Just been hit by a car

sirlylos

I've just been hit. I was doing about 10mph as I approached a roundabout and the girl pulled out right in front of me. I hit the car, went over the bonnet and hit the deck. Nothing's broken but I'm bruised and battered and the bike is tottaled. The driver was hysterical.

I always thought it might happen...occupational hazard I suppose. It hurt like and I'm shocked.

sev112

Hope you're ok mate
Sim happened to me 20+ years ago
Did the police turn up and caution the driver ?

sirlylos

No I got out of there, I wasn't badly hurt and I just needed to get out of there. A guy with a van took me home. I have since informed the police.

wiffachip

glad your ok, where exactly did it happen ?

ilm_zero7

numbers? car details, pictures, witnesses etc ? you're going to need them, and a doctors check up asap -

sheffsimon

ILM Zero7 wrote:

numbers? car details, pictures, witnesses etc ? you're going to need them, and a doctors check up asap -

+1...would have been better to get police there though...if only for any insurance related quibbles.

petemadoc

Every cloud has a silver lining

New bike time!

hope you're ok and I hope the insurance claim is swift. I'm still recovering from a fall just before Xmas. Unfortunately the rabbit that took me out wasn't insured.

Herbsman

http://www.lfgss.com/thread4213.html

Manc33

Same happened to me years ago, coming around a roundabout I saw an old lady waiting to pull onto the roundabout, its odd but I knew she was going to do it before she did it.

Sure enough, she just LOOKED PAST ME COMPLETELY and pulled onto the roundabout.

Luckily I only got "nudged" by the car, but it was enough to send me flying and the bike slamming to the ground, bike lights and batteries went everywhere - this was back with the old "Ever Ready" lights that looked like the ones that go on the sides of skips, they took two D batteries each. How about that for weight.

That was a yellow Specialized Rockhopper, no suspension, with Shimano Biopace aluminium chainrings (that became sharks teeth in no time as I recall), thumb shifters and a "U" brake on the back wheel, circa 1993 probably.

izza

I had similar case and was fine (bruised and shaken) for the day but could hardly move the next day with back ache.

If you feel worse over the next few days get down the quacks and make sure they note it and can give you muscle relaxant and pain relief.

toasted whippet

Good reason to be in the CTC or British Cycling - they have lawyers to do the chasing for you.

PS hope you're ok sirlylos!

briantrumpet

PeteMadoc wrote:

Unfortunately the rabbit that took me out wasn't insured.

But they caught it on CCTV....

petemadoc

briantrumpet wrote:

PeteMadoc wrote:

Unfortunately the rabbit that took me out wasn't insured.

But they caught it on CCTV....

That's the little fecker

briantrumpet

PeteMadoc wrote:

That's the little fecker

Looks like you lost a bit of flesh there. Glad you recovered OK. Bet you wish you'd been wearing a helmet.

Silly Old Hector

briantrumpet wrote:

PeteMadoc wrote:

Unfortunately the rabbit that took me out wasn't insured.

But they caught it on CCTV....

"It's a Killer Rabbit".........

Pross

Glad you're in one piece. I hate roundabouts on the bike and as a highway engineer I know there is little that can be done to make them safer for cyclists. There's one on my commute home that serves a supermarket. I need to go straight on but that direction only leads to a few factories and the cycleway so people coming out of the supermarket don't seem to expect to have to give way. I reckon I have more cars fail to give way to me coming around it than do give way, even when I put my 1200 lumen light on strobe they somehow miss me. It's got to the stage where I treat it as though they have priority just to be safe!

pete_s

Pross wrote:

I hate roundabouts on the bike and as a highway engineer I know there is little that can be done to make them safer for cyclists.

Are you sure?

briantrumpet

pete_s wrote:

Pross wrote:

I hate roundabouts on the bike and as a highway engineer I know there is little that can be done to make them safer for cyclists.

Are you sure?

I like the theory, but I'd be interested to see the accident statistics on a large number of those over an extended period: it's one thing to give a theoretical priority to cyclists, it's quite another to change people's ability to see cyclists in complicated urban environments. I'm not entirely convinced that that layout would achieve its aim in the long term, unless drivers' perception and attitudes can be changed too.

But anyway, this is probably a debate that deserves its own thread.

DesB3rd

^^^ Looks like an invitation to get run over by a motorist who doesn't expect a cyclist to suddenly appear broadside across his exit...

But bad luck sirlylos... Same thing (driver came out of a side road) happened to me late November, but I got away with a buckled wheel & a bruised shoulder. Certainly made me feel a bit light headed for a couple of hours...
In spite of the clear cut scenario the old chap couldn't grasp that a competant and cycle aware ("I used to race for Team Mitsubishi") driver, as he understood himself to be, could be at fault; it sounds terrible but as I spoke to him I couldn't help thinking "I know you want to hang onto your independance but..."

disquieting_museeuws

briantrumpet wrote:

pete_s wrote:

Pross wrote:

I hate roundabouts on the bike and as a highway engineer I know there is little that can be done to make them safer for cyclists.

Are you sure?

I like the theory, but I'd be interested to see the accident statistics on a large number of those over an extended period: it's one thing to give a theoretical priority to cyclists, it's quite another to change people's ability to see cyclists in complicated urban environments. I'm not entirely convinced that that layout would achieve its aim in the long term, unless drivers' perception and attitudes can be changed too.

But anyway, this is probably a debate that deserves its own thread.

Virtually all (well in my experience) junctions look something like that in NL; motorists usually give way to bikes even if it's the motorist's right of way (the jagged teeth mean 'stop' for bikes and cars). I guess it all comes down to the old question of perception of what roads are for, and the fact that dutch drivers are expecting cyclists to be around.

pinno

In November one afternoon returning from a ride approaching a roundabout, a car cut right accross me as he was not indicating and I thought he was going straight on. I cursed and swore at the bloke who actually got out of the car and approached me. I took off and reported the incident to the police. My reply from the (female) police officer was, and I quote "We are not here to uphold the highway code" !!
Well thanks a f*cking bunch.
To the OP - did you get the number plate and are you going to persue it ? The guy who posted the 'incident with a motorcycle' managed to get compensation despite the incident not being held up by the police or the motorcycle club. Good luck 'cos until car drivers are hit in the pocket with insurance premium hikes, the ba$tards won't change their driving habits (and I do a lot of driving).

Pross

pete_s wrote:

Pross wrote:

I hate roundabouts on the bike and as a highway engineer I know there is little that can be done to make them safer for cyclists.

Are you sure?

Positive, you'd have to completely re-educate driver behaviour (and educating it in the first place is hard). You'd also have to re-engineer virtually every roundabout in the UK as we design them differently over here. On the continent the theory is to make them tight on entry and exit so that vehicles travel slowly around them and anyone waiting can accept a smaller gap in traffic. Over here they are engineered to slow people slightly on the approach but the exits are designed to be much more open so that vehicles can pick up speed. UK roundabouts are all about maximising capacity. There is new design guidance to start going the continental route so maybe over the course of a generation we can start going down that route but with the current fast exits I really wouldn't fancy trying it.

capt_slog

Pross wrote:

pete_s wrote:

Pross wrote:

I hate roundabouts on the bike and as a highway engineer I know there is little that can be done to make them safer for cyclists.

Are you sure?

Positive, you'd have to completely re-educate driver behaviour (and educating it in the first place is hard). You'd also have to re-engineer virtually every roundabout in the UK as we design them differently over here. On the continent the theory is to make them tight on entry and exit so that vehicles travel slowly around them and anyone waiting can accept a smaller gap in traffic. Over here they are engineered to slow people slightly on the approach but the exits are designed to be much more open so that vehicles can pick up speed. UK roundabouts are all about maximising capacity. There is new design guidance to start going the continental route so maybe over the course of a generation we can start going down that route but with the current fast exits I really wouldn't fancy trying it.

Another flaw of UK roundabouts is that they are all so different. I never realised how much so until my German colleague drove me on an outing for work. We approached a roundabout and he looked at it and shook his head, saying ...
"The only safe way to tackle a roundabout in Britain is to have been there before".

Sadly this is true. How many times have you been on an roundabout and realised that the car in front/beside you "isn't a local" because they don't know the which lane to be in to exit properly? And before you say "read the signs", it isn't always obvious, there are plenty of islands where you have to 'know' where to be, and if you followed the signs you can be in the wrong place.