kid backed over my fz!!

[fizzer]

So I come out from dinner at a friend's, and see a kid and his mom standing next to and gesturing at my bike. Thinking "oh great more people who want to talk about bikes" I just walk over and say hi as I go to unlock my helmet. The mom immediately says they are so sorry and begins to tell me everything that happened. The gist of it: 16 year old kid backs down his parents driveway and doesn't look behind, bike and car meet, car wins.

The damage: so far I can see the headlight fairing is cracked, scratches on turn signal, mirror, radiator shroud, exhaust, front axle slider, right frame slider, rear brake pedal is bent, and the fork lock/ignition is cracked.

After getting all their insurance info, I decide the nature seems mostly cosmetic in nature, so I go to take off, and immediately realize the handlebars are no longer pointing in the same direction as the front wheel. I stopped and looked over every bit of the front suspension/frame and saw no obvious flaws/cracks, so I went ahead and drove it the rest of the way home. bike rides just fine, as long as you point the handlebars toward the lane beside you.

Aside from venting my unfortunate evening events, I wanted to ask:

1. Should I have called the police? The family were being so overly compliant with giving me all their info, staying around to report the incident, and the kid (as a 16 year old) was crying and super bothered so I figured there was not much a cop could do that would help the situation much, but perhaps this will come back to bite me?

2. With the front wheel no longer in alignment with the handlebars, am I looking at probably more damage than I can see (and a likely "totalled" situation?

3. F%*k terrible drivers, kid is lucky it wasn't a mom with a stroller. (this isn't a question but oh well)

Have any of you been in a similar situation and how did you handle it? I'm not looking forward to all the insurance calls and whatnot, perhaps some stories will help.

[Likwid]

I would have gotten a police report, just because I don't like dealing with any kind of bullshit.

[SJC1000rr]

As someone with experience in this;

1) You have 24 hours to report the accident to your local police department if you so choose, so if you want to..you still can. You have exchanged information, (Info of driver-Age, DoB/License #, address, phone, and got full insurance information) so you could also just contact your insurance company and let them contact the offending parties insurance to take care of all the leg work. If it happened in a roadway you probably saved the 16 year old a ticket for failure to control, but also risk the family later reversing what they said to you since there was no documented incident yet. Pictures of your bike and the car at the time of crash would have been greatly beneficial to you.

2) Your bike has a bent front end, depending on whats wrong..the insurance may or may not want to deal with it. Triple Trees or Forks are the most likely reason, but could also be the frame. My race bike had the same problem (1.5 degree left twist/wheel was left of center when bars are straight) from my last crash and is in Akron @MPH Ohio-Doug Duane getting fixed to the tune of about $750.

3) Yep, terrible drivers are bad...but young ones just don't have the experience to drive safely. This will probably be something that he/she will remember for a while.

[Jst2fst]

Suck man

[$pecial_K]

I would have called the cops and let them file a report. I had something similar happen once while driving my car. A guy side swiped my mirror and kept going. He didn't stop until after I followed him for several blocks. Once he pulled over, I called the police. My mistake was not having the guy cited for hitting me. I figured that as long as I had his insurance information it was all good. To make a long story short the guy wouldn't admit fault to his insurance company so they refused to pay without having a police report showing the party at fault.

[garvinzoom]

Sorry to hear this man, hope everything works out for ya.

[SWing'R]

The gist of it: 16 year old kid backs down his parents driveway and doesn't look behind, bike and car meet, car wins.

How exactly did this happen? He's backing down a residential driveway, where was your bike??

I'm assuming you were not parked in their driveway

[saralynn518]

How exactly did this happen? He's backing down a residential driveway' date=' where was your bike??

I'm assuming you were not parked in their driveway [/quote']

Maybe on the curb across the street from their driveway? That would explain not seeing the damage if coming from the friend's house directly to the bike.

[fizzer]

Maybe on the curb across the street from their driveway?

this, not directly across the street but close enough apparently that you can hit it while backing out.

I'm in the process of filing my own police report, have already called insurance. Hopefully I don't get screwed for not calling the police right away

[buildit]

Most insurance requires a police report to be on record. Just saying. 24hours and the clock is ticking.

[Wicked1]

Always, Always ALWAYS File a police report when there is a collision of any kind. ALWAYS- It only protects YOU, especially since you are not at fault. It only takes an hour or so and can save you DAYS of stress.

[Scruit]

If even YOU thought the damage was purely cosmetic at there scene then there is a risk that they could dispute mechanical damage. People pad claims all the time, and the insurance companies watch for it.

Police report is important here to demonstrate the mechanical damage exists at (or at least very close to) accident date. Make sure it winds up in the police report. (or put it in your handwritten narrative)

I will say that I'd be greatful that they were honest enough to stick around. Many people would book it if they hit an unattended vehicle.

[Cheech]

3) Yep, terrible drivers are bad...but young ones just don't have the experience to drive safely. This will probably be something that he/she will remember for a while.

Which is why, IMO, a police report should be filed. If he wants to be a dumbass and not look where the car is going, then he should have that on his record for a while. If the cop wants to cite him for failure to control or whatever that's fine, but the accident itself will be on his record as well. When I went down in Newark, even though I wasn't cited, the accident is still on my record.

[Bigbird]

At least you weren't on yours man. I however was. Bike was totalled, back was jacked up, and the kid and his dad tried to lie to the cops. It was a all a crock, but luckily the kid confessed to my gf's dad and he said he would testify to the little bastard lying. Next time get a police report for good measure.