Chelsea & Westminster Hospital Accidents
Daithi
Posts: 184
I had an accident right outside Chelsea & Westminster Hospital last Friday night where I was caught out by the variable height curb they have on the parking bay for their entrance, has this happened to anyone else? You can see it on Streetview here http://goo.gl/maps/GHVkS.
I thought I could use the parking bay to go round a stationary vehicle that was waiting to turn right as it looked level with the road but when I actually got close to the kerb stone it started to rise up as can be seen from Streetview. It doesn't go up very high but my wheels hit the kerb & it was enough to knock me off balance & unfortunately I went smack in to the back of a van or ambulance parked in the bay & was knocked out briefly. I was treated excellently by the staff of the hospital, even got a sandwich & a drink from them later on, but the kerb stone to the parking bay does seem quite decpetive & indeed dangerous to me, especially at night time I imagine, if you're not familiar with it. Indeed I only figured out where I'd gone wrong by looking at it again on Streetview a few days later which shows that it is level at each end for a considerable length but for some reason rises to a low kerb in the middle & then drops back level again. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet, the back of which was smashed & no doubt saved me from more serious injuries.
Contributory factors on my part were probably going a little too fast for the situation, tired at the end of a long week & excited at trying to get to my folks for the Olympic opening ceremony that night & the prospect of riding to Box Hill for the road race the following day, which was written off by the accident. Still, if you're going to have a bike crash it may as well be right in the entrance of an A&E department although I don't think they need to generate any extra business!
Appreciate this is an open forum so anyone can comment what they like but please only want to here from anyone who's had a problem with this parking bay or similar, rather than comments on wisdom of my maneuver, helmet wearing etc. etc. I'm thinking of writing to the hospital about it so if anyone else has come off here it would help to know about it, the more I look at it on Streetview the more stupid the design of the parking bay seems.
I thought I could use the parking bay to go round a stationary vehicle that was waiting to turn right as it looked level with the road but when I actually got close to the kerb stone it started to rise up as can be seen from Streetview. It doesn't go up very high but my wheels hit the kerb & it was enough to knock me off balance & unfortunately I went smack in to the back of a van or ambulance parked in the bay & was knocked out briefly. I was treated excellently by the staff of the hospital, even got a sandwich & a drink from them later on, but the kerb stone to the parking bay does seem quite decpetive & indeed dangerous to me, especially at night time I imagine, if you're not familiar with it. Indeed I only figured out where I'd gone wrong by looking at it again on Streetview a few days later which shows that it is level at each end for a considerable length but for some reason rises to a low kerb in the middle & then drops back level again. Thankfully I was wearing a helmet, the back of which was smashed & no doubt saved me from more serious injuries.
Contributory factors on my part were probably going a little too fast for the situation, tired at the end of a long week & excited at trying to get to my folks for the Olympic opening ceremony that night & the prospect of riding to Box Hill for the road race the following day, which was written off by the accident. Still, if you're going to have a bike crash it may as well be right in the entrance of an A&E department although I don't think they need to generate any extra business!
Appreciate this is an open forum so anyone can comment what they like but please only want to here from anyone who's had a problem with this parking bay or similar, rather than comments on wisdom of my maneuver, helmet wearing etc. etc. I'm thinking of writing to the hospital about it so if anyone else has come off here it would help to know about it, the more I look at it on Streetview the more stupid the design of the parking bay seems.
Daithi, Cardiff
0
Comments
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It's a parking bay not a passing bay, thus the intention is for relitivly slow speed traffic, folks getting out of cars and such.
The lip may well be for blind and to make clear it's not the road.0 -
Going to fast by your own admission, in front of a hospital and undertaking through a parking bay, which had an ambulance parked in it.
Do you really want my opinion, or have you suffered enough?.I don't do smileys.
There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda
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Parktools0 -
Or you could blame Wiggle.I don't do smileys.
There is no secret ingredient - Kung Fu Panda
London Calling on Facebook
Parktools0 -
Um . . . . cheers guysDaithi, Cardiff0
