Hit by a car last night

gaz545

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqCwjC2VIXw

We can't all see everything coming, i would like to call my self a safe rider. But i missed the car in front of the white van moving forward slightly to let this guy through. Which ended up with me being on his bonnet.
Bike has a buckled front wheel, i've got some pain in my arm and lower back.

jeremyrundle

Hope it's not your drinking arm being Christmas and you are ok.

roger_merriman

ow!

sounds (from commnets) you have it all sorted.

but still ow!

iPete

ooof! Glad your ok!

This is my biggest fear on the road, twice recently I've had very very near misses insimilar circumstance!

rjsterry

Oof! Hope it's nothing more serious, for you or the bike. I know exactly what you mean about not being able to spot every potential hazard all of the time. Was the driver alright about it - i.e. stop and check you are OK, insurance details, etc.?

Clever Pun

hope you're ok.. been there done that, but I got away unscathed and dented their car.

it's the major hazard with bus lanes and it's a doozy.

PBo

sympathies, gaz...


....this is definitely one of my constant fears.

And although it is definitely the drivers fault, I've been a driver being let across a lane like this, and have almost missed seeing a cyclist myself.

Once again, defo their fault, but I think from a drivers POV, not the usual unforgivable SMIDSY, it's a set of circumstances where a drivers inexperience and lack of anticipation can let them down, rather than them just being a total 4rse!

meanredspider

Can't see clearly enough, but aren't you taking your right of way in this instance? It looked to me like he was crossing your lane. Clearly, seeing something like this coming is one of the 6th senses we build with experience but I can't see you're "at fault"

Anyhow, glad you are OK

Edited to say - what he said ^

d87heaven

Ouch! Thats a really difficult one. The driver is blinded by the height of the van and once level with the bonnet he is completely blinded. to anything coming up the inside. The only way to see is to edge across slowly till his bonnet is across the cycle lane. BUT if you can't see he shouldn't go forwards. I bet if it was a car instead of a van they may have seen your helmet/shoulders or lights through the glass. Pressure of traffic and a friendly wave/flash through all too often means people go through.
Hope you recover well.

nich

Urgh. Horrible. This is the type of incident I fear most.

My route home has many similar turnings just like this where the driver can't see, so basically it involves me crawling past every junction.

Makes me cringe, hope you're ok.

What did the driver say?

Headhuunter

This is the same situation dhope had on Tooley St a few months back and similar to my crash a year ago (still got issues with my hip and thigh). Both of us got compensation. People turning right through traffic having been "flashed" are the bane of cyclists (and motorcyclists) lives. If you can't clearly see what's coming along the lane your are crossing, you shouldn't be pushing on through... Definitely not your fault.

dhope

Can't view the vid from work but it sounds exactly like my recent off. Driver being waved through in heavy traffic, lousy visibility all round, SMIDSDY but as much down to circumstance as carelessness on the drivers part?

jonginge

Ouch. Tricky situation, the van obscures both your and the driver's view.

Hope you're not badly injured

Headhuunter

JonGinge wrote:

Ouch. Tricky situation, the van obscures both your and the driver's view.

Hope you're not badly injured

If the driver cannot clearly see along the lane of traffic he's crossing, he shouldn't be crossing it... It doesn't matter if he's been "flashed". Pretty straightforward!

turnerjohn

JonGinge wrote:

Ouch. Tricky situation, the van obscures both your and the driver's view.

Hope you're not badly injured

+1
Glad your ok ! Good job it was pretty slow as wel...could have been so so so much worse!
Just "disked" up the cross bike to increase stopping abilities...don't think would have done anything in this instance !
Speedy recovery !

kelsen

(0:33) That reminds me, must pick up some chicken on the way home for tonight's dinner

...oh, almost forgot! Hope you're ok.

Kieran_Burns

not to excuse similar, but it wasn't as if it was a cycle lane - it was full blown bus lane so why was he not looking for buses / taxis / you?

His insurance hike will serve the same purpose as any kind of legal redress though

jonny_trousers

Hope you're ok mate. This is one of those accidents that really highlights how vulnerable we cyclist are. The driver is at fault, but you can see how hard it must have been for him to spot you. How can we help ourselves avoid such situations? Always filter down the right? But that presents other dangers. Cycle slower when filtering? Perhaps, but that would make commuting very dull.

My recent off was similar in as far as I had a moment to see the inevitable collision coming and I have asked myself a few times what I could have done to lessen the impact and I have come up with very little. I've thought about disc brakes, I will now ride slower and I'm pretty certain I've given up on riding fixed now, but there's not much else I can do.

Anyway, feel better and at least see how the driver feels about sorting you out with a new front wheel.

kurako

Bad luck there. There's always a danger at side roads with heavy traffic. You were both unsighted by the van. I always try to slow down and make sure I can see clearly before moving into the unknown.

As has been said, the cars shouldn't have moved when unsighted but unfortunately 'should not' is rarely the same as 'will not'.

mrushton

I was witness to something similar last year when a cyclist passed me at a red light and 100m up the road was lying in the gutter having gone thro' the rear passenger door window. Basically, anywhere where traffic is queuing and the oncoming traffic can go across you requires you to slow down and expect what happened to you to happen. It's dark, the motorist doesn't think about the bus/cycle lane and they have a gap. It's their fault but after seeing that last year I just drop my speed and look at the traffic to look for the cars on my side leaving a gap

lost_in_thought

Sorry to hear that, hope you're OK.

greg66_tri_v2.0

I'd put fault on the driver, for the reasons already stated.

However, this incident vividly underlines why you are safest travelling close to the speed of the ambient traffic. When passing a queue of traffic, you're *always* vulnerable to anything crossing the queue, or to something ducking out of the queue. The ambient speed approach just may give a little bit more time to avoid an incident.

And as has been said before here, who's at fault is scant consolation when you're not at fault but injured nonetheless.

rjsterry

Greg66 wrote:

I'd put fault on the driver, for the reasons already stated.

However, this incident vividly underlines why you are safest travelling close to the speed of the ambient traffic. When passing a queue of traffic, you're *always* vulnerable to anything crossing the queue, or to something ducking out of the queue. The ambient speed approach just may give a little bit more time to avoid an incident.

And as has been said before here, who's at fault is scant consolation when you're not at fault but injured nonetheless.

+1 The ambient speed of a stationary queue is 0mph, and that unfortunately means that unless you can get a big gap between you and the queue to give you some potential stopping distance the only safe approach is to coast past it with the brakes covered.

pitchshifter

Your lane is clear. You could have been a motorbike, taxi or even a bus and the outcome would have been the same. Driver is at fault, showed no caution at all when turning in.

Glad your ok.

gaz545

I would consider my self a safe cyclist, and i think this shows that even if you are a safe cyclist, you could always miss something that leads to a crash. Riding slower and expecting this is something i normally do. But sometimes you get distracted for a second and you don't see it coming.

I have disc brakes on my bike and even then i couldn't stop in time, but thats mostly down to the fact i didn't see him till too late.

The driver was very shocked and didn't speak much english. Police attended the scene and everything checked out fine on his end.

rjsterry

gaz545 wrote:

I would consider my self a safe cyclist, and i think this shows that even if you are a safe cyclist, you could always miss something that leads to a crash. Riding slower and expecting this is something i normally do. But sometimes you get distracted for a second and you don't see it coming.

+1 You can only look in one direction at a time, and sometimes, even if you are doing everything right, someone can still take you out from behind.

Philcho

Hope you are back on the bike soon gaz i enjoy watching those vids! Get well soon mate

Headhuunter

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

How can we help ourselves avoid such situations? Always filter down the right? But that presents other dangers. Cycle slower when filtering? Perhaps, but that would make commuting very dull.

Cycling down a bus lane isn't filtering though.... I see what you mean though, I think I'm much more aware of idiots turning across my path without looking these days. I would definitely chase up for damages, not necessarily compensation but he owes you for damage to the bike. If he'd done the same in front of a car he'd owe someone for a mangled front end....

iPete

Its a tough one, as said, nearly caught out a few times this week. I've a Hope Vision 1 and a blinker up front but with a van in the way, its not much help. Maybe bigger brighter lights that reach further can help mitigate but ultimately its 6th sense and luck.

Alternatively, try and look like a bus.

jonny_trousers

Headhuunter wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

How can we help ourselves avoid such situations? Always filter down the right? But that presents other dangers. Cycle slower when filtering? Perhaps, but that would make commuting very dull.

Cycling down a bus lane isn't filtering though....

Fair enough.

Beyond making ourselves as visible as possible, I guess all we can do is expect the worst. It's a shame and it does mean we can't enjoy the fun of gliding past a line of stationary traffic at 18mph, but the risks aren't really worth taking. It just gives us the excellent excuse to buy a super fast bike for weekend use.

Gaz's accident is a classic example of what I fear is almost unavoidable when riding in city traffic.

Headhuunter

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

How can we help ourselves avoid such situations? Always filter down the right? But that presents other dangers. Cycle slower when filtering? Perhaps, but that would make commuting very dull.

Cycling down a bus lane isn't filtering though....

Fair enough.

Beyond making ourselves as visible as possible, I guess all we can do is expect the worst. It's a shame and it does mean we can't enjoy the fun of gliding past a line of stationary traffic at 18mph, but the risks aren't really worth taking. It just gives us the excellent excuse to buy a super fast bike for weekend use.

Gaz's accident is a classic example of what I fear is almost unavoidable when riding in city traffic.

You sound a bit nervous still after the off, that's a shame... Is the confidence coming back bit by bit?