joy on such a claim? Do you think they are at fault?

Back when I was an active cycling advocate (meaning involved at a national level) there were a number of "road furniture" designs that were dangerous to cyclists. One dramatic example I can think of immediately is storm drains. At that time, the most common design was with the slots running parallel to the direction of the road. Lovely things for catching a front tire.

This is in the US, and you are not. However, I would think some of the basics are probably applicable. My guess will be that road furniture design in the UK will have improved over the past few decades, but, like the US, would still not necessarily be built with cycling safety as a foremost consideration.

Meaning you will probably get no joy from taking legal action. However, you should direct inquiries to someone with legal experience in the UK, and not just legal experience, but cycling advocacy legal experience. You could start researching a number of ways. Bob Mionske runs a legal firm in the US specializing in cycling advocacy. He is a former Olympic cyclist. He might have contacts in the UK. You also have cycling organizations over there - they should know of possible resources.

 

[oldcrank]

If you haven't already, try contacting
the following organisations for advice:
http://www.ctc.org.uk
http://www.cyclistsdefencefund.org.uk

 

[stutue]

I've heard very good things about these guys:

http://www.bikeline.co.uk/accident_claims/about_us.htm

 

[Sethcapes]

Great, thanks all. Will give it a try. Though to be honest, with a cursory glance at some law-stuff, claims against the council in the UK have to prove that the council has not carried out it's inspections and acted upon them.

Given that the grates are apparently still there you would have to assume that they do not view them as a defect.

We will see.

 

[Aapjes]

In The Netherlands the municipality that maintains the road is responsible for the consequences of an accident if they are (or have been made) aware of a dangerous situation and refused to address it in a reasonable time. The UK has something similar, I believe, but the devil is in the details, so you really need an expert on these things. The major question is whether the council should have known that this is unsafe. A reasonable argument can be made that this is true, assuming that this design is obsolete and most of these drains have been replaced due to them being unsafe.

However, I'm not sure what you really want. Do you want the road to be made safe? Do you want to be compensated for damages? Or both? You give very little indication of what costs you made and want to be compensated for, which gives me the feeling that you really just want the council to fix this drain and similar drains that they are responsible for. If so, you might want to reach out to the council and see if you can get them to to change the drains and their inspection rules amicably. This may make you feel better in the end (or not, your call).

 

[Sethcapes]

Hi, I believe that the situation is similar in the UK. I would imagine their argument would be that if a similar accident had not previously occurred, nor had the issue been raised in the past then they had no perceivable liability. My argument would be that if they inspected that particular road and deemed the grate in question non-defective, then that is negligent as it is clearly a hazard.

In terms of my aims - indeed I would like to think that the council would replace the storm drains in question for future safety but I have to be honest and say I would like to think I could be compensated for a relatively serious injury to my face. Which, has been detrimental to my quality of life (albeit only slightly).

Thanks for your response.

 

[pauletterubino]

Your face has been injured and I think you should take a legal action. Take an advice from legal expert and see what they think on this matter and then take action accordingly.

 

[King Boonen]

Sorry to hear about this fella, not a nice thing to happen at all. If you want compensation go through a lawyer, do not approach the council yourself.

There are ways for motorists to claim for damage caused by potholes, so I would think you have at least a reason to pursue it.

However, I would also say be prepared to be disappointed. Unless it has been brought to their attention before (Freedom of Information request to check) they can quite easily claim they were not aware it was a serious hazard and the likely outcome is they'll either ignore it or change the direction of the grate.

They will also most likely claim you should have been observant and there was no requirement for you to ride across the drain. If there was make sure you have an answer ready.

Was the drain in a bike line? If so I think you have a much better chance at any claim.

 

[OffTheBackAdam]

A classic example of "Look where you're going",I'm afraid to say.