Hello all. I just thought Id post some info that may help my fellow cyclists. Many of you have already seen the video of me being clipped in east Texas over the summer. If you havent please take a look and by all means share this on your personal FB page. I know for a fact that people I know have changed how the think and drive because they know me personally and see how quickly a persons life can change by distracted or inattentive driving. Also, as an update on me, I am fully recovered now (as fully as I can expect considering Im 57 years old) and back on the bike and running. Its kind of strange how this whole thing came to be...having two cameras on my bike that is. Ive had GoPros for several years and always sold my old one when I upgraded. When Garmin came out with the Virb I just had to have one. I picked it up in June and was thinking about selling my GoPro when I got this idea to mount it on the seat post facing the rear for a club ride and maybe get some cool video in a pace-line. Well I got some good shots and started riding with two cameras all the time. I have used the front camera to get license numbers of cars that are endangering me while I ride and used it to turn in a school bus driver that buzzed me on a wide 4 lane road near my home one morning. But the real value came after this accident in Texas. The first thing out of the drivers mouth was him accusing me of being too far in the road. Then when the police noticed the cameras they asked to download the video and see if they could see anything. Later that day the driver called me at the hospital to say he was swerving around debris in the road. And the next day he called and said I just didnt see you. All of that is pretty much nonsense if you watch the video...and he all of a sudden shut up and was never heard from again. His insurance company contacted me and they were anything but helpful and then I mentioned the video and they didnt have much else to say. My good friend is an attorney and when I asked him about getting legal help he didnt even hesitate and said yes. Heres where the problem with the system starts coming in. I obtained counsel in Tyler, Roberts and Roberts, and they did me good, but what really mattered was the video. When the insurance company was presented with the video it changed the negotiation process. They wrote a check for the full amount of the policy without any dickering, but they are not legally responsible for a nickle more than that. My damages (hospital, doctors etc.) amounted to over $58,000. You figure pain and suffering based on that figure. In my case the bare minimum would have been $58,000 X 3 plus the $58,000. So you can see my damages should have been close to $250k, but his policy was not even half of that. I suppose I am very lucky he wasnt driving around with a bare bones policy. The bottom line is I could have negotiated the settlement myself on this one because of the video. We talked about suing the driver at a personal level but the costs would have been on me and not being able to determine his worth to any degree it could have ended up costing me in the long run so I opted to take what I could and call it good. So, if you have cameras always use them, and if you dont think about investing in one. BTW, my rear facing camera is the only one of any value in this instance because the front camera missed everything at the point of impact, so if you can only afford one face it to the rear. Ride safe friends. https://youtube/watch?v=Dvs3xrO9_gw&list=UU8SywpLHPmAzaw22gXSVn7Q
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 15:42:11 +0000