Student’s shocking crash just the beginning of insurance pain

An engineering student has had his recovery from a horrific motorbike crash interrupted after the insurance company halted its payments.

Daniel Smith, 25, was riding along the Old Pacific Highway at Brooklyn on Sydney's upper north shore in October 2017 when he rounded a corner and crashed into a truck.

The truck was pulling out to make a turn, and Daniel slammed into its rear tyres.

His injuries were horrific, including three pelvic fractures, two broken femurs, a broken left knee, a broken left wrist, several fractured ribs, a punctured lung, fractured vertebrae and friction burns that required skin grafts.

"Nothing goes through your mind in that sort of situation - you just have to react to the best of your abilities and there was just nowhere to go," Daniel told A Current Affair's Simon Bouda.

"Apparently there was a couple of off-duty paramedics that were a couple of minutes behind. They just finished lunch down at Brooklyn and they attended to me first on the scene and they had the direct line for Careflight, so if that didn't play out the same way, who knows?"

Despite the prompt medical attention, Daniel spent the next seven weeks in hospital.

"I just remember him laying flat, tubes and everything everywhere, and I remember giving him a kiss on the forehead and he was just so cold," Mum Robyn said.

Daniel said he still wasn't sure if he would fully recover from the injuries.

CIC Allianz, the insurance company for truck owners JCM Construction, were originally paying for Daniel to get better, including covering his treatment with a private physiotherapist.

But after almost two months in hospital, Daniel was cut off.

"A couple of weeks before the police report came out, they just decided to cut everything," he said.

"(I'm) pretty cheesed off about the whole thing."

Daniel said the loss of the insurance coverage, and the physio that went with it, meant he lost motivation in his recovery.

The insurance company claimed Daniel could have avoided the crash.

CIC Allianz told A Current Affair they had obtained police information, under the Freedom of Information Act, that stated Daniel was travelling at about 75km/hr around the bend, in an area where advisory road signs suggest a travelling speed of 45km/hr.

Further, Allianz claims Daniel could have avoided crashing if he'd paid attention to road signs.

Daniel maintains he was travelling at 60km/hr, 20km/hr below the legal speed limit.

Since Daniel's accident, a "no right turn" sign has been erected at the location to prevent trucks making a similar turn to the one Daniel crashed into.

But still, Daniel's recovery remains up to him.

"It's probably not part of the job description to care in insurance, is it?" Daniel said.