Absolutely you should try to get their license plate number. This is considered a hit-and-run and in most cases involving accidents with bicycles or pedestrians, it is considered a felony (which is to say, a crime punishable by more than one year in prison).
Auto insurance will cover both injuries to you and your bicycle (although in most cases the value of someone's whole bicycle probably does not exceed the driver's deductible, so they would be better off paying you in cash).
In this case your best bet is to go to the police department and fill out an accident report and (probably) a police report and hope that someone comes forward as a witness with some useful information.
The legal situation is really pretty similar to if you were a car and this person did the same thing. Since they were clearly doing something wrong here and you were not, they would have been considered "at fault." The fact that they left the scene would mean all kinds of additional consequences for them.
The fact that you are a bicyclist and they are a driver is really kind of a non-issue here, legally speaking.
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Date: 2007-09-17 08:23 pm (UTC)Auto insurance will cover both injuries to you and your bicycle (although in most cases the value of someone's whole bicycle probably does not exceed the driver's deductible, so they would be better off paying you in cash).
In this case your best bet is to go to the police department and fill out an accident report and (probably) a police report and hope that someone comes forward as a witness with some useful information.
The legal situation is really pretty similar to if you were a car and this person did the same thing. Since they were clearly doing something wrong here and you were not, they would have been considered "at fault." The fact that they left the scene would mean all kinds of additional consequences for them.
The fact that you are a bicyclist and they are a driver is really kind of a non-issue here, legally speaking.