How long until your nerves settle.

woodnut

Hi, I was unlucky enough to be knocked off on a rounadabout a few weeks ago (classic SMIDSY, I was on roundabout car pulled out and ran straight into side of me). I was however lucky enough to not be badly hurt and I've started commuting again, I did 3 days last week and rode again today. Physically I feel fine but I'm very nervous when approaching side roads now and I'm often slowing down when there is no need. It didn't help when this evening some clown pulled out on me.
For those of you who have been knocked off by cars, how long was it before you got back to "normal ".. (whatever that is!)

thelawnet

I got knocked off a couple of months ago, not 'nervous' as such but I'm more proactive with making eye contact with car drivers, assuming they will overtake dangerously, etc.

cyclingpast

I got taken out in early November (SMIDSY from the left) really badly. Bike was wrecked, I went into intensive care. Bought a new bike in early January, and I'd say i'm cycling fairly normally now. Strangely though, I do feel quite nervous as a passenger in a car, because i'm not in control.

desweller

I go through a process of evaluating the accident from start to finish to determine if there was anything I could have done to avoid it, whether there were any indicators that I could have reacted to etc., and then settle on a modification or set of mods to my riding technique to avoid getting into the same set of circumstances in the future.

Once I'm happy that I've improved my technique, it puts any latent worries out of my mind and I can continue riding as per before.

mudcow007

the last time i had a proper "off" i broke my collar bone so i was out of action for at least 6 weeks.

but i tend to get straight back on, in my case the longer i stay off the more reluctant i am to want to get back on

MichaelW

I was knocked off by a car coming from a sideroad and survived with a few scratches.
Its a cheap lesson in paranoia and the need to maintain it.
I assume that every driver will do something stupid and ride very defensively. You need to learn defensive riding. This means being more assertive and riding farther out into the road where drivers are looking.
There are good source for defensive cycling (eg Roadcraft).

woodnut

Looking at some of the injuries other people have had makes me realize how lucky I was really. I have to say though, if you are completely invisible to a driver, it doesn't matter how defensively you ride you will be knocked off. I was in the middle of the lane, 3 bright lights on the front, fluoro jacket on and there is quite good streetlighting....but I might as well have been transparent to that driver at that time. It will be a real shame to have to ride feeling edgy all the time, I'm really hoping it will pass.

cjcp

Yep, been taken out by a bus, car and a ped, and got straight back on.

Just take it easy.

chris_sw

MichaelW wrote:

riding farther out into the road where drivers are looking.

You mean riding like a twat? Why don't you put a brick through their window too, just to make sure they know you're there. Safety first .

dilemna

woodnut wrote:

Looking at some of the injuries other people have had makes me realize how lucky I was really. I have to say though, if you are completely invisible to a driver, it doesn't matter how defensively you ride you will be knocked off. I was in the middle of the lane, 3 bright lights on the front, fluoro jacket on and there is quite good streetlighting....but I might as well have been transparent to that driver at that time. It will be a real shame to have to ride feeling edgy all the time, I'm really hoping it will pass.

I was knocked down on a roundabout by a speeding twunt in 1999. I didn't ride for over a year. I was too scared plus my injuries took a long time to heal.

Then just after Christmas I was knocked down again by a moton, young lad in a Vauxhall, pulling out as I went by him sending me flying despite me screaming Oi! at him as he started to pull out it was as if he deliberately drove into me. Bike frame is bent plus rear wheel buckled plus other stuff so bike is a write off.

On both occasions I was lit up like a f*cking christmas tree as the RAC guy who witnessed my 1999 knock down on the roundabout by the moton driving into the back of me sending me into orbit told the police.

It's been almost two months since I was recently knocked down and I have not ridden since. Today I bought a foad Exposure Max D Mk3 front light which I will have on full beam the whole time when I do start riding again as I am do not want to be knocked down again as the odds are now on being killed. I will also buy an Airzound and a high quality head cam such as the Dogcam. I have made sure my last wishes are in place should I be taken from this earth by another wuckfit moton when I am out cycling.

I just hope and pray that fuel reaches £10 a litre so many wuckfits who drive will be priced off the road. Heheheee

But I guess each cyclist is different. I would like to hang up my cycling cleats but how else can one get around so easily and stay so fit? It really depresses me that as a group of road users cyclists do not normally kill or injure other road users but we have such a disproportionately high injury and mortality rate. Then you have to think about all the near hits, abuse, psychos, rubbish, stones, bricks and cigarettes being directed or thrown at you, being targetted by w*nkers taking pot shots at you with an air gun, fat anchors like that git Rayner and the BBC who spread anti-cycling vitriol and you have to think is it really worth it, really really worth it, getting killed or spending the rest of your life drinking through a straw??

wizzlebanger

Touch wood I haven't been knocked off yet but it's only human nature to feel apprehensive about getting back in the saddle. I'm sure time on the bike and incident free cycling will help.

On a safety note I got a Blackburn Flea light for Xmas which I have attached to my helmet. I really feel drivers notice it....especially at roundabouts and side junctions. It shines where I'm looking and not where my bike is pointing. (I also have lights on the bike)

As it's attached to my helmet I make a point of looking down side streets and at traffic at roundabouts. It's set to flash and is pretty bright for such a small thing and I almost see people thinking 'what the f^&k is that?'.

desweller

dilemna wrote:

Some quite worried stuff

I think it helps if you have driven or ridden in some less heavily governed places. I know you prefer not to think so, but the standard of driving in this country is exceptional compared to much of the rest of the world, so it may be unrealistic to expect it to improve much further. I have found that assuming a patient wait-and-see attitude to the intentions of my fellow road users is the best course of action in general.

dilemna

DesWeller wrote:

dilemna wrote:

Some quite worried stuff

I think it helps if you have driven or ridden in some less heavily governed places. I know you prefer not to think so, but the standard of driving in this country is exceptional compared to much of the rest of the world, so it may be unrealistic to expect it to improve much further. I have found that assuming a patient wait-and-see attitude to the intentions of my fellow road users is the best course of action in general.

And your point ......... ?

That I was at fault for being in the way of speeding inattentive motons?

:evil:

desweller

Whose fault the accident is is pretty immaterial when you're 6 feet under. Coming on here and complaining about it is also pretty futile. You're going to get people in cars, on the roads, breaking the law, no matter how carefully the roads are policed, just as you get people breaking every other law. Deal with it.

dilemna

DesWeller wrote:

Whose fault the accident is is pretty immaterial when you're 6 feet under. Coming on here and complaining about it is also pretty futile. You're going to get people in cars, on the roads, breaking the law, no matter how carefully the roads are policed, just as you get people breaking every other law. Deal with it.

Yeah like you get insentive prats who like to be key board wind up bores .............

davis

dilemna wrote:

That I was at fault for being in the way of speeding inattentive motons?

I've read a few of your posts.
What does that word actually mean? Is it a made-up-by-you-word? It really distracts the reader -- well, me, at any rate. My guess is it's a portmanteau of "moron" and "motorist", but I'm afraid you can't just unilaterally make stuff up and expect other people to understand you.

I'm not trying to get into an argument, least of all about your accidents, but that sort of word weakens your posts, not to mention reinforces an "us and them" mentality, which will help nobody.

(assuming I'm correct about the portmanteau)

desweller

dilemna wrote:

DesWeller wrote:

Whose fault the accident is is pretty immaterial when you're 6 feet under. Coming on here and complaining about it is also pretty futile. You're going to get people in cars, on the roads, breaking the law, no matter how carefully the roads are policed, just as you get people breaking every other law. Deal with it.

Yeah like you get insentive prats who like to be key board wind up bores .............

Sorry, reading it back that was much more aggressive than it needed to be.

Perhaps I should rephrase; although we'd all agree that the ideal would be to have trouble free roads, the practical reality is that we have to ride to the conditions we find ourselves in every day. To me, at least, that means my riding style must accomodate the possibility of encountering a driver that is either not paying attention or driving aggressively.