Collision training

pmorgan1

This post is dedicated to those pedestrians who choose to endanger their and cyclists' lives by leisurely crossing the Cycle Superhighway without having the right of way, e.g. on a clearly marked crossing in the middle of their red. In particular, those pedestrians crossing the superhighway between the Cannon Street and Southwark Bridges.

Such pedestrians probably don't realise the extent of consequences of an impact with a cyclist at 15+ mph. But, let's leave them alone as it's their life and their choice.

I have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay. Luckily, I have not hit anyone yet, but, after the replacement of a cycle-friendly 4-lane road with a choice between a stationary traffic and a nightmare of the cycle superhighway, I have to make pedestrians who endanger my life aware of my presence in the road or perform an emergency manoeuvre on a very regular basis. I do not like this. I felt a lot safer by cycling in the road before the Superhighway was built, I wrote about this earlier.

Here's the punch line: when facing a situation where a collision is inevitable I want to learn how to come out of the incident with as few consequences as possible. I was thinking that fellow motorcyclists perhaps could chip in or advise. Any other ideas or advice would also be appreciated.

Last, but not least, a campaign on making pedestrians aware, etc, etc. Just penciling this in as an idea. If you have any experience or advice how to take it to BBC/media etc. please let me know as well.

fat daddy

pmorgan1 wrote:

Here's the punch line: when facing a situation where a collision is inevitable I want to learn how to come out of the incident with as few consequences as possible..

there is not a lot you can do to be honest ... if you have time to get ready for the collision, you have time to avoid it .... so really the only thing you can do is if you have your wits about you as you are going down, then don't put your arms out to brake the fall, all that will happen is you will break a collar bone

In reality though never once have I crashed and been able to think what to do as I fell, generally physics dictated if my feet came out of cleats, if I went over the bars, if I let go of the bike, if the bike pinged up in the air and landed on me ... effectively I was a passenger in ALL my crashes.

bigmat

I recommend riding more slowly if it is as bad as you say it is, or find a different route. No crash is inevitable.

Pufftmw

fat daddy wrote:

pmorgan1 wrote:

Here's the punch line: when facing a situation where a collision is inevitable I want to learn how to come out of the incident with as few consequences as possible..

there is not a lot you can do to be honest ... if you have time to get ready for the collision, you have time to avoid it .... so really the only thing you can do is if you have your wits about you as you are going down, then don't put your arms out to brake the fall, all that will happen is you will break a collar bone

In reality though never once have I crashed and been able to think what to do as I fell, generally physics dictated if my feet came out of cleats, if I went over the bars, if I let go of the bike, if the bike pinged up in the air and landed on me ... effectively I was a passenger in ALL my crashes.

I always find that time slows down a bit actually and a great deal of thinking goes on!

Instinctively, I tuck my head/shoulder and roll. This comes of many years of Judo as a kid and learning how to break a fall. This has saved me from (worse) injury a number of times, such as OTB at 50mph+ on a motorbike when the front wheel locked. In that accident I made a conscious effort to steer out of the way as I slid of the bike coming fast behind me and the car that had done a u-turn in front - successfully. Another time front wheel got stuck in expansion joints in New Cross and although I low-sided, I again steered away from the front wheel of the car behind me and tried to stop clipping the other cyclist.

If a pedestrian walks out in front of me, I also tend to lean towards them to shoulder barge as if you lean away and clip them, you will be unbalanced and fall.

The Rookie

Agreed, if you can't reasonably avoid then lean into them and drop a shoulder so you are more likely to stay rubber side down or if you do come off its in a straight line and not out into traffic.

pmorgan1

Pufftmw wrote:

I tuck my head/shoulder.

low-sided

shoulder barge

Thanks, and I wish I understood that language. Some googling to do!

pmorgan1

The Rookie wrote:

stay rubber side down

That requires some googling too

Pufftmw

pmorgan1 wrote:

Pufftmw wrote:

I tuck my head/shoulder.

low-sided

shoulder barge

Thanks, and I wish I understood that language. Some googling to do!

Judo break falls - http://judoinfo.com/breakfalls.htm & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQrk192dkRI

Low side - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpymMb2M4OE

High side (for comparison) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2bOZL9xOlA which is probably quite hard to do on a bicycle, couldn't find any clips

jamesco

The 'rants' thread is over there Getting upset with pedestrians stepping out is like shouting at clouds - nothing changes but your blood-pressure. I think I'm pretty shit-hot at knowing my way round big, bad, London, but the last time I went to Gent I stepped directly into the cycling lane from the railway station; the student who didn't hit me merely raised an eyebrow, which was very gracious and still got the point across.

Using a bell helps, too.

fat daddy

dang !!! .. I never thought of using the Bell, it seems so un-british, I removed mine to favour the performance increase of enhanced aero and 20g weight saving

shamrock134

I got one of these after hitting a few peds.

http://www.thehornit.com/

It works better than a ding ding bell but still struggles against the completely oblivious or those wearing headphones.

elbowloh

MrSweary

elbowloh wrote:

Doesn't look pointy enough but I like the direction this is going.

navt

If you can't slow down to avoid the inevitable, you could always consider the air bag.



Rumour has it they're working on a full suit version.

fat daddy

at the moment, I keep leaving the lights or computer attached to the bike ... I wonder how often I would leave the pull chord attached tot he bike with that suit, get off and turn into the michellin man

MrSweary

navt wrote:

If you can't slow down to avoid the inevitable, you could always consider the air bag.



Rumour has it they're working on a full suit version.

Paint it orange and it could be a scale model of Trump's hair.

ManiaMuse

I hit a numpty pedestrian once at a decent speed who ran into the middle of the road without looking. I had zero chance to react, it happened very quickly.

I came off my bike but mostly unscathed. From what I remember and from the ding to my helmet and slight graze to my cheek, I think I basically headbutted her in the chest and then used her as an airbag.

So for advice:

- Keep your hands on the bars.
- Tuck your chin and try to lead with one shoulder. Definitely try to avoid taking all the impact directly with your head. Think rugby tackle but on a bike.
- Don't worry about unclipping if you ride clipless, they will likely unclip themselves at some point during the crash.
- If you find yourself rolling or skidding along the ground just let it happen and don't put an arm out to try and stop yourself.
- Try to use the pedestrian to cushion your fall as much as possible, don't feel guilty about it if they gave you no chance to react.