Today, it was my turn.

bornagainroadie

Brown van turned across me completely filling the cycle lane. Would have got round the back of him if he hadn't slowed down a bit so ended up shoulder charging the back of his van and ended up in the road.

Driver was picking up his boss from the side of the road who saw everything. That could be an interesting conversation.

Default logging speed of the Garmin is something like once every 10/12 seconds so it only saw the beginning of the deceleration from 25mph and then flat lines at 0.

Stiff shoulder other than that fine so far. Front wheel bent, shifters all over the place.

Hopefully everyone will play nice for the insurance claim thats coming. As for remembering to collect all the data mentioned in the "accident" thread I was sufficiently dazed that I thought taking a few photos and getting some contact details was good going.

Mostly I feel bad, like I have let my bike down after 4500 miles "together".

Hopefully this means someone else has been spared the hit today.

Be safe out there.
Nick

optimisticbiker

Sorry to hear that, glad to hear you're OK. Any accident you can walk away from is a good one as they say!

Came close a couple of times this morning... was hectic out there... videos to be posted later...

fossyant

Watch that shoulder.

See how it goes, as I needed surgery on mine after a shunt ! Took over two years to get them to operate on it ! :shock:

Tonymufc

This sh1te weather isn't helping much either. People act like they've never experienced rain etc before. As OPB says, if you can walk away from it then the bent pieces of metal can be replaced or straightened. Glad to hear that you're ok.

shm_uk

I didn't realise we were taking it in turns.
Is there a rota somewhere?

hfidgen

I didn't realise we were taking it in turns.
Is there a rota somewhere?

I have a growing feeling that it's my turn soon

Keep having close-calls with drivers pulling out / pulling in / crossing lanes on me. I think i need some sort of LED speedometer on my front and back so they can actually see my speed or something. These guys seem utterly inable to calculate it otherwise.

The other downside (other than an imminant wipe-out) is that my back tyres will need replacing several thousand miles early due to the amount of skidding they're having to do :roll:

Headhuunter

Tonymufc wrote:

This sh1te weather isn't helping much either. People act like they've never experienced rain etc before. As OPB says, if you can walk away from it then the bent pieces of metal can be replaced or straightened. Glad to hear that you're ok.

I don't think there's been any rain in London and the SE since about March!

gbsahne001

sorry to hear about it but how can you claim on their insurance; you went into the back of it, therefore it's your fault in the eyes of the insurance bods.

sketchley

gbsahne wrote:

sorry to hear about it but how can you claim on their insurance; you went into the back of it, therefore it's your fault in the eyes of the insurance bods.

I did think the same but if the van moved across a cycle / bus or inside lane without first checking it was clear and giving way to any cycles in it. Then Van will be at fault.

gbsahne001

OK, misread the first bit about the van turning

Headhuunter

Sketchley wrote:

gbsahne wrote:

sorry to hear about it but how can you claim on their insurance; you went into the back of it, therefore it's your fault in the eyes of the insurance bods.

I did think the same but if the van moved across a cycle / bus or inside lane without first checking it was clear and giving way to any cycles in it. Then Van will be at fault.

Yep, surely it's basically the same as changing lanes in a dual carriageway without checking and just mowing into a car on the left...

bornagainroadie

Apologies, the first paragraph was a bit ambiguous. To clarify,

The van, a long wheelbase transit, was coming the other way and turned right to cross my path and enter a business premises on my left. I did brake hard but it became apparent that stopping wasn't going to work so my "plan" was to try and pull out and go behind it. However, it slowed down and my escape route didnt materialise hence I hit the side of the van at the rear.

When it came to a stop its rear was still blocking the cycle path. Of which I have a photo should it be required.

I recall reaching a point where the outcome was inevitable and thinking "bugger this might hurt".

Headhuunter

BornAgainRoadie wrote:

Apologies, the first paragraph was a bit ambiguous. To clarify,

The van, a long wheelbase transit, was coming the other way and turned right to cross my path and enter a business premises on my left. I did brake hard but it became apparent that stopping wasn't going to work so my "plan" was to try and pull out and go behind it. However, it slowed down and my escape route didnt materialise hence I hit the side of the van at the rear.

When it came to a stop its rear was still blocking the cycle path. Of which I have a photo should it be required.

I recall reaching a point where the outcome was inevitable and thinking "bugger this might hurt".

Oh in that case it's def not your fault. This is exactly what caused my 1 major crash - a car driver turning right across my path as I cycled through a junction on a green light. My front wheel was destroyed, frame and forks written off and I also completely destroyed his windscreen as I flew over the bonnet and the left wing and bonnet were badly dented. I ended up in hospital with lots of bruises and needed stitches to a gash in my leg. Got compensation from his insurance company....

shouldbeinbed

Headhuunter wrote:

Tonymufc wrote:

This sh1te weather isn't helping much either. People act like they've never experienced rain etc before. As OPB says, if you can walk away from it then the bent pieces of metal can be replaced or straightened. Glad to hear that you're ok.

I don't think there's been any rain in London and the SE since about March!

You can have some of ours, Manchester living up to its stereotype big style

t4tomo

shouldbeinbed wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Tonymufc wrote:

This sh1te weather isn't helping much either. People act like they've never experienced rain etc before. As OPB says, if you can walk away from it then the bent pieces of metal can be replaced or straightened. Glad to hear that you're ok.

I don't think there's been any rain in London and the SE since about March!

You can have some of ours, Manchester living up to its stereotype big style

Don't really want the rain, but might need the contents of your reservoirs down here pretty soon if it doesn't rain seriously soon.

Headhuunter

t4tomo wrote:

shouldbeinbed wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

Tonymufc wrote:

This sh1te weather isn't helping much either. People act like they've never experienced rain etc before. As OPB says, if you can walk away from it then the bent pieces of metal can be replaced or straightened. Glad to hear that you're ok.

I don't think there's been any rain in London and the SE since about March!

You can have some of ours, Manchester living up to its stereotype big style

Don't really want the rain, but might need the contents of your reservoirs down here pretty soon if it doesn't rain seriously soon.

Yep things gardens starting to go very brown in London! Also the air feels very dusty with all the pollen and pollution...