So who's been knocked off then?

jonny_trousers

Nothing even remotely scientific. I'm just interested to see how many of us here have been knocked off our bikes by careless drivers.

richk

Twice - 35 years apart

SmellTheGlove

Once. About 20 years ago, driver waiting at side turning on left, sees me quite clearly as I approach over about 30 metres. Waits until I'm about 2 metres away and still travelling then pulls out, me unhurt but completely f'in speechless; b!tch drives away.
This is probably not an uncommon sequence of events even in these arguably more enlightened days, though perhaps Tottenham has special case status (for it was there).

Keith47

Also twice, 31 years apart! 1st one nearly fatal, last one just a glancing blow but enough to knock me down.

Lost count of the close shaves though............

deptfordmarmoset

I've got a feeling that this thread might frighten newbies

Once for me, driver didn't look pulling out of side road, stopped and gave a false name and I couldn't trace the registration number.

Here's a reassuring thought: I've come off through my own stupidity many more times than I've had driver-assisted dismounts

EKE_38BPM

Yes, three times in 4 days (two of them in one day), but that is in 30 years of cycling (man and boy).
As DM says, I've come off through my own stupidity many more times than I've had driver-assisted dismounts.

shouldbeinbed

Once in 20+years of regular riding. A van came out from a side road fast and without looking, forced a car to veer and collect me in the process. bike was a write off wheel, forks & frame damaged and I was grazed and seeing stars for a few days but nothing permanent or major.

It was over 10 years ago now and I'm another that has had more clipless and self inflicted numpty moments.

rebs

Got hit twice. Second time by a club DJ. Conclusive proof that DJ's don't always save lifes!

Mr Sharky

Twice in over 30 years of cycling... it just so happens that they have both been in the last 2.5 years.

Jan 2008, WVM without nearside mirror sat in stationary traffic just decided to veer left across the bike lane and onto the pavement to make a phone call... I just ahppened to be just beside hias he did this so got wiped out. :evil:

July 2010, riding at about 20mph along nice straight road and covering brakes as saw a motorist waiting to turn right from a road on my left... he saw me and was waiting for the young woman who was driving towards me and who wanted to turn right into the road he was exiting... she slowed to a stop, presumably as there was traffic (i.e. me) coming the other way... then. when I was about 20m away decided to pull across in front of me. Managed to lock lock both wheels and skid, whilst turning the bike sideways until I hit the final third of her car. :roll:

Still out cycling most days for my commute though and have had many close shaves... better than being in a car though!!!

twonks

Only the once have I been forced to the ground by a driver.

About 18 years ago now, but still remember it vividly.

Coming round a roundabout directly in front of the house after a quick pre work ride.

Said roundabout is off a hill so approached it at 25mph or so, when a van comes towards me the wrong way !

I had no choice but to swerve and hop up the curb. (mtb so not a difficult thing to do).

However I missjudged it in my panic and caught the front wheel at an angle on the curb stone.

Cue the bike sliding from under me as I skidded on my left side along the pavement and into a raised edging curb between path and grass.

10 minutes later I was at the kitchen sink washing all the gravel out of my left side as it was covered in road rash. My mum came in, asked if I was ok to which I went all wobbly and fainted. oops.

No serious damage to me or bike but I struggled wearing clothes for the next few days.

Plank in a van didn't stop.

Kieran_Burns

rebs wrote:

Got hit twice. Second time by a club DJ. Conclusive proof that DJ's don't always save lifes!

So. You're dead then?

Aren't you in the wrong thread?

rebs

Just pointing out he cant be very good at saving lifes when he is ploughing into cyclists! :P

turnerjohn

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Yes, three times in 4 days (two of them in one day), but that is in 30 years of cycling (man and boy).
As DM says, I've come off through my own stupidity many more times than I've had driver-assisted dismounts.

half awake in the mornings maybe ?!

Agent57

Once, in 35 years of cycling on roads. About 26 years ago when I was 16, some old geezer pulled out of a junction as I passed it. He was 76.

Flyingbogey

motorist turning into petrol station took me with him. I was doing a super endo and striping up the side of his merc, both came to a halt on the forecourt and he has the temerity to have a go at me. Something about deep gouge along the whole length of his car and wing mirror hanging off! Some people.

Jay dubbleU

Once by a motorbike on a roundabout about 20 years ago - he didn't see me coming from the right and clipped my back wheel - I have to say he got off worse than me - I had a bent rim and a few broken spokes - he came off and bike slid and hit the island in the centre of the roundabout, fuel pipe broke and it burst into flames

woodnut

t boned on a roundabout a couple of months ago. I was lucky in that he hit my back wheel mostly and my left leg got just a glancing blow.

phoog

once, about a year ago, a driver turning right out of a side turning pulls out , then stops half way as he spots a driver coming from his left, then looks right, spots me about 10 ft away and then reverses back at the same time I figure I won't stop in time and try to go behind him, he was a really nice 80 year old bloke who apologized non stop and told me all about his days touring on a 1940s claud butler, which made it all worse

unixnerd

Car pulling out of Tesco's didn't see me, quite a low speed accident. Broke a few spokes and damaged a pedal along with a slightly sore knee. Went into the bike shop across the road where she agreed to sort it out. Embarrassingly for her the guy in the shop was an old school friend!

I wonder if anyone here has knocked a cyclist off whilst driving? I haven't but but there have been a few close shaves with cyclists I didn't see until the last second.

roger_merriman

oblique junction, early am. he though i'd gone and slowly pulled out pushing me over.

But the one and only time.

jonny_trousers

unixnerd wrote:

I wonder if anyone here has knocked a cyclist off whilst driving? I haven't but but there have been a few close shaves with cyclists I didn't see until the last second.

Thankfully not, but there have been a couple of times when I have spotted cyclists at the very last second before potentially causing something disasterous. We really are hard to spot at times.

I certainly didn't intend to scare potential newbies with this thread, and if anything I think the results show that the frequency of offs are extremely low. No harm in understanding what dangers there are when beginning to commute by bike, however.

optimisticbiker

if we're being specific about motorists then twice in 10y... if any non-bike object then three!

First was a WVM on the Edgware road just coming up to marylebone flyover, pulled over into the bus lane without signalling, i bounced off the side and attempted excavating the road with my fingertips - lost 3 nails and had all fingers bandaged for 2 weeks - hard to type on a keyboard like that!

Second was in Regents Park, gold porsche went wide on the turning into the Outer Circle from the A41/Park Road gate and pushed me into the kerb where i hit a kerbstobe that had been knocked out by a lorry... went over the bars, landed on the point of my left shoulder and broke collarbone in 4 places and cracked 2 ribs...

Third time was in Wardour st, a woman in a long flowing wrapround silk dress, stepped out into the road while talking on her mobile and looking the wrong way.. I missed her but my pedal caught her dress... the result was something out of Benny Hill.. the bike was pulled out from under me but wasnt really hurt, just some grazes... but her dress ended up in the chain and was ripped off her ... apparently it was something designer and very expensive... and she wasnt wearing too much underneath - barely decent. She threatened to sue but nothing ever came of it... despite my grazes I couldnt help but smile! (and I still have a piece of the dress somewhere in the garage)

merkin

Sounds like we need pictures, or preferably video, of this event happening to fully understand the sequence of events. :twisted:

cjcp

Twice by drivers (first in Newport, by a car coming onto a roundabout - completely broadsided; the second in Stockwell, by a coach), twice by peds (first was on Bishopsgate; the second by a ped/passenger who "doored" me when he stepped out of a taxi).

gaz545

I've been knocked off twice by a motorist. Both times They pulled across my path either coming out of or entering a side road.

optimisticbiker

merkin wrote:

Sounds like we need pictures, or preferably video, of this event happening to fully understand the sequence of events. :twisted:

I wish i had some :evil: ... she was very....ummmm... attractive, possibly a model.... and didnt seem too :oops: about the 'exposure' - it was soho after all...

mudcow007

my dad was knocked off his Tricross on saturday by a women who didnt look on a roundabout, she stopped to check he was ok though

jonny_trousers

mudcow007 wrote:

my dad was knocked off his Tricross on saturday by a women who didnt look on a roundabout, she stopped to check he was ok though

That was sweet of her.

schweiz

Beige Seat Marbella, August 1990, Woman driver gabbing to her mother in the passenger seat. As I rode straight on past a side road to my left, she came in the opposite direction and turned right over the top of me. I was one of those slow-motion events in your life. I still remember feeling the heat from the radiator grill on my right calf before my bike and I went underneath. I had a nice tyre print across my thigh and a bolt on the underside of the car hit my elbow, punctured a hole in my arm and smashed the bone. I crawled out and my bike was wedged underneath.

Loads of people helped my out (I was 12 at the time), called my dad, called the Police and Ambulance. Apparantly my dad turned up at the accident scene and saw the Police measuring up the scene, saw my bike under the car and assumed I was dead! He turned up at the hospital and I could hear his voice through the curtain of the cubicle. My pulse and blood pressure went through the roof, the alarms went off on the machines and the first thing I said when I saw him was 'It wasn't my fault, it wasn't!'

The doc at the time said that I was luck that I wasn't younger as I wouldn't have survived the impact and if I had been older, I wouldn't have fitted under the car.

Second one was in 1994 and I was squeezed off the road at the entry to a roundabout, just a bit of property damage. Company who owned the van paid up and banned the driver from company vehicles. The case was helped by eye witnesses who called the company independently from me to complain about his driving.

Every off since then has been my own stupidity!

wgwarburton

Hi,
I don't remember... I hesitate to say it's never happened, but if it has I can't recall so.

I certainly haven't had any serious injury since I broke my arm when I missed a corner on a muddy footpath at age 13 or so.

I'm pretty sure I've spent more time cycling than I have on other "activities" -it seems pretty obvious to me that that would be the case, since it's transport, as well as potentially recreation, but apparently the industry and retailers generally don't see it that way!
Despite that, I've had more injuries skiing (split lip, broken handbones), sailing (nasty whack to the head), surfing (broken tooth), and generally being Young-and-Stupid (dislocated finger, broken tooth, sprained wrists).

I'd particularly warn against being Young-and-Stupid. It seems to be a major cause of injury.

I don't recall anything cycling-related worse than occasional gravel-rash in recent decades... Which is to be expected, really: cycling is a very safe activity, at least on-road, anyway.

Cheers,
W.

fossyant

Three times.

All commuting.

Late teens - side street - driver drove out into me - looking opposite direction - bent seat stay.

Mid twenties - doing close to 30 mph, two lanes, transit in outside lane veers left across me - straight through his wing mirror and over the bonnet - crashed between some scaffolding - bike didn't make it - becnt in two. 1 broken hand. Driver legged it.

Late 30's - (2.5 years ago) - driver pulled onto roundabout at speed and drove right through me. Landed on head and shoulder - only just had shoulder operated on two and a bit months ago - still very painfull, and looks like permanent nerve damage. Legal case on-going (driver admitted fault). Bike faired better - just scrapes.

Plenty of my own crashes - seem to have settled down though, although fell off on Sunday on the MTB - but that's part of the fun.