Hit a dog running away from his owner. How should I proceed? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Hit a dog running away from his owner. How should I proceed?

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Mikey2432

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So I was driving on a mainstreet, Yonge. Out of no where a German Sheppard with his leash trailing on his collar runs on the road, pauses in front of my bike, with the short distance I had I managed to slow down to about 40/50 kph on impact. I flew over the bike and rolled on my shoulder, no fractures or anything just bruises cause I was wearing proper gear with the jacket.


The dog ran away and a pedestrian trapped him and brought him back while there, the owner was still not around at the time. I was taken to the hospital to check for any fractures and nothing happened. The police got a man who is a partner of the YRP to the tow my bike to his lot, he came to the hospital and told me I can pay via cash or insurance. The police also gave the the contact information of the dog owner after he tracked down the owner.

Any thoughts on how I should proceed with this? I'm not sure how much the damages and towing will cost to repair the bike. Should I file an insurance claim, contact the owner of the dog, or just pay the damages?
 
IANAL:

Your insurance will probably find you 100% at fault. You can pursue small claims charges against the dog owner if you wish
 
I should clarify. I didn't say to file a claim - just talk to your insurance company, as someone there may have experience with this situation.

If you have a police report - an official one - stating the events, it will help.
 
Sorry my post will be no help.

But damn! What an awful experience for you. You hit a dog (regardless of the circumstances) - you feel ******. You go flying and damage your bike - you feel double ******. You already have expenses - you feel ******. Unclear how to proceed or outcome - you feel ******.

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Edit: P.S. Best of luck seriously. I hope you feel alright in the days to come and everything works out for you.
 
Call the owner of the dog. Try to make a deal with him in writing. (Email or text)
If he does not want to agree or pay your expenses get the police report and all the other documents that u have and go to the court house. Will cost u $75 to file the claim and just add it to your total.
That will put pressure on him.
If he decides to pay u just go back to court and withdraw the application.
The more conversation u have with him in writing the better.
 
I'd go through your insurance company. I doubt you will be found at fault. I filed a claim once for an animal hitting me and was deemed not at fault. Pursue the dog owner if you wish but ultimately little harm was done (if insurance fixes it for you) and dogs sometimes get away from their owners. I totally understand being angry but the world is vindictive enough. Sometimes it's cool to do something nice even when you've been wronged. That being said, I would still speak to the guy to get his side of it and hopefully prevent it from happening again.
 
I believe hitting an animal is covered under certain parts of insurance policies. However it sounds like the op didn't hit an animal but rather went down to avoid hitting it. That makes it a single motor vehicle accident in the eyes of the insurance.

Getting the police report and speaking with the owner of the dog is a great idea. See if he'll cover damages. If not....you'll have to go to small claims court.
 
Mikey2432 said:
So I was driving on a mainstreet, Yonge. Out of no where a German Sheppard with his leash trailing on his collar runs on the road, pauses in front of my bike, with the short distance I had I managed to slow down to about 40/50 kph on impact.
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He says he hit the dog.

You should not be at fault, especially with this new leash law they have now with increased fines. Talk to your insurance company.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
I missed the impact part. I'm surprised a dog ran away from a 40-50kph impact with a motorcycle.
 
slowbird said:
I missed the impact part. I'm surprised a dog ran away from a 40-50kph impact with a motorcycle.
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Pretty sure OP just nicked the dog. I highly doubt a dog is going to get up and run away after being hit at 40-50KM/H by a motorcycle (from a direct impact). If the bike flipped from the dog, that means a direct impact.

Either i'm wrong or that dog is freaking mini-hercules....
 
Did the dog require veterinary attention? Getting confirmation of this would help in any subsequent civil suit.
 
My car was t-boned by a dog a few years back. The owner was 100% resonsible, so my insurance company went after his. No cost to me. Might be different because the dog hit me as opposed to me hitting the dog. Unfortunately, the dog hit me hard enough that it had to be put down due to its injuries.
 
huh? sometimes it is cool to be nice? the dog is property, the owner is responsible for the dogs actions. the rider is entitled to compensation for damages. a "nice thing" to do is req'd by the dog owner - be responsible and pay up for damages.

don't be a sap - cause its "cool to be nice" wtf?!
 
Go Pro would have been valuable in this case. I've been told you if you hit an animal you need to produce evidence for a police report (Hair, blood or a carcass) to claim on insurance. Not 100% sure if this is true for every insurance company as all my kills have had a body to photograph.
 
killerkeith said:
Go Pro would have been valuable in this case. I've been told you if you hit an animal you need to produce evidence for a police report (Hair, blood or a carcass) to claim on insurance. Not 100% sure if this is true for every insurance company as all my kills have had a body to photograph.
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This is also very true. I smoked a doe with my car a couple Aprils ago up north. The Adjuster tried to hose me for hitting a carcass until I sent her deer gore pics. Helped that my door was so badly dented in it didn't open.
 
Gsus said:
My car was t-boned by a dog a few years back. The owner was 100% resonsible, so my insurance company went after his. No cost to me. Might be different because the dog hit me as opposed to me hitting the dog. Unfortunately, the dog hit me hard enough that it had to be put down due to its injuries.
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This exactly, we had the same situation. The home owners policy of the dog owner covered all costs. The police were very helpful in explaining to the dog owner it was 100% on them. Best of luck.
 
boyoboy said:
huh? sometimes it is cool to be nice? the dog is property, the owner is responsible for the dogs actions. the rider is entitled to compensation for damages. a "nice thing" to do is req'd by the dog owner - be responsible and pay up for damages.

don't be a sap - cause its "cool to be nice" wtf?!
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In the situation I described, the owner picked up his dog (after I canvassed the street to find out who the owner was) and started walking away. I had to go after him to get his info. As crappy as it is to do harm to an animal, it's the owner who is to blame; not you. Your insurance company should agree.
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