Another example of the Police not dong their job properly

[T.C]

The Police claim that they have investigated this case fully and that the matter is now closed.

All the more galling is that the young lady has never ben interviewed to get her side of the story and a Sgt states that riders filter entirely at their own risk, rather than stating that care is required on the part of all road users, and the fact that the Highway Code makes it quite clear that drivers should look out for motorcyclists filtering, and the list goes on.

A formal complaint has been made against the Police, and quite rightly so.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/canterbury/news/why-didnt-police-ask-me-48747/

[tucola]

Really?

Very unfortunate she got hurt, of course.

But not sure where a major investigation into possible criminal offences would have taken anyone here.

Driver says "someone flashed me out and I didn't see the biker".
Flasher says "I didn't see the biker and I flashed someone out".
Biker says "what the...?!? <crunch>".
Third party witness says "f**kin bikers...".

Take the insurance money and move on.

[Alzo]

Filtering is a risky business. Seemed like the wrong place to be doing it. Put herself in danger in my opinion.

[komp]

i think tuc's probably right would have unlikely have changed the outcome
but still, surely if your going to speak to some of the parties involved, you need to speak to all of them.. especially the person who got put in hospital!!

[David W]

When I learnt to drive the instructor told me that the only interpretation possible of a flashed headlight is 'I am here' and certainly not 'on you go, mate'.

[Druid]

Maybe they should have spoke to her but as no criminal offence has taken place it's surely now a civil matter ie insurance.

[T.C]

But not sure where a major investigation into possible criminal offences would have taken anyone here.

It is not about who is to blame or liability, that is what people like me are paid to determine, it is about the fact that the Police have concluded their "Investigation" but at no point have the got the young ladies account of what happened.

Had they carried out a forensic AI then maybe they could have come to a conclusion, but to suggest tat they have carried out a full investigation by speaking t just one person involved?  Come on FFS!!!!

I have nt long concluded a case where the rider suffered a severed femeral artery (which is often fatal).  The Police treated it as a damage only crash.  The bullsh1t they tried to give me when interviewed the officers in the case was so funny.

[Lord Danoir the first]

I was once involved in an accident where I was knocked off my bike. My old man was behind on his and noticed that 4 police cars attended the scene.

When my solicitor contacted the police to get their report, they confirmed that they'd not done one as there were no injuries.

That was despite the fact that as they were all attending, I was in the back of an ambulance, unconscious, with my knee bent 90 degrees in the wrong direction.

[Sax]

Both biker and car driver at fault here. Overtaking/filtering rider should have been aware of the potential of emerging traffic from the nearside and car driver should have been aware of other road users so very much 50/50. To "prove beyond all reasonable doubt" that the car driver was at fault would be extremelty difficult hence there being "no realistic prospect of conviction". Therefore the police aren't going to over-investigate a job that's going nowhere or do the job of the insurance company and start taking statements to sort out the claim. They don't have the time, money or resources. And anyway, that's where you come in TC

If there was a case for the car driver to answer and they were taken to court, I would also expect the bike rider to be taken to court as she is partically blameworthy.

Whilst a broken leg is classed as a "serious" injury, FCIU (Forensic Collision Investigation Unit) would not have been called. They generally only go to life changing and fatal collisions.

An unfortunate set of circumstances for all. I agree that maybe the police could have communicated with the biker a bit better but as stated in the article, she was in hospital and updates were given to the family to pass on. I know that I wouldn't want to see a rozzer at my bedside if I were laying in hospital all smashed up and feeling sorry for myself......

[Gilby104]

i think tuc's probably right would have unlikely have changed the outcome
but still, surely if your going to speak to some of the parties involved, you need to speak to all of them.. especially the person who got put in hospital!!

+ 1 how you can conclude that all due care was given without interviewing the person that is most likely to have seen everything (i.e. the rest have admitted to not seeing the motorbike so how could they know what did / didn't happen). Doesn't seem right.

That said, in this case, it does sound a lot like an 'accident' where there would be little to be gained from insisting on a prosecution?

T.C. if she goes for insurance claim and PI claim, what weight do the police statements hold? Is she at a disadvantage in civil proceedings because she doesn't have her account logged properly.

Lastly.... it's a stupid f*cking comment that motorbikes filter entirely at their own risk. Everyone drives everything entirely at their own risk.... that doesn't eliminate the statutory duty of care that all other drivers need to afford you.

[komp]

on the subject of filtering :

i was watching one of those trashy worlds dumbest drivers type things on channel 5 over xmas
and they had a clip on there of a motorcycle with an onboard camera filtering between traffic when a driver of one of the cars randomly opens the car door, causing biker to slam right into it almost ending up in the car

the voice over guy's punchline was something along the lines of "that will teach you to try and jump the queue"
I can tell you now abuse was hurled at the tv!!

[Lord Danoir the first]

the voice over guy's punchline was something along the lines of "that will teach you to try and jump the queue"
I can tell you now abuse was hurled at the tv!!

I avoid that channel like the plague, my TV's are too valuable

[T.C]

T.C. if she goes for insurance claim and PI claim, what weight do the police statements hold? Is she at a disadvantage in civil proceedings because she doesn't have her account logged properly.

As I said, this thread is not about liability, but if it were, then both the young lady and the driver could end up before the beak for careless driving, with the driver probably also being done for failing to comply with an obligatory traffic sign
.
The weight of the Police statements would depend on the circumstances and any other evidence that was available.  In some cases the Police accounts have been so poor they have had to be discounted, and in one case, they actually had the locatiom as being about 2 miles from where the collision actually occured.

This is where the legal proffession should and can earn their corn.  Once it has been established that the Police have cocked up, then the likes of me can step in, bearing in mind that we only have to work on the balance of probability rather than beynd all reasonable doubt.

So to answer your question, your question, yes the claimant can be disadvantaged, but it can be corrected in the civil courts.

[tucola]

But is it the police's job to provide material to assist claimants in insurance disputes?

I'd have thought that it was their job to investigate to gather material to support a criminal prosecution where one is likely to be in the public interest.

This isn't likely to be the case in a typical RTA - there's more important stuff for the police to be spending their limited resources on.

What's the point in trying to prosecute both the driver and the biker for careless driving in a situation like this? Waste of time if you ask me...

[Nat]

Of course, to be thorough, Police should have consulted everyone.

On filtering: "was hit by a car pulling out of a garage entrance".  Petrol garage or residential garage?  I was always told not to filter at junctions or entrances (ie, anywhere that anyone could be emerging from).