Legal/accident help

As a non-expert I think that if you rear end another used you are pretty much automatically at fault - I've certainly been in that position when driving. Not what you want to hear I know.
IIRC there is a passage in the Highway Code that states that you should be able to stop safely regardless of what happens in front of you, this definately puts the responsibilty with the operator/driver/rider of the vehicle following.

I would expect that both your insurers and the drivers would use this to avoid paying out as they would say that you were at fault. If the driver has offered to 'pay for the damage' (perhaps not expecting £900) this could perhaps be taken as an admission of guilt but even then if you are technically in the wrong by not following the guidence in the Highway Code I doubt that this would get you far. I also suspect that when he realises that he's staring down the barrel of £900 he'll start to back-track sharpish.

It might be worth getting some advice from BC's insurers/legal folk? Probably more use than well intentioned but amateur forum responses.

Sadly (IMHO at least) morals and legals rarely match. Painful as this is I think you may have to take this on your already damaged chin.

Good luck.

child runs out in front of car, car does an emergency stop. Could you stop yes or no. Nothing else is really relevant.

If you can't stop you are too close, just how it is. Drivers are idiots, never assume anything else.

You're at fault.

If you get *any* contribution from the driver for the damage, consider yourself lucky.

Glad you didn't get seriously and permanently hurt!

I'm afraid to say you will be EXTREMELY lucky to succeed in a claim against the driver. On the evidence provided you were following too close.

"The pedestrian didn't know where to go, so I hit him."
"I turned into a junction that turned into a tree."

Good news that you are not more badly hurt, enjoy your new bike shopping.

Might be worth talking to the insurers, but as a non-legal person my understanding is that you going into the back of someone will usually result in you paying out, rather than the someone else.
You might find the other driver admits fault now, but more realistically I think you'll find the other party realising that with hindsight they felt bad for you at the time but aren't too keen to stump up a couple of hundred quid. They will now probably contest that it is not their fault and is, in fact, yours.
Unless you can prove (witness or recording) that they did admit fault or were at fault in some way, I don't think you are going to get much from them, but I might be wrong.
You may also find that they charge you for any damage to their car of course.
Finally have you considered reporting the accident to the police. If you asked or were asked for insurance details at the scene and they were not available the accident has to be reported and the insurance certificate needs to be taken to a police station. As everyone stopped I don't think you would need to otherwise.

As others have said, its your duty to leave enough stopping/avoiding distance to allow you to stop safely in the event that the driver does an emergency stop. It's easy to mis-judge that, or get over excited and allow the distance to fall short - we've all done it. You were unlucky - the driver failed to signal and you didn't leave enough room and it resulted in a collision. But an insurer will see view it as a collision caused by your failure to leave enough stopping distance - he could have had a number of legitimate reasons to stop suddenly (even though he didn't) but you don't have a legitimate excuse for failing to leave enough stopping distance.

If the driver sees it as his fault because of his failure to signal, then deal fairly with him and don't try and push your claim too high - you'd likely end up with nothing if it goes to the insurers (or to court).

Clearly the driver actions were far below the required standard on this occasion. However, as mentioned, in the land of insurance, the blame will always lie with the chap rear ending the car in front... hence the rise of the crash for cash scam.

The only caveat to that is if their are independent witnesses that will state that the car in front braked suddenly, for no apparent reason.

If you have these, great, if you haven't then I'd suggest being very careful about how much you claim for; as mentioned, if the driver goes to his insurance company you will be stuffed.

Out of interest, why didn't you go around the outside of the car when it braked?

" I was keeping a safe distance" "road was wet " "I slammed into the back of the car."

Doesn't sound like a safe distance to me, I know the majority of people drive or ride too close to the car in front, but the car braking hard isn't a reason for running into the back of them, riding too close too fast for the conditions is.

What if a child or dug had run into the road in front of the car? likely outcome would be an emergency stop, the onus is on the following vehicle to be able to stop in the space they can see to be clear.

While he has admitted fault and offered to pay for damage, if the cost ends up being high enough to lead to insurance claim, the insurer may have other ideas due to presumed liability in rear end incidents. I think highway code even makes a point about bicycles stopping distance being higher and not to follow too close to cars.

Obviously I am going against the two wheels good 4 wheels bad posse here

I don't think you've a leg to stand on here. Don't base your safety on assumptions about what drivers are going to do. Fundamentally you were not leaving enough of a gap to stop quickly enough if he had to stop for any reason.