Have you ever had a collision with a car on your bike?

mfin

Having last week had a collision with a car that pulled out on me, I was wondering just how many people on here have ever had a fight with one?

zippypablo

Voted yes but thankfully never had a serious one. Did have to mount the kerb once to avoid a car trying to hit me. :x

Monty Zoncolan

Yes but very minor - I was cycling down a main suburban road and saw a car pull out a side street into my path. Luckily I'd anticipated it and braked. I skidded to a halt just so as to gently come to rest against the front wing. No damage done and at least the driver was apologetic.

Nuggs

Yes but only one.

I was riding across a busy mini roundabout. A car to my left didn't see me, failed to give way and T-boned me.

I went up onto the bonnet (dented that), into the windscreen (smashed that) and then rolled off onto my feet (nice dismount). I was more shaken than anything. A few minor bruises but nothing serious. The bike only had superficial damage and has done many safe miles since. Found my waterbottles about 30 yards down the road so it must have been some impact.

Someone was looking over me that day.

thegreatdivide

Not my fault. Old lady driving on the right hand side of the road round a corner. Four months on and I still have a very broken arm. Legal business is still ongoing but thankfully her insurance company are taking full responsibility.

jomoj

thankfully one very minor one when a dippy tart driving while on her mobile bumped into me while was stationary at some traffic lights.

I also had a motorbike courier deliberately try to barge me off the road once because he thought I was giving myself too much space when over taking a bus - he explained this to me politely at the lights. Nasty little t***

Mr Plum

Twice, probably my fault the first time, definitely my fault the second time. You'd think I'd learn... :roll:

bartimaeus

A long time ago, when I was young and foolish, I took a corner too fast, drifted into the middle of the road and hit a car coming the other way. Luckily he had almost stopped, and my superman impression saw me land in the road alongside him so I had nothing more than some cuts and bruises. It was only when I tried to turn my forks back round that I realised they weren't back-to-front - my frame had buckled at the head-tube.

elmsallmissile

It's a no from me thankfully, but have to say some blithering numpty tries to take me out most days, managed to foil their attempts up to now 40 odd years of riding, my luck must be wearing thin? I have to say the standard of driving is getting noticeably worse recently, or I am getting grumpier!

fluff.

Many years ago. The old left turn directly infront of me, had nowhere to go but over the bonnet. Thankfully only suffered some road rash landing the other side of the car.

anto164

Yep. Minor.

Car pulled over into the side of me at about 10mph. Ended up sat on their bonnet.

Thing that pished me off the most is that i had brand new white shoes on, and i must have kicked the tyre when we collided, left a massive black mark all up the side of the shoes. The mark was the permenant kind.

ddraver

Accidently said no but meant yes - my fault though, went into the back of one at the lights...

nwallace

No, closest i've been is about 2cm from hitting a neighbours car, was too busy playing with speedo to realise how close I was to it.

And a mate side swiped a parked car years back when we were racing between cul-de-sacs. Hitting the deck and destroying the cars wing mirror.

desweller

Yep - left hooked at 18mph on my old BSO. Totalled the frame and led to my first 700c wheeled bike (a £160 hybrid, which I still have, sort of), which led to my first road bike. So something of a blessing in disguise!

Bloody hurt at the time, mind.

SmellTheGlove

Sprawled over bonnet after idiot driver who'd been looking at me approaching for a decent length of time decides to pull out when I'm two metres away. Luckily uninjured. And now two decades in the past.



Thinks ... a collision with a girl in knitwear ... that could be messy ...

mossychops

Yep - twice.

First time my fault, was crossing the road (I was only 14) car coming down the road decided leaning on his horn would be the best idea so I paniced and hit my brakes, realised I was in the middle of the road, tried to scarper to the kerb and didnt make it. 6 weeks in hospital for a broken femur.

Second time guy braking hard slid over the white line of an island and hit me sideways, managed to stay upright while pushed along sideways for long enough for me to make eye contact and call the driver some names. Asked/demanded the bloke to get his van off the island for a chat, he got out apologising and went on to say how he couldnt believe he'd done it as a cyclist himself. Got away with a scratched frame.

Also been hit on foot twice. I am one of the most careful people on the road too. Girlfriend is oblivious to traffic and walks in the middle of the road - never been hit (still tell her off though)

lvquestpaddler

Only a near miss on the push bike at a junction, car stopped with me at 45 degrees pedal under his bumper...but while overtaking two cars in '87 on my 350 Yam the front car did an illegal U-turn leaving me with a car at one side and one side on in front...went for the gap clipped his light cluster and down I went. Broken collarbone, wrist and slashed leg.....

Kendal Black Drop

Not really a collision but a good few years ago I was annoyed by a car driver so I hit his door with my hand when he passed me: when approaching a traffic island I'd pulled into the centre of the carriageway to stop cars overtaking but this bloke decided to squeeze by anyway so I gave his car a wallop with my fist. He stopped further up the road to ask why. I stopped to talk to him and explained why. Luckily we were both very diplomatic about the incident and there wasn't a big row.

More recently I had an embarrassing clipped in incident which was entirely my fault: I'd just converted to clip-less pedals. I set off from a cafe and was still in the car park, cycling very slowly, coming up behind a very slow moving car which stopped due to traffic in front. Unfortunately I'd not left enough space and didn't unclip in time and fell over onto the back of the now stationary car. The woman in the car got out to check I was OK. No damage done except to my pride.

petemadoc

Twice

Once when I was about 15 I think. Going full pelt on my trusty MTB when a car stuck it's nose out of a driveway. I was checking behind me as I wanted to move to the other side of the road. I hit the cars wheel arch at maybe 18mph, the bike went over my head, I flew over the car bonnet and landed on the floor. The only damage done was to the cars wheel arch Funny how when you're a kid you're indestructable

2nd time was a little more sinister. cycling along with a buddy 2 abrest on a wide straight country lane. Some d1ck in a landrover comes up behind us beeps his horn aggressively and revs his engine. Me being a c0cky, I hold my ground and wait for the oncoming traffic to dissipate until I pull over to let him past. The guy rams me with his wing mirror which scared the sh1t out of may, What I didn't know was that he was pulling a trailer which he then rammed me with again. Still can't believe I stayed upright and this story still gets me mad. Lesson to be learnt, always always yeild to cars no matter how much they pi55 you off.

andy46

Thankfully not, though I've only been riding on the roads a couple of years.

Had a few close calls/near misses whatever you want to call them, but no collisions so far *touches wood*

Bozman

3!
1, I was cycling on the near side of a BMW at roughly the same speed(20mph) in flowing traffic, it pulled straight across me and into a parking space. Old bloke - "i didn't see you". He even parked his car up and walked off while i was still lying in the middle of the road, a witness had to chase after him and let him know that he'd hit me.
2, Landrover Discovery pulled out straight in front of me from a side street and i hit the side door . Woman - "i didn't see you".
3, A soft top Peugeot failed to stop at an island and hit me with enough force to rip her wing mirror off and right her front wing and door off. Young woman - ( i didn't see you", it was her third accident of 2010 and it was only April at the time.

chiark

Yep, just once thankfully.

I was about 15, and on my shiny new, hard earned Trek 950. White transit overtakes perfectly safely, and pulls in quite close. It would have been fine if he hadn't been towing a caravan...

Side swiped into the kerb and off the bike at about 15mph. Left quite a lot of skin on the pavement, but was OK to ride home...

Lady in a metro behind the van stopped and checked I was OK - wanted me to get checked out at the hospital, but thankfully I was fine. No damage to the bike, either . Didn't bother reporting it to police as neither of us had the van's registration.

bompington

Car pulled into the bike lane to get round the right-turning queue at lights, side-swiped me onto the quite high kerb. I was doing something over 20mph at the time*, bike somersaulted and I hit the pavement with the back of my right shoulder and the right side of my head: helmet split clean in two, mashed collar bone, broken shoulder blade, couple of cracked ribs, bruised knuckles & torn gloves (were my hands still on the bars? never worked that one out) and no damage at all to the bike except a burst front tyre.
I really had to get lawyers involved when a couple of years of attempting to be reasonable and keep them out of it resulted in an offer of compensation less than half the going rate, so far my lawyer has cranked that up by a factor of 4 and is after more. :twisted:


*which doesn't, either in my opinion or the eyes of the law, make it in any way my fault, but I have taken it as a bit of a learning point. How often do you see drivers check their mirror before pulling into a bike lane? I've kept an eye out since then, and the answer is basically "never".

asprilla

Not yet.

I have, however, had a collision with a cyclist whilst I was in my car though; coming down an urban 40mph dual carriageway towards red lights. All the traffic is queueing in the left lane so I stay right and catch the lights perfectly at 40mph. Unfortunately the cyclist coming from the junction on the left thought he could beat the 'stationary' traffic waiting at the lights.

Fortunately he decided to use is body as a friction brake on the tarmac and only glanced the rear bumper and so there was no damage done to the car.

Stiff_Orange

No but I once hit a bus.....driver.

There's a approach to an large traffic island which goes into about 4 lanes. There is also a bus stop area which is a terminus for buses. Along the side of this is a dedicated cylceway and pavement. So from left to right it goes pavement,kerb,cycleway,kerb,bus stopping area, 4 lanes of traffic.
Because the traffic is insane I used to take the cycleway. Now if a bus turns up I slow right down because passengers have to get out the bus and cross to the pavement. However on this particular day there were only stationary parked buses, I was cycling past a bendy bus (don't get me started) at about 10mph and the driver steps straight out the center doors right in front of me. Whack!! I go over the handlebars smashing my nose and chin into the guys head. Apart form a bloody nose bruised lip I'm OK, but the bus driver couldn't move his leg, other bus drivers started milling around and an inspector was called. The inspector took all my details and conceded that I wasn't at fault since I was on a permitted cycleway and the driver should have checked before leaving his bus.
I never heard anything more and since me and the bike were OK never took if further.
(don't believe in compensation culture).
Never used that cycle way again, but have noticed that the council have recently swapped it over so the pedestrian pavement in next to the buses, only problem is that it leaves the passenger bus shelters in the middle of the cycleway, Doh!

Redhog14

No, but in an attmept to avoid a car which had pulled out in front of me (right hand turn for him) on Edinburgh's cobbled streets, the front wheel went from under me and I went ar5e over t1t right outside a pub with a huge queue in front of it (Rugby weekend). As I waited for the laughter to start I looked up and realised there was a coach in the way so saving my blushes. Worst thing was the driver of the car drove off looking down at me on the ground through his side window without a hint of concern.

Did get nudged by a bus once in Princes St, I caught up with him at the lights and gave his doors a bloody good kicking.

amun1000

Yes - usually involving roundabouts and traffic coming from the right (as it usually does on a rdbt)

all the times resulted in quick payment by check - although one time did result in a painful leg for a long time (but this was before our present climate of 'sue the b*st*rd!')

zanelad

Just entering a roundabout when a car overtook me and took the first exit off the roundabout. The back wing of the car clipped me and down I went.

The nice lady took me home, insisted my wife rang for an ambulance as I was a bit woozy. I felt foolish as I only had cuts and grazes. Declined to go to hospital, and went to work an hour or two later.

She then took my wife to pick my bike up.

If you've got to be knocked off your bike, get knocked off by her.

fnb1

yes, once many many years ago, wrote off a Hillman Avenger in the process (that will give those who know an indication of how long ago it was)
It was entirely my fault, head down, way too fast, into the back of it, badly bent rear bumper and boot lid, smashed rear screen, badly dented the roof on my way over, bounced off bonnet somehow taking a windscreen wiper with me as I passed, landing hard on the ground in front of it sans velo. I can still picture the driver jumping out and rushing to the back of his car to see what hit him only to see my lovely lime green bike firmly embedded in his bumper but no cyclist, I gathered my thoughts and my bruised but amazingly unbroken body, approached him to appraise him of my trajectory with a 'it was me' greeting and hand him his wiper arm back.

Thanksfully he was both a decent sort and well insured and claimed via his own insurance for the beyond economical repairs to his car. I am sure he was better off without his Avenger anyway. I have tried to give cars a wide berth since and it has served me well in the intervening 30+ years of cycling

fossyant

3 times.

Late 80's, car from side street pulled out - no injury but rear seat stay bent (was cold set by the local frame builder) but took months to get the other party to pay out.

Mid 90's - took out by a left hook at speed - wrote off bike, broke my left hand. Hit and run.

2.5 years ago - taken out on roundabout. Driver admitted liability. Took 2 years to get a shoulder decompression op, and received permanent nerve damage in my neck, resulting in constant pain in arm - now on medication for life ! Still receiving physio post op (out of my pocket). Claim still going on, and on.

And in June, crashed into the back of a taxi - I hit a puddle that had a pot hole in, it bounced the bike off line straight into the taxi. Bike = bent Ritchey bars. Car - helmet shaped dent in boot. Offered my contact details (BC insured) buy the guy was fine and thought the dent would pop out. No call from him.

shouldbeinbed

2.

once as a 11 year old on my first drop bar bike. barrel arsed it down the cul-de-sac where we lived in the middle of a very quiet commuter village in the middle of rural cambridgeshire in the middle of the day in the middle of the week where no cars ever went. Full tilt into the side of a Pontiac Firebird that had come for a blast round the quiet loop of the estate. I went over the bonnet, over the other side of the road and came to a halt in Sharon Heather's (girl in my class, huge crush on her, never got anywhere) dads hedge. the bike and hedge were more of a mess than me or the car.

second time I was on a fast 2 lane road checking back before turning right. a van jumped a junction in front of the car in front of me, She did an emergency stop, I didn't even know she'd stopped until I clipped the back of her, faceplanted the rear windscreen pillar and rolled along the side and onto the floor. My bike ended up in the oncoming traffic and the tw*t in the van nearly ran that over as he made a sharp exit. I was seeing stars for days after and felt like I'd been punched in the face by Lennox Lewis for weeks.

both could have been worse