Comments on: a liability on the roads http://www.rainmiles.com/archives/a-liability-on-the-roads.html a cycling blog from northern ireland, a place where it rains every other day Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:25:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: John Girvin http://www.rainmiles.com/archives/a-liability-on-the-roads.html/comment-page-1#comment-114 John Girvin Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:45:43 +0000 http://www.girv.net/blog/?p=130#comment-114 Thanks for an actual legal viewpoint there, John. All insurance is just that, a protection against the unlikely "what if" nightmare scenario. I have car, buildings, income, life and other insurances/assurances as well and have (thankfully) never needed any of them. But I'm still glad those safety nets are there, just in case. There are enough cases of cyclists being sued by pedestrians already and, with UK society aping another American trend and becoming ever more litigious, I can only see the numbers increasing. Perhaps I'm being overly cynical or paranoid (and I'd love that to be true), but I'm keeping my safety net for now all the same. Thanks for an actual legal viewpoint there, John.

All insurance is just that, a protection against the unlikely “what if” nightmare scenario. I have car, buildings, income, life and other insurances/assurances as well and have (thankfully) never needed any of them. But I’m still glad those safety nets are there, just in case.

There are enough cases of cyclists being sued by pedestrians already and, with UK society aping another American trend and becoming ever more litigious, I can only see the numbers increasing. Perhaps I’m being overly cynical or paranoid (and I’d love that to be true), but I’m keeping my safety net for now all the same.

]]> By: John Self http://www.rainmiles.com/archives/a-liability-on-the-roads.html/comment-page-1#comment-112 John Self Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:46:52 +0000 http://www.girv.net/blog/?p=130#comment-112 <em>A lawyer writes:</em> Having cycle insurance is a double-edged sword. Frankly if you don't have insurance, tney're not likely to sue you in the first place because their lawyer (a shark like me) wouldn't consider you to be a 'good mark'. Also, if you have insurance, in these circumstances your insurer may make a compromise payout to the pedestrian just to buy off the risk of fighting the case (even though it's unlikely, but not impossible, that she'd win) - thus making you fume in righteous indignation for several weeks and raising your blood pressure unnecessarily. Having said that, in twelve years of this 'game' ("and it is a game ... hardest game in the world ... I've been at this game man and boy" etc), I've never had anyone come to me wanting to sue a cyclist. Actually I did once, and I told them to go away as he probably wouldn't have insurance. A lawyer writes: Having cycle insurance is a double-edged sword. Frankly if you don’t have insurance, tney’re not likely to sue you in the first place because their lawyer (a shark like me) wouldn’t consider you to be a ‘good mark’. Also, if you have insurance, in these circumstances your insurer may make a compromise payout to the pedestrian just to buy off the risk of fighting the case (even though it’s unlikely, but not impossible, that she’d win) – thus making you fume in righteous indignation for several weeks and raising your blood pressure unnecessarily.

Having said that, in twelve years of this ‘game’ (“and it is a game … hardest game in the world … I’ve been at this game man and boy” etc), I’ve never had anyone come to me wanting to sue a cyclist. Actually I did once, and I told them to go away as he probably wouldn’t have insurance.

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