One lucky dude

oxoman

Just picked.this up on local news website, boy was this guy lucky.
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/horrifying-dashcam-images-show-cyclist-5940513

womack

Some interesting but not unexpected comments at the end of the piece.

I particularly like the one who wouldn't be able to repair his / her car as they are on benefits.

I thought benefits were to feed and clothe you, not buy you a car!!

pilot_pete

That’s my mate Jack whose parents live just over my back garden. Great lad, super fast on a bike, is an aspiring pro-triathlete having taken it up half a dozen years back and metalling at U23 Europeans. Had a few injury niggles then Covid has stalled his career. We did a few long rides together when he was still living at home. He was gentle on me…..;-)

He was a censored (by competitive triathlete standards) swimmer (his words) and was dedicated enough to get lessons with all the little kids at our local swimming club - coach said it would take him a good few years to become half decent.

He came out of the water in one triathlon virtually last. By the end of the bike leg he was top 3! None too shabby at running either!!!

I’m glad to hear he wasn’t badly injured. The comments after the rag that is the Daily Mail ran the story are absolutely insane with the usual road tax, toys, shouldn’t be on the road type censored . It’s appalling.

kingstongraham

Ridiculous from the driver to go across the wrong side, but I have to say, I'd like to think that if I got to the junction and the driver was already this far through their stupid manoeuvre, I'd not carry on rolling through. Harsh?

It's a warning to drivers to not drive like twats, but also to riders to expect drivers to drive like twats.



https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/moment-leeds-man-thrown-flying-21614760

oxoman

Knowing the island,s very well as used to be daily bike comutte the cars don't stop for each other let alone for a cyclist. What they don't show is its a double island and he's pretty much committed already. I tend to use my strobe through Gashby when I go through. Hopefully he will be OK, whatever happened to giving way to the right. Didn't realise the mainstream rags had picked it up as well.

pblakeney

The comments are shocking for what is a clear driver error.
Shocking but not surprising, which is the depressing part.

First.Aspect

kingstongraham said:

Ridiculous from the driver to go across the wrong side, but I have to say, I'd like to think that if I got to the junction and the driver was already this far through their stupid manoeuvre, I'd not carry on rolling through. Harsh?

It's a warning to drivers to not drive like twats, but also to riders to expect drivers to drive like twats.



https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/moment-leeds-man-thrown-flying-21614760

Harsh. He had priority so looks to have committed to entering the junction. Not only did the driver fail to give way, but by cutting the corner they also hugely cut down the time the cyclist had to react.

You can see that he's braking and swerving right himself and can't avoid the car because the driver has no idea he is there. He has pretty much stopped by the time he's hit and is still on the right hand part of the painted death circle.

Not sure what more he could have done other than got off and walk.

ibr17xvii

The comments underneath the article are so predictable.

I’ve seen the video on Insta, it’s pretty grim viewing TBH. How on earth he walked away from that is beyond me. A miracle.

I’d love to know what (if any) action is taken against the driver.

oxoman

The best of it is if she hadn't caught him as she did, she would have literally gone through him as she cut the first island and towards the second one. TBH I've had near misses on these 2 islands a few times and nearly always from the same direction.
Certainly no need for some of the comments posted in various places. Hopefully some driver re-education / points and compensation for the cyclist.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

Cutting roundabouts, lack of indicating, pulling out of side roads/junctions without looking etc. all seem to be much more commonplace over the last few years.

The general standard of driving has dropped IMO and an overall lack of attention and considerstion seems more prevalent. I don't think it is a driver vs cyclist issue, but more a fall in general care displayed on the road.

I used to see a really careless, or even reckless piece of driving, once or twice a year (not necessarily involving me), now it seems more a weekly occurence.

First.Aspect

He's a lucky boy though. That was a higher speed impact than the one that destroyed my ankle, and side on like mine.

These things are a lottery.

oblongomaculatus

oxoman said:

Hopefully some driver re-education / points and compensation for the cyclist.

I think the penalties for poor driving are in general far too lax. Typical bans are a few months, and it's rare to hear of one of more than two or three years for even the most serious of incidents.

The length of the ban need not necessarily be linked to what happened, but what could've happened. You can have a lifelong unblemished record, but a moment's inattention at the wrong time could cost someone their life. On the other hand, you could drive on the wrong side of the road at 80mph on a residential street, drunk, texting, and by sheer good fortune not injure anyone. I'd suggest that second scenario deserves a longer ban. On that basis, though the cyclist here wasn't seriously hurt, the driver should be removed from the roads for a long time.

There should be life bans for the very worst offences.

pblakeney

It is an old meme, but still as relevant.....
If you want to kill someone use a car as the weapon. Just make it look like an accident.

thistle_

MidlandsGrimpeur2 said:

Cutting roundabouts, lack of indicating, pulling out of side roads/junctions without looking etc. all seem to be much more commonplace over the last few years.

Driving on the wrong side of double white lines seems to be flavour of the year around here, on straight roads too not just cutting corners, including when there's clearly oncoming traffic.
The drivers are usually doing around half the speed limit as well, 5-10 years ago you'd assume they were drink driving.

kingstongraham

First.Aspect said:

kingstongraham said:

Ridiculous from the driver to go across the wrong side, but I have to say, I'd like to think that if I got to the junction and the driver was already this far through their stupid manoeuvre, I'd not carry on rolling through. Harsh?

It's a warning to drivers to not drive like twats, but also to riders to expect drivers to drive like twats.



https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/moment-leeds-man-thrown-flying-21614760

Harsh. He had priority so looks to have committed to entering the junction. Not only did the driver fail to give way, but by cutting the corner they also hugely cut down the time the cyclist had to react.

You can see that he's braking and swerving right himself and can't avoid the car because the driver has no idea he is there. He has pretty much stopped by the time he's hit and is still on the right hand part of the painted death circle.

Not sure what more he could have done other than got off and walk.

What I'm saying is that when arriving at a junction like that, if you can't get out of the way of a car that has already passed the give way lines and is on the roundabout, merrily heading for the wrong side, then you aren't riding in a way that takes account of the likelihood of there being a total censored who hasn't seen you at the wheel of any given car.

The driver is entirely in the wrong, but when I've been hit by a car, I've found that hasn't made it hurt any less. He is indeed very lucky that the reckless, inattentive and idiotic driver didn't do more damage, because that was a bad one.

First.Aspect

I think you are viewing it in hindsight. We also don't have the benefit of seeing much lead up.

You could say well assume no one will stop, but if you do that in practice it isn't possible to enter a junction, or alternatively you'll get rear ended. In practice you enter with a plan B. Usually hitting the brakes.

He was going quite fast, I do agree. But when he entered the junction the driver was either going to stop, or he was going to pass behind the vehicle, or he would need to stop.

He didn't factor in the vehicle veering towards him on the wrong side of the road and the driver failing to see a large object right in front of them for several seconds.

But is that realistic?

MattFalle

That's not lucky.

Winning £20 on a scratchcard then coming home to a blowie and a Cadbury's cream egg is lucky - that bloke had a total #shitday.

oblongomaculatus

thistle_ said:

Driving on the wrong side of double white lines seems to be flavour of the year around here, on straight roads too not just cutting corners, including when there's clearly oncoming traffic.

Round here too. Everywhere, probably. There's a hill about half a mile from my house. It's on one of the six roads out of town, so it features in about one in six of my rides. It's not very long, or steep, but there's a slightly steeper section in the middle, where it goes over a railway line. It probably take me about 30 seconds to get up that bit. It has a solid line for that side of the road, because the rise in the road as it goes over the bridge, and a slight bend at the top means you can't see what's coming the other way. I don't think any car has ever not crossed the line while passing me. The only time they wait is when there is already another car visible coming the other way and they physically can't get past. Otherwise they take the chance there won't be something appearing over the brow of the hill while they're overtaking.

webboo

There is a road I use infrequently which has a series of bends with continuous double white lines. As it is flat you can ride at 20mph + yet you get overtaken with cars crossing the white lines on blind bends.
I suspect that these people believe the rules don’t apply to them due to a sense of entitlement as their journey is more important than your safety.

pblakeney

oblongomaculatus said:

...I don't think any car has ever not crossed the line while passing me...

You are doing well. I estimate 20% of cars passing me do so without crossing the white line, i.e. close passes. Usually "okay" but within 1.5m, but some bad.
A "debate" following one bad example finished with her saying "I never cross the white line when overtaking cyclists.". They walk (drive) along us. 🤬

First.Aspect

I was on a single track road yesterday. A camper came past without slowing down. Half way past me he jinked left (towards me) stopped and stalled.

I assume he discovered that driving on the verge was breaking the plates in the kitchenette.

His wife shouted "get out of the middle of the road" as I re passed him. I think it made her man feel less stupid for driving off the side of the road and then messing up his wee gear changes.

People must overtake. They must. Immediately.

oblongomaculatus

pblakeney said:

oblongomaculatus said:

...I don't think any car has ever not crossed the line while passing me...

You are doing well. I estimate 20% of cars passing me do so without crossing the white line, i.e. close passes. Usually "okay" but within 1.5m, but some bad.
A "debate" following one bad example finished with her saying "I never cross the white line when overtaking cyclists.". They walk (drive) along us. 🤬

Well, it's a narrow bit of road so there isn't enough room between me and any oncoming traffic for them to get through, ie, it's less than a car width. Otherwise I've no doubt there would be plenty of close passes. But if there isn't any oncoming cars visible, as I said, there's not a car that doesn't illegally cross the line to pass, even though there's very limited visibility.

It's amazing how many are happy to take a chance. Another example from last year, near the top of another hill. I could hear a car approach from behind me, at a fair speed. Glancing behind, I could see it already pulled across the road to pass. What I could also see, but the driver couldn't, because they were further down the road, was another car coming the other way, performing an identical manoeuvre to pass another cyclist. I made a vigorous "stay back" gesture to the driver behind me, which fortunately they took heed of, averting a high speed head on collision between the two cars (which might well have also taken out me and the other cyclist).

It seems to be nearly always either taking a chance on the road they can't see being clear, or a close pass. I once conducted a sort of impromptu survey of this sort of thing, and found that when the road was visibly clear, something like 95% had no problem with leaving plenty room, but when there was something coming, even just one car that would be gone in a few seconds, getting on for 90% would either squeeze past, pass while leaving enough room but then cut sharply in front, or both. The conclusion must be motorists do know how to overtake safely, but most can't be bothered to if it causes them the smallest delay.

pblakeney

oblongomaculatus said:

pblakeney said:

oblongomaculatus said:

...I don't think any car has ever not crossed the line while passing me...

You are doing well. I estimate 20% of cars passing me do so without crossing the white line, i.e. close passes. Usually "okay" but within 1.5m, but some bad.
A "debate" following one bad example finished with her saying "I never cross the white line when overtaking cyclists.". They walk (drive) along us. 🤬

Well, it's a narrow bit of road so there isn't enough room between me and any oncoming traffic for them to get through, ie, it's less than a car width....

Likewise, which was my point.
At pinch points I always ride in primary. Makes them think about it at least.
You have to be immune to insults and gestures though. 😉

Ncovidius

That’s Leicester for you. I really have no love for the place at all ( sorry ).

imposter2.0

Ncovidius said:

That’s Leicester for you. I really have no love for the place at all ( sorry ).

Does this kind of thing only happen in Leicester then? Stupid comment.

First.Aspect

imposter2.0 said:

Ncovidius said:

That’s Leicester for you. I really have no love for the place at all ( sorry ).

Does this kind of thing only happen in Leicester then? Stupid comment.

I sympathise with irrational dislikes of particular places.

Personally I can't stand Glasgow. Any of it.

This is not an objective opinion given how nice parts of the city are, but you don't necessarily have much control over these feelings.

kingstongraham

imposter2.0 said:

Ncovidius said:

That’s Leicester for you. I really have no love for the place at all ( sorry ).

Does this kind of thing only happen in Leicester then? Stupid comment.

I think it's unlikely it only happens in Leicester as the crash happened in Ashby.

First.Aspect

kingstongraham said:

imposter2.0 said:

Ncovidius said:

That’s Leicester for you. I really have no love for the place at all ( sorry ).

Does this kind of thing only happen in Leicester then? Stupid comment.

I think it's unlikely it only happens in Leicester as the crash happened in Ashby.

That's the Midlands for you.

imposter2.0

kingstongraham said:

imposter2.0 said:

Ncovidius said:

That’s Leicester for you. I really have no love for the place at all ( sorry ).

Does this kind of thing only happen in Leicester then? Stupid comment.

I think it's unlikely it only happens in Leicester as the crash happened in Ashby.

That's Ncovidiot for you....

oxoman

Thankfully Gashby is nearly 20 miles from that pile of 💩💩 called Leic. But sadly accidents like this seem to happen in most towns and cities. What made this worse was it was filmed and spread very quickly as it was spectacular. Not sure how the driver will get out of paying up. As an ex Ashby lad it never used to be to bad, sadly full of people who think their the dogs danglies now.

thistle_

webboo said:

There is a road I use infrequently which has a series of bends with continuous double white lines. As it is flat you can ride at 20mph + yet you get overtaken with cars crossing the white lines on blind bends.
I suspect that these people believe the rules don’t apply to them due to a sense of entitlement as their journey is more important than your safety.

There's a similar one on my commute. I think it's more of a "must get in front" mindset because once past they usually slow down.