Bicycle Accident

[concerned]

So the other week, my wife on the Electric Bicycle bumped into a guy on the footpath who basically popped out in front of her. Nothing too serious, but this guy pretty quickly asked my wife if she had insurance... He then started complaining about neck pain, even though his lower body had made contact with the bicycle. He then demanded that the police be called.
The 5 police guys turned up in a mini-van and started chalking up the footpath and taking photos of our bicycle.
He also called his boss from the scene and told him he would need to take time off work due to this accident...
The "Claimer" then requested that an Ambulance be called, which he was able to walk over to and get in on his own and he was taken off to the hospital. This chap notified my wife the following day that the Ambulance/Hospital had cost him in excess of 100,000 Yen, and that he would be making further trips to the hospital... He also told my wife that knew of cases where people had claimed very large amounts for bicycle related accidents...

Luckily my wife's general liability insurance was able to cover this. But it was initially pretty tense as we were unsure if she would be covered....

This incident really brought home to us the importance of having the correct liability insurance in place...

[captainspoke]

This incident really brought home to us the importance of having the correct liability insurance in place...

Yes, good luck with it. I'd suggest directing any contact from the other party to your insurer--if the other party calls, just refer them to that contact number. (Sounds like someone looking for some shakedown money, but who knows.)

*

I just got my yearly renewal notice for my own bike insurance. ¥4280/yr, but it is also supposed to include representation (perhaps not an individually assigned lawyer, but will be flagged for attention by their legal department).

As for my bike insurance, I couldn't give a hoot about me and my injuries (tho it may help)--it's any potential liability that I want to protect against.

And PSA--cycling insurance is now required most everywhere in japan. The very basic stuff is available thru bike shops or maybe your city hall, but I use this, and Plan E:

https://www.hokencontract.jp/jtsa-bicyc ... FdEALw_wcB

[concerned]

This incident really brought home to us the importance of having the correct liability insurance in place...

Yes, good luck with it. I'd suggest directing any contact from the other party to your insurer--if the other party calls, just refer them to that contact number. (Sounds like someone looking for some shakedown money, but who knows.)

*

I just got my yearly renewal notice for my own bike insurance. ¥4280/yr, but it is also supposed to include representation (perhaps not an individually assigned lawyer, but will be flagged for attention by their legal department).

As for my bike insurance, I couldn't give a hoot about me and my injuries (tho it may help)--it's any potential liability that I want to protect against.

And PSA--cycling insurance is now required most everywhere in japan. The very basic stuff is available thru bike shops or maybe your city hall, but I use this, and Plan E:

https://www.hokencontract.jp/jtsa-bicyc ... FdEALw_wcB

Thanks! yep we have directed the other party to the insurer, which is a huge relief. Its a shakedown for sure.
Some lessons learned, I did not realize that while you are allowed to cycle on the footpaths here, if you hit someone and even the other party is wrong, you are on the wrong side of the law.. So if you also do not have liability insurance one will be in a very difficult situation...

Thanks! for the link, maybe i will get family cover with this. Some of the claims referenced on this site are just frightening...
9,521万円
男子小学生（11歳）が夜間、帰宅途中に自転車で走行中、歩道と車道の区別のない道路において歩行中の女性（62歳）と正面衝突。女性は頭蓋骨骨折等の傷害を負い、意識が戻らない状態となった。（ 神戸地方裁判所、平成25（2013）年7月4日判決）

[TokyoBoglehead]

I'm sorry to hear that! keep us updated!

Insurance is mandatory in all but 10 ish prefectures.

I opted for the Rakuten family package. 6000 yen a year. I wonder if the basic plan was good enough? There are 3 tiers it seems....

(As it's liability insurance if also covers baseball's through windows, etc)

[Nancy]

Thanks so much for sharing. I have heard of two cases before insurance was mandatory. In one, a child on a bicycle hit an elderly person on the side walk and the elderly person broke her leg and had to have a long hospitalization. The child's mother paid for everything, besides visiting the elderly person everyday in the hospital and doing her wash etc. The mother said that she was afraid that if the elderly person developed dementia while in the hospital, that there would be even more problems, so she became the person's kind of caretaker until she was discharged. The other case was actually a friend who was hit by a person riding an electric type bicycle. My friend fell and broke her arm. She was kind of a claimer and besides having all of the medial fees paid, requested like 300,000 yen for pain and suffering, and got the money. (it was kind of a bad brake, and needed to have a pin for repair.) I was not aware really, until I heard of these two cases, that it could be a problem.

[concerned]

I'm sorry to hear that! keep us updated!

Insurance is mandatory in all but 10 ish prefectures.

I opted for the Rakuten family package. 6000 yen a year. I wonder if the basic plan was good enough? There are 3 tiers it seems....

(As it's liability insurance if also covers baseball's through windows, etc)

Thanks! will do. 6000 yen for a family package is good value

[concerned]

Thanks so much for sharing. I have heard of two cases before insurance was mandatory. In one, a child on a bicycle hit an elderly person on the side walk and the elderly person broke her leg and had to have a long hospitalization. The child's mother paid for everything, besides visiting the elderly person everyday in the hospital and doing her wash etc. The mother said that she was afraid that if the elderly person developed dementia while in the hospital, that there would be even more problems, so she became the person's kind of caretaker until she was discharged. The other case was actually a friend who was hit by a person riding an electric type bicycle. My friend fell and broke her arm. She was kind of a claimer and besides having all of the medial fees paid, requested like 300,000 yen for pain and suffering, and got the money. (it was kind of a bad brake, and needed to have a pin for repair.) I was not aware really, until I heard of these two cases, that it could be a problem.

I can imagine for the case of the elderly person dementia/long term care would be a real concern, cost wise and stress wise. With the aging society I guess these sorts of situations will increase going forward.

The Police also advised my wife to call the other party the following day, to check on their condition and apologize to them again. They reasoning for this was to ensure the other party would not escalate the issue as in their words it would create a lot of trouble for my wife

[William]

Thank you for sharing this story!

I don't own a bicycle but I did use in the past the renting service that becomes more and more present in Tokyo or around.

I wonder now, since TokyoBoglehead mentioned that insurances are mandatory almost everywhere: was I riding a bicycle illegally when I was renting for 30 minutes or 1 hour?

[William]

Well, as usual, a look on their website is enough. It seems that when you use the service, you're covert, to some extent.

[TokyoBoglehead]

Well, as usual, a look on their website is enough. It seems that when you use the service, you're covert, to some extent.

The rental fee does cover insurance in most cases.

However, Rakuten cycle insurance is 3000 yen a year and is a actually generally liability insurance. It covers you if you knock over an old person and the sue. (these cases are worth a Google in Japanese).

I think everyone should have it just in case. Especially kids