Well, more crash stories. On Dec 30th 2010, I was riding home from the city, approaching the intersection of Glen Osmond and Portrush Rds. and planning to ride up the freeway. As I came up to the lights - which were red - I slipped into the bicycle lane so that I would not be caught in the traffic. It was around 37 deg and all that heat coming up beneath the fuel tank would have been seriously unpleasant.
There were no bicycles anywhere in sight and I rolled up to the line next to a Toyota Land Cruiser. Just before I got to the line, the lights went green and I accelerated to get out in the clear. At the same time the car suddenly veered left, hitting the bike and sending me over the handlebars. There was a left turn slip road at the lights, but the car hadn't used that; as far as anyone could tell he was going up the freeway.
I wound up with 3 broken neck vertebrae and substantial gravel rash on my face. I had worn an open face helmet for the first time in 25 years!!! Talk about lousy timing. The bike was a write-off but was easily repaired. The quick payout by Shannons was fantastic and allowed me to buy the bike back and repair it.
Unfortunately, Allianz refused to pay out on my claim for medical expenses. They remain silent (and still do) when asked to explain the reason for their refusal. I was incensed by this game playing and took on a lawyer, whose opinion was that I had a very strong case for a 3rd party claim against the other driver. My original claim of around $1000 to defray some of my medical costs has now blown out to around $20 000 with legal advice. I have had to employ a forensic accident analyst to provide a report based on evidence which I had to supply. Now, nearly 2 years later I am still without any insurance support.
We have a monopoly 3rd party insurer here in SA who is not bound by any rules it would seem. If they don't want to pay out (and why would they?) then they just ignore the claim and hope it goes away. I suspect for many people, that is exactly what happens.
The easy way out of this for everyone would have been to access the footage from the traffic cameras at this intersection. My advice to the Police was to do just this but I was told that there are too many accidents to make this worthwhile unless there is a fatality. So, no video footage of the accident, which allows the other driver to plead his innocence despite all the evidence against him. He was an off - duty Police officer by the way.
I'm pretty bitter and twisted about the accident investigation and insurance stone-walling. More than a little cynical too.
