Hit and run by a moron.

whyamihere

Went out for a quick ride around lunchtime, intending to do a couple of hours. After half an hour, I was going down a main road at high speed (A38 between Northfield and Selly Oak, heading towards Selly Oak for any Brummies). Endomondo suggests I was doing about 32mph just before the collision (the speed limit's 40, so I'm fine there). I noticed a driver approaching from a side road, but he stopped and appeared to look at me, so I carried on. Continuing to look at me, he pulled forward about a metre, and then slowed again, almost to a stop. At that point, I could have just about dodged him, but there wouldn't have been a huge gap. Still seemingly looking straight at me, though, the guy carried on pulling out onto the main road, at which point I was screwed. I reckon I probably hit the car still doing about 15mph, travelling sideways as a result of trying to turn. Naturally went down pretty hard, but I was able to roll along the road. I ended up sprawled across one lane, with my bike lying across the other lane, fortunately the traffic was very light. The driver didn't stop, and I wasn't with it enough to get a registration number. A couple of people did stop, one of whom gave me a lift home, but due to being a bit shaken up I completely forgot to get any contact details.

The bike seems mostly ok. The tape and saddle are a bit ripped up, the bar's been gnawed up a bit by hitting the road, I think a bottle cage is broken, the mech hanger might be slightly bent and one of the shifters has been knocked around, but should be undamaged. As for me, I think I got away with the roll, but hit my hip pretty hard on the side of the car. The hip's hurting a fair bit, struggling to walk etc. If it keeps getting worse, I'll visit a doc. Called the police as soon as I got back, and they're sending around an officer tomorrow to talk to me. Hopefully, due to it being a pretty busy road, he'll have been caught on a camera.

ilm_zero7

hope you're ok - some injuries take time to become apparent - and good luck with some CCTV footage

mattshrops

hope they catch the cretin.

Was a bit disappointed with wiggins reaction to the crash at the olympics to immediately talk about helmets etc.Just when he has the ear of the whole country he fails to address the issue of car drivers complacency, ignorance and/or downright stupidity. Missed a massive opportunity there.
Having said that i'm not going to get all arsey about it until we hear the FULL interview and maybe not the edited version that the media chose to broadcast.

whyamihere

mattshrops wrote:

hope they catch the cretin.

Was a bit disappointed with wiggins reaction to the crash at the olympics to immediately talk about helmets etc.Just when he has the ear of the whole country he fails to address the issue of car drivers complacency, ignorance and/or downright stupidity. Missed a massive opportunity there.
Having said that i'm not going to get all arsey about it until we hear the FULL interview and maybe not the edited version that the media chose to broadcast.

I did think about that while sat at the side of the road getting my breath back (I wasn't wearing a helmet, y'see). My head was nowhere near the ground at any point.

mattshrops

whyamihere wrote:

mattshrops wrote:

hope they catch the cretin.

Was a bit disappointed with wiggins reaction to the crash at the olympics to immediately talk about helmets etc.Just when he has the ear of the whole country he fails to address the issue of car drivers complacency, ignorance and/or downright stupidity. Missed a massive opportunity there.
Having said that i'm not going to get all arsey about it until we hear the FULL interview and maybe not the edited version that the media chose to broadcast.

I did think about that while sat at the side of the road getting my breath back (I wasn't wearing a helmet, y'see). My head was nowhere near the ground at any point.

Glad to hear that, and at the risk of being a bit graphic not sure a helmets going to help if youre getting crushed under a coach either.

whyamihere

To be honest, that's what I generally think. If I'm going to hit the deck on the road bike, it's probably going to be in a way where a helmet won't help, whereas on my mountain bike (which appears to be magnetically drawn to trees) I wear one all the time.

veronese68

Glad you're not too badly hurt.
I still find it astounding that people can drive off when they've hurt another person. The twunt doesn't know you're not badly hurt. I hope the police find him and he gets done for driving off. Failing that, I hope his conscience finds him and beats the inconsiderate barsteward up about it every night so he can't sleep, ever.

izza

I had a very similar accident and the other side's insurance paid up straight away for material damages.

I felt for the rest of the day but woke up the next day with whiplash/debilitating backache, etc.

From a cynical point of view - if the driver has enough morals to check on your condition, then he has enough morals to pay insurance. Vice versa if he did a runner then I would guess he he's doing something else wrong, i.e. driving illegally. If you have your insurance then claim off them and give them all the details to have a chance of the long and painful CCTV hunt for evidence.

Good luck.

verylonglegs

Agree with izza, driving off in such circumstances usually smacks of no insurance or such like. I hope your injuries turn out to be superficial and he is traced.

tlw1

can't understand how anyone could just drive off - but then I have morals.

Glad you are relatively unharmed

Dmak

Sorry to hear. I hope he gets his nuts chopped off. Just a minor detail though, speed limits only apply to motors although you can still get done if you're deemed to be wreckless.

Good luck

pedylan

Dmak wrote:

Sorry to hear. I hope he gets his nuts chopped off. Just a minor detail though, speed limits only apply to motors although you can still get done if you're deemed to be wreckless.

Good luck

Yes, the law takes a dim view of anyone not in possession of a wreck

tim_wand

Right I' m going to get caned here but so be it!

I appreciate that none of this was your fault and I hope all is well and the driver gets hammered one way or another.

However as a former Motorcyclist and a current cyclist I take the view that every other road user is a danger to me.

No way would I be on an A road at 30 mph sans helmet.

Please Please Please in future wear one, you can never ever guarantee which part of your anatomy is going to contact with the impact first in a collision.

I can send you pictures of my Met Strad with marks on it that if they were on my skull I would be dead.

ilm_zero7

tim wand wrote:

Right I' m going to get caned here but so be it!

I appreciate that none of this was your fault and I hope all is well and the driver gets hammered one way or another.

However as a former Motorcyclist and a current cyclist I take the view that every other road user is a danger to me.

No way would I be on an A road at 30 mph sans helmet.

Please Please Please in future wear one, you can never ever guarantee which part of your anatomy is going to contact with the impact first in a collision.

I can send you pictures of my Met Strad with marks on it that if they were on my skull I would be dead.

totally agree with you. it is not worth the risk of not wearing one. I cant understand why people gamble with a potential injury which could not only destroy the quality of their lives, but that of those around them too. all for the sake of bravado in most cases it seems.

GiantMike

here we go again.....

hoolio

Glad to hear you're okay and I hope the aching doesn't last too long.
It utterly amazes me the stupidity of some drivers. I've been the victim of a hit and run before and I really thought about a helmet cam afterwards, never got around to it though. I hope the police catch him on the CCTV.

thecrofter

tim wand wrote:

Right I' m going to get caned here but so be it!

I appreciate that none of this was your fault and I hope all is well and the driver gets hammered one way or another.

However as a former Motorcyclist and a current cyclist I take the view that every other road user is a danger to me.

No way would I be on an A road at 30 mph sans helmet.

Please Please Please in future wear one, you can never ever guarantee which part of your anatomy is going to contact with the impact first in a collision.

I can send you pictures of my Met Strad with marks on it that if they were on my skull I would be dead.

AAAHHH!! the old helmet argument again.

I'm old enough to remember the exact same arguments when helmets were made law for motorcycles, I don't think anyone would now argue that riding a motorbike without a helmet is a good idea.

I never used to wear a helmet on my bike (I know, hypocrit) but since I started doing sportives and so on where they are compulsory I wear it all the time. Just as well, because I had a slight off last year and amongst other things dunted my head on the road, without a helmet I have no doubt I would have been concussed, at the very least, or fractured my skull. There are doubtless hundreds of folk who will have crashed and a helmet would make no difference. BUT here's the thing if you are in the middle of a crash and your helmet would make a difference you don't have time to nip back to the house and fetch it. So for the one time in a thousand that it will make a difference I think it's worth wearing it the other 999 times as well.

My 2p worth

fossyant

Any news/visits from the Police. Here is hoping the driver reports it ?

petemadoc

Helmet threads all round at the moment!

I can think of some pretty good reason why you should wear a helmet

I can't think of ANY valid reasons why you wouldn't

whyamihere

fossyant wrote:

Any news/visits from the Police. Here is hoping the driver reports it ?

They were over this morning for a couple of hours, taking a long statement. It's likely he won't be found, naturally.

rick_chasey

What a f*cker.

thecrofter

whyamihere wrote:

fossyant wrote:

Any news/visits from the Police. Here is hoping the driver reports it ?

They were over this morning for a couple of hours, taking a long statement. It's likely he won't be found, naturally.

Look on the bright side, no serious damage done to yourself or your bike.

Kieran_Burns

PeteMadoc wrote:

Helmet threads all round at the moment!

I can think of some pretty good reason why you should wear a helmet

I can't think of ANY valid reasons why you wouldn't

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/

Come back when you're educated then.

Brakeless

Kieran_Burns wrote:

PeteMadoc wrote:

Helmet threads all round at the moment!

I can think of some pretty good reason why you should wear a helmet

I can't think of ANY valid reasons why you wouldn't

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/

Come back when you're educated then.

I'm going to hit you on the head really hard with a big lump of metal(or lump of concrete if you'd prefer). You have the choice ofwearing a helmet or not wearing a helmet.

I think I know what your choice would be

Cleat Eastwood

I was so unlucky the other day - a car whizzed past and threw red paint at me....then threw some blue paint at me....what ar ethe chances of that eh? hit and run by a maroon.

Kieran_Burns

Brakeless wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

PeteMadoc wrote:

Helmet threads all round at the moment!

I can think of some pretty good reason why you should wear a helmet

I can't think of ANY valid reasons why you wouldn't

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/

Come back when you're educated then.

I'm going to hit you on the head really hard with a big lump of metal(or lump of concrete if you'd prefer). You have the choice ofwearing a helmet or not wearing a helmet.

I think I know what your choice would be

....sigh....

tim_wand

I am all pro choice, If you don't want to wear a helmet fine thats your choice and your entitled to make that decision.

When you go out on a bike , that's your decision too, but if it happened to go wrong, how many people would it effect?

Do you have dependants? People that need you to be functioning and rely upon you to be so?

How many motorists do you think would exempt themselves from any liability putting you in a comma just by stating

the simple maxim " they weren't even wearing a helmet"

My helmet weighs 200 grammes and vents air over my head lovely and looks better than my receding hairline and cost

less than £80 so why oh why would I not wear it?

Sorry this is a no brainer, I ve come off on ice and landed on my temple at low speed and the impact my helmets took

has told me that its saved me from serious injury.

Bunneh

Now I have a partner/gf/Mrs etc I will wear one. Before I didn't really worry about it, but she cares for me and I care about her, it would be wrong of me not to make sure I'm safe on the roads. She doesn't like me being without as she worries, especially after my first ride back from Crewe to Bolton yesterday along some seriously scary sh*t roads.

I hate my lid with a passion and will find another, less bulky one, that doesn't feel like I'm wearing a dustbin lid on my head.

I can't see it being compulsory, the police have enough to do than stop every scally on a BMX to tell him/her/it to wear a helmet.

CiB

Brakeless wrote:

I'm going to hit you on the head really hard with a big lump of metal(or lump of concrete if you'd prefer). You have the choice ofwearing a helmet or not wearing a helmet.

I think I know what your choice would be

That's fine with me, as long as I'm allowed to drive my car at your legs at 50mph. You can wear your helmet if you like.

I don't often encounter madmen attacking me with lumps of metal & concrete (except for mad Stan in the next village but we're all used to him now). Lots of drivers pass me at speed though.

Brakeless

CiB wrote:

Brakeless wrote:

I'm going to hit you on the head really hard with a big lump of metal(or lump of concrete if you'd prefer). You have the choice ofwearing a helmet or not wearing a helmet.

I think I know what your choice would be

That's fine with me, as long as I'm allowed to drive my car at your legs at 50mph. You can wear your helmet if you like.

I don't often encounter madmen attacking me with lumps of metal & concrete (except for mad Stan in the next village but we're all used to him now). Lots of drivers pass me at speed though.

I think you'll find legs heel better than heads. You also might find that after the impact with your legs your head might then hit the ground. Of course it might not, but why risk it.

team47b

car pulled out, over the handlebars type emergency stop, bike not damaged, but Mrs T's head after the ambulance had been called and stopped the bleeding. 2 hours sat around then had to take it easy and go straight home. Didn't get to go for a ride.

Now we wear helmets, saves wasting the afternoon