John Williams, a young architectural assistant from Islington, London, was on a mission to travel ‘green’ in 2010 and therefore began to ride to work and back on his bicycle. The journey was a relatively easy one, cycling from his flat in Islington to his workplace in Holborn. John had been warned by his colleagues about the increased risk of a road traffic accident happening when cycling, so he made sure to take the correct precautions in order to protect himself from injury. John bought a brightly coloured cycling vest and a helmet to wear on his journey to and from work. He also made sure that he was up to date on the highway cycling code, so as not to cause a road traffic accident unwittingly.

Despite his careful precautions, Mr Williams was the victim of a road traffic accident on Upper Street on his way from work. As he was riding along the busy Upper Street, going past Angel tube station, a car turned into Upper Street without properly checking to see if the road was clear. The car collided into Mr Williams’ bike, causing him to fall quite sharply onto the kerb. Mr Williams was not responsible for the collision at all. Luckily, since Upper Street is such a busy area during rush hour, the offending car was not travelling at a very high speed, as the fall Mr Williams experienced had the potential to be a lot more serious than it was. However, the only serious injury sustained was a broken arm. The driver of the vehicle took Mr Williams to the nearest hospital, where the arm was examined, x-rayed and put into a plaster cast. Mr Williams and the driver exchanged contact details before going home.

The break in Mr Williams’ arm prevented him from doing his job properly. He could not map out his architectural sketches because he could not hold a pencil properly and he found it very difficult to manoeuvre a computer mouse – something he had to do frequently at work.  His road traffic accident actually meant that his architectural firm wanted to put him on a smaller salary doing a different job, just until his broken arm healed and he could do his job properly again.

This outcome would obviously have left Mr Williams with a significant financial loss, especially considering the highly priced physiotherapy fees needed to get his arm back to full functionality again. That week Mr Williams sought legal advice, hoping to gain compensation for the financial losses he was about to sustain as a result of his injury. He eventually did make a road traffic accident claim and won the full amount of compensation. This meant that Mr Williams was able to continue living his normal life, without having to worry about the financial losses caused by a road traffic accident. Luckily, Mr Williams was not put off from cycling and still enjoys cycling to work on a daily basis now.

Mr Williams was lucky that the driver of the vehicle which collided into him was fully apologetic and accepted full responsibility for the accident. However, Martin Ferguson, 37, a father of one from Clapham, London, was not so fortunate. On his way back from work as an IT specialist, Mr Ferguson emerged from Clapham South tube and stood on the kerb ready to cross the road. Mr Ferguson had always considered this a safe place to cross the road, as it was a traffic light controlled crossing. When the green man flashed up signalling that it was safe to cross the road, Mr Ferguson stepped off from the kerb. However, a reckless driver did not stop at the red traffic light and continued to drive. Mr Ferguson had almost no time to move out of the way before the car crashed into him. He sustained two serious breaks in his left arm, a broken leg and concussion. The driver of the vehicle did not stop to help Mr Ferguson. Luckily, witnesses managed to take down the number plate of the vehicle as it sped away. An ambulance was called and Mr Ferguson was treated in hospital for his injuries, eventually making a full recovery. By using the number plate, police were able to track down the owner of the car and press charges. Mr Ferguson also made a road traffic accident claim and received good compensation.