Anyone ever been hit by a car while out running

I had an altercation with a driver the following day. I was running facing the oncoming traffic and he "clipped" the arm of my jacket He clearly must have seen me as my jacket was flourescent and it was day time. I noticed that he had to stop some way behind me as some cars were turning right. Thus I ran back and knocked on his window. I said him fairly politely why he drove so closely and that he could have seriously injured me
He said "You should have not been running on the road"
I replied, "Firstly there is no path , secondly I am facing the oncoming traffic which the Highway Code permits, and thirdly what if I had been a mother pushing a pram?"

" I said that I would be within my rights to report him to the Police.

His manner changed, he appologised, I accepted it and requested that he give "foot users" a wider berth next time.

As such if for any reason a driver is driving too fast for the conditions, be they unexpected or not, then unless a runner leaps out of a hedge into the path of an oncoming vehicle, then the driver is always at fault.

Do the bitch!

And BTW I drive a 4X4

While I have every sympathy look at it from another perspective:

- Country lane with no paths
- runners on both sides, which would seriously obstruct the roadway and would be considered irresonsible (especially as teh bulk were on one side and only a few (two?) were on the other)
- Driver did stop to let the majority pass
- No one was actually hit - "clipped" and "almost" knocked to the ground and there were no signifigant personal injuries so there wasn't really an incident, much less driving away from teh scence of an accident.
- With a large and bulky vehicle and trailer on a (presumably) narrow road it would be prudent for foot traffic to step aside while the vehicle is at a standstill to allow them free passage
- With the runer being "clipped" its hiighly unlikly that the driver knew anything about it till someone started knocking on the window. I am pretty sure that the words used at that point weren't "Excuse me, I'm afraid that you seem to have bumped into me" but may have been a touch more heated... This would then be used to explain teh attitude of teh vehicle occupants.

In the unlikley event it gets to court her legal people will argue that teh fault for teh incident lies at least partially with the running group, no incident of note took place and teh driver excercised due care by stopping.

No Toes on the other hand sounds like he has a very serious case and should be able to make a fairly signifigant claim.

Nice try amadeus, but i'm not biting! I was hit, and have some nice bruises developing to prove it. She didn't stop to let the majority pass - just swore at them and then executed a dangerous manoeuvre to pass them by pointing her vehicle at me. She must have heard my yell of pain, but didn't bother stopping. My words were: "you just hit me with your horsebox - what the hell do you think you're playing at?". In return I got: "f*ck off you f*cking tw*t".

She may not be going down for a ten stretch, but I want her to know that this kind of behaviour isn't acceptable.

Most drivers I come across while running are great and try their best to get out the way, but there's always the odd one like the lorry driver a few weeks ago who thought it would be funny to aim his cab at me forcing me to dive up a grass verge so that I wasn't run over.

I say go for it, like said previously I wouldn't bother with the personal injury claim but definately with the criminal stuff, even if it goes nowhere and just waists her time and costs her a bit of cash in solicitors fees, will hopefully make her think and stop her from killing someone in the future.

take photos of all your bruises buckaroo, im not 100% on cars having right of way, but my point was that i think itd be considered unreasonable for runners taking up both sides of the road on a country lane, id look into it more for you but i have a big exam on another area of law next week so havent got the time sorry!

good luck with it if your goin to go for it tho, you get her number plate? and if your going to do it right down all details...time of incident etc, and speak to a few others who witnessed it as they might have a different view of the incident, and you dont want your witnesses contradicting you...

First - I meant Hanneke not NT above.

Second, I wasn't trying to get anyone to "bite". It is understandable you are angry and want revenge, what I was trying to do - having been involved in this sort of thing - is to outline how the facts looked to a neutral observer.

She may get a visit from Plod to talk about this, but it's unlikley. If you did persue a personal injuries claim you would run the risk of a ruling against you with costs awarded (on teh facts as presented I can't see a No Win No Fee merchant taking it up). Her legal team can dress it up as:

The defendant is a hard working farmer who was coming down the narrow country lane leading to her home, towing a horsebox. Suddenly several runners swarmed up the road, on either side and through much of teh middle and with scant reagrd for thier - or anyone elses - personal safety. Out of coutesy defendant stoped as teh runners streamed by on both sides of her vehicle. The Defendant attempted to move the bulky horsebox to make room for teh majority of runners on one side before continuing home. Upon arrival at her home teh Defendant was confronted by the Plaintiff who was using using abusive language. At no point did the defendant hear or feel any "contact" (which was slight as evidenced by the witness saying that the Plaintiff stayed on her feet throuout)."

Obviously that's a skewed version - but it'll be her version. A judge will decide between them and (in my opinion) the runners have to accept a portion of teh blame.

i do tend to agree with amadeus, i dont think it would be worthwhile just to prove a point, and you mitant even prove it which would be even more frustating. She may genuinely not have seen you, when you confronted her regarding it she may have felt intimidated, you just dont know so...i think it would be best the put it behind you and go for a pb!

Calm down amadeus(I have) - i'm not pursuing her for damages, and i've no doubt that she'd lie through her teeth if it wound up in court. I just want her to get a bollocking from the police, and given that i've made a complaint and have visible injuries, I think that outcome is quite likely.

*(not have seen you get injured)

going back to an earlier point most Horse owners Ive met are skint because.....


....they own a Horse

BB hope they throw the book at her

Appears i may have upset a couple of people with my comment about '4x4 and horsebox must be loaded'.It was meant as a light hearted comment and maybe didn't come across that way in print.Again apologies if i upset anyone.

you should know better slownsteady never upset an animal lover on this forum Horses,Dogs or even worse insult CATS they'll be kicking your door down to tell you off :-0

Definitely don't insult cats! But that's a different matter.

BB hope the police were helpful. I've got a mate in the D & C police if you need any help with them!

Buckaroo,

She's an arsehole. Don't be put off by 'trying to see it from her point of view'. It's impossible to imagine a reason for driving aggressively at someone. She doesn't deserve to drive.

Do all you can to let her know she's behaved appallingly.

TWV

buckaroo what a nasty thing to happen, I cant obviously say how your local police will go but as a club runner on very narrow country lanes we have had a fair share of near misses by people driving far too fast and with no respect for the road at all, but to be honest this is something I have also been guilty of in the past myself but I now go slowly slowly! but at the end of the day if I to actualy HIT someone the word you fu@king tw@t would not be uttered but omg I am sorry are you ok? I think more then anything its the lady in questions attitude and if she lived locally to me I would want her off the road that could have been a child riding a bike I know a different story but she was obviously not giving the road her full attention! those horse boxes are blinking heavy and a 4x4 your very lucky your only bruised! take this as far as you can and the very best of luck!

Thanks for all the kind words folks, and very sorry too, to hear of your nasty incident Hanneke - sounds like you came off a whole lot worse.

((((Hanneke))))

My scrape is now in the hands of the CPS, as i've made a formal complaint to the Police. It'll probably take months before a decision is reached on whether to prosecute, but if it gives this bully a few sleepless nights in the meantime, it will have been worthwhile.

I'd say she's committed at least two offences. Under common law her words to you, if proved, constitute behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace.

Under the road traffic act she has committed an offence by failing "when given reasonable opportunity" to report an accident in which another party "was or may have been" injured. Doesn't matter whether she was aware of it or not at the time, it should be reported as soon as she becomes aware of it (ie when you told her).

She's also quite possibly invalidated her insurance, as she's probably required to report any accident to them as well. If you keel over and die and its shown that it was a result of (say) a blood clot caused by the impact, then your estate might have a claim against her. If she hasn't informed her insurance company in good time then she'll be in trouble.

As to any insurance claim, the key factor is whether you were proceeding "correctly". This appears to be the case, and her behaviour behind the wheel seems not to have been very good. However your running colleagues were not proceeding "correctly" by running on the wrong side of the road, so the driver could, in theory, make a counter claim against your club, again provided she can show that she was proceeding "correctly" (which she does not appear to have been). Its actually quite hard to say without seeing the site of the accident.

I actually had a claim made against me when one of my sheep was knocked down and killed by a motorcycle, having got out through a gate that had been left open by a rambler. The court found that I had taken all possible measures to stop the animal straying and that the motorcyclist had failed to heed the warning notices, and speed restrictions, and was therefore not proceeding "correctly". As the sheep was actually walking down the road towards the motorcyclist, it was deemed to be proceeding "correctly" as it was clearly visible, and the rider could have stopped had she been travelling "correctly" (ie not speeding and cutting the bend off).

Have to say that the idea of my late sheep proceeding "correctly" made me smile a little...

Oh yes S 'n S I runa 4x4 very smelly, and full of sheep do do.

Not terribley Chelsea tractorish I'm afraid.

But for me - necessary.

This may inspire you..

Last summer - out for a late evening plod, up a steep hill and local loudmouths are hurtling down with the softtop down on the proze mini. Scrote in the passenger seat throws out a McD's cup full of ice which hit me on the left arm as we crossed (at a relative speed of about 40mph so it hurt, a lot). A big cheer of 'bullseye' went up from the pair of them.

Unfortunately for him he then had to pull up at the lights about 200m away.

So - i do my best michael johnson impression and get there, just as i realise that i'm a little overhydrated and, oddly, my bladder was a little full.

2 minutes later - a sharp exchange of words completed and the back seats of the mini tinted a little yellower than before, I sprint off realising that i am only half a mile from home so likely to bump into them again. Grinning like mad.

Big bruise the next day, but even a custodial sentence for him wouldn't have had the same sense of poetic justice.

10 out of 10 - the biter bit!