jbaars

I'm a newbie..... Last Friday at evening rush hour I was riding in Seattle, northbound on 15th Ave NE, uphill, maybe going 5-6mph. I was on the far right side near the curb, and 15th Ave is a 4 lane road and has quite a bit of traffic and LOTS of buses. A northbound double length Community Transit bus going maybe 15-20mph passed me, attempting to give me some room but didn't give me enough-- my elbow was hit by the back end of the bus which pulled me off my bike and into the side of the bus. The next thing I remember I'm lying on the sidewalk with my feet in the street, bicycle on the side of the road. I'm ok though, thankfully, and only suffered bruises and scrapes along the left side of my body (a huge bruise on my lower back). I did require an ambulence trip to the ER for xrays and I checked out ok. Still plenty sore though...

So my issue: I was not able to get any eye witness info on the accident as I was in shock and later strapped to a board by the EMTs. The bus company's insurance guy is saying there's no proof I was hit by the bus (!) and that they may not pay for my medical bills. I'm actually insured so this only means a couple hundred + bucks deductables to me, but on principle (and for the couple hundred bucks!) they really should be accountable for this. What can I do?

bluebottle1

Several things. For starters, make sure you submit your medical and bills to your own insurance, regardless of whether or not the bus company winds up paying for this. It may be that your own insurance company will go to bat to try to get its own money back from the bus company under its subrogation right. Second, submit copies of all your bills to the bus company's insurers. All they are saying at present is that they may not pay. If they see that the bills aren't too high, they may be more willing to pay something. If they deny liability outright, you may want to talk to a lawyer. Truthfully, though, it sounds like your damages aren't going to be enough to merit any kind of legal action. Moreover, proving anything is going to be difficult because of the lack of witnesses. Still, the mere fact of injury suggests that something happened, and if you're not seeking all kinds of lost wages, etc., the insurer will have no reason to think you're trying to get rich off of them.

Dr. Moto

Wow, sorry to hear about this accident. This is bit of a lame suggestion, but you could try advertising in the personals for anyone who may have witnessed the accident from the bus or the street. Also, chances are that at least some of the people on the bus that day ride that same bus at the same time each day, so you might try boarding the bus at that time and asking if anyone saw anything.

fallstorm

Try posting on Craigslist and ask if anyone saw anything about that time. Long shot, but it's free and relatively easy.

Dahon.Steve

Steps to follow.

1. Get a copy of the police report.
2. File a claim for the maximum in small claims court naming the insurance company and the driver as fault.
3. With the money you'll receive from the insurance company, open an IRA account.

vrkelley

adding..to the good advice above...when you're feeling better, it might be good to go back to that same intersection and have your friend help you figure out how you can appear more visible from the side and back.

noisebeam

That is certainly good advice and regardless is good to do, however from the description of the events it sounded like the bus driver was aware of him (did merge left a bit to pass him), but mis-judged when to merge back toward the right side of lane (back of bus hit him).

Al

jbaars

Al's right, it was in the police report and in the bus driver's report to his insurance guy that he saw me and veered around me. He of course didn't actually see (or feel) me get hit.

These are great suggestions so far and I've started acting on a few of them-- have a msg up on craig's list and am trying to get copies of the medical/police reports (which is not easy I'm finding).

Jeff

slagjumper

Suggestions:
1) See if there are any municiple cameras. Might have to get a lawyer to get the images.

2) What about the people on the bus? Try catching the bus a few stops before around the same day and asking around.

3) Hang out where it happened at around the same time and see if anyone might have seen the accident.