A near miss............

brucey72
brucey72 Posts: 1,086
edited June 2011 in The bottom bracket
Following my last knee replacement in March I decided to go on only my second outdoor ride and it so nearly turned out to be my last ever ride.

Cycling up a very quiet road single lane road (Berwick Hill for anyone in the Newcastle area) I was passed closely and at speed by a silver Honda (big bore exhaust, lowered suspension etc) and waved an arm at them to gesture I wasnt happy. 5 minutes later I could hear a car coming towards me which I knew from the noise it was making was travelling very quickly. The silver Honda I had seen previously then came round the bend into view and to my horror I saw it clip the grass bank and lose control. The car was now snaking straight towards me going from one side of the road to the other and everything seemed to go into slow motion and not knowing which way they were going to go I turned my bike into a ditch sending me over my bars just as the car left the road right in front of me missing me by about 2metres at most.

The car ended in the same ditch as me with all its airbags blown and front smashed in and i watched its four occupants clamber out. They were all in their teens and looked a bit shook up but when I said "what the hell were you doing, you nearly killed me" one of the lads got really aggressive so being on my own thought it best to head off. When I calmed down (my HR monitor was showing a HR of 206 when the highest I have ever achieved on a ramp test is 194) I decided to report the incident to the police who have been excellent. They took a statement and I have just had a phone call from the traffic officer to say that the driver had only passed his test 3 months ago and they will be taking every step to have his licence revoked.

I am still in a bit of shock as I keep thinking if I had set off on my ride just 2 seconds later I would almost certainly have been killed. My knee has also swollen up badly so its off to hospital tomorrow to make sure I havent damaged my new knee joint but mostly I just feel lucky to still be here.

Comments

  • morstar
    morstar Posts: 6,190
    Scary, scary stuff. Glad you're alive and hope the knee is fine.
  • unixnerd
    unixnerd Posts: 2,864
    My knee has also swollen up badly so its off to hospital tomorrow to make sure I havent damaged my new knee joint

    Glad to hear you're OK! But by the sound of it you have the beginnings of an honest to goodness damages claim there.
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  • Clank
    Clank Posts: 2,323
    F**k me, that sounds terrifying. :shock:

    Damn glad you got out of that as intact as you are. Good luck with the knee - I really hope it's ok.

    And they wonder why young males have so many accidents. I hope they throw the book at the little tyke.
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  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    Pedant alert!



    That is more accurately called a near hit. For it to be a near miss he would have hit you.

    Credit:- George Carlin and plane "near-misses". Check it out for a laugh!
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    schweiz wrote:
    pedant fail

    a near miss wouldn't have hit him....

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_miss_(safety)

    Sorry but just because a phrase is used, it doesn't make it accurate.

    Did the car miss him? Yes. In which case it was a miss, not a near miss.

    Yet another case of Americans destroying our language.

    For a better/funnier explantion, watch this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFW6NHbWX0E
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • jim453
    jim453 Posts: 1,360
    I'd be surprised if very many people in the English speaking world actually understand 'near miss' to mean something had been hit.


    If you've had a near miss then you've avoided some kind of unwanted event.


    You're not being pedantic, just confused.
  • straas
    straas Posts: 338
    Surely a near miss is something that missed you, but that was near?

    In any event it sounds like a horrifying situation and I'm glad we're not hearing about this via a newspaper.
    FCN: 6
  • MattC59
    MattC59 Posts: 5,408
    brucey72 wrote:
    Following my last knee replacement in March I decided to go on only my second outdoor ride and it so nearly turned out to be my last ever ride.

    Cycling up a very quiet road single lane road (Berwick Hill for anyone in the Newcastle area) I was passed closely and at speed by a silver Honda (big bore exhaust, lowered suspension etc) and waved an arm at them to gesture I wasnt happy. 5 minutes later I could hear a car coming towards me which I knew from the noise it was making was travelling very quickly. The silver Honda I had seen previously then came round the bend into view and to my horror I saw it clip the grass bank and lose control. The car was now snaking straight towards me going from one side of the road to the other and everything seemed to go into slow motion and not knowing which way they were going to go I turned my bike into a ditch sending me over my bars just as the car left the road right in front of me missing me by about 2metres at most.

    The car ended in the same ditch as me with all its airbags blown and front smashed in and i watched its four occupants clamber out. They were all in their teens and looked a bit shook up but when I said "what the hell were you doing, you nearly killed me" one of the lads got really aggressive so being on my own thought it best to head off. When I calmed down (my HR monitor was showing a HR of 206 when the highest I have ever achieved on a ramp test is 194) I decided to report the incident to the police who have been excellent. They took a statement and I have just had a phone call from the traffic officer to say that the driver had only passed his test 3 months ago and they will be taking every step to have his licence revoked.

    I am still in a bit of shock as I keep thinking if I had set off on my ride just 2 seconds later I would almost certainly have been killed. My knee has also swollen up badly so its off to hospital tomorrow to make sure I havent damaged my new knee joint but mostly I just feel lucky to still be here.
    Take them to the cleaners !!!!!!
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  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    straas wrote:
    Surely a near miss is something that missed you, but that was near?

    In any event it sounds like a horrifying situation and I'm glad we're not hearing about this via a newspaper.

    No. A miss is a miss.
    Nearly winning the lottery is not the same as winning the lottery.
    Nearly missing something is not the same thing as misssing something.

    Anyway I was only trying to inject a wee bit of George Carlin humour into an otherwise serious event. Signing out...........
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • brucey72
    brucey72 Posts: 1,086
    Near miss or near hit aside I have just got back from hospital and my x ray showed no damage to the joint replacement which is of great relief. It's just badly bruised and will take a little while to return to normal so no cycling again for another couple of weeks.
  • Secteur
    Secteur Posts: 1,971
    Bloody hell mate - glad you're ok & the police are taking it seriously. Will they prosecute for dangerous driving?

    Get back on the bike ASAP, if you dont you'll lose confidence.

    Good luck.
  • rc856
    rc856 Posts: 1,144
    Glad you're ok!
    It does make you think that if your number's up, your number's up!
    With the recent high winds, you hear of people getting hit by a falling tree and you
    think that if they had been driving a bit faster/slower it would've missed.

    Hope it doesn't put you off going out but at least you know your reactions are spot on!
  • crumbschief
    crumbschief Posts: 3,399
    MattC59 wrote:
    Take them to the cleaners !!!!!!

    Best take the bib shorts as well.




    Hope all is well after that lot,could have been alot worse.
  • MattC59 wrote:
    brucey72 wrote:
    Following my last knee replacement in March I decided to go on only my second outdoor ride and it so nearly turned out to be my last ever ride.

    Cycling up a very quiet road single lane road (Berwick Hill for anyone in the Newcastle area) I was passed closely and at speed by a silver Honda (big bore exhaust, lowered suspension etc) and waved an arm at them to gesture I wasnt happy. 5 minutes later I could hear a car coming towards me which I knew from the noise it was making was travelling very quickly. The silver Honda I had seen previously then came round the bend into view and to my horror I saw it clip the grass bank and lose control. The car was now snaking straight towards me going from one side of the road to the other and everything seemed to go into slow motion and not knowing which way they were going to go I turned my bike into a ditch sending me over my bars just as the car left the road right in front of me missing me by about 2metres at most.

    The car ended in the same ditch as me with all its airbags blown and front smashed in and i watched its four occupants clamber out. They were all in their teens and looked a bit shook up but when I said "what the hell were you doing, you nearly killed me" one of the lads got really aggressive so being on my own thought it best to head off. When I calmed down (my HR monitor was showing a HR of 206 when the highest I have ever achieved on a ramp test is 194) I decided to report the incident to the police who have been excellent. They took a statement and I have just had a phone call from the traffic officer to say that the driver had only passed his test 3 months ago and they will be taking every step to have his licence revoked.

    I am still in a bit of shock as I keep thinking if I had set off on my ride just 2 seconds later I would almost certainly have been killed. My knee has also swollen up badly so its off to hospital tomorrow to make sure I havent damaged my new knee joint but mostly I just feel lucky to still be here.
    Take them to the cleaners !!!!!!

    & as you no doubt kacked in your pants, demand they hand wash those while in custody.

    Hope the knee is fine and glad you are safe.
  • freehub
    freehub Posts: 4,257
    I've had a few near misses but nothing like that!
  • brucey72
    brucey72 Posts: 1,086
    Ha ha yes I'll have to check my bibshorts later! The traffic officer was excellent and couldn't praise him highly enough given what I sometimes read about how cyclists complaints are handled. The young loon in the car is claiming that he swerved to avoid an oncoming motorcyclist which is rubbish. The police officer said even if that's the case it is obvious that he was travelling far too quickly given where he lost control and where he ended up so will pursue him for reckless/dangerous driving (I can't remember which one). Hopefully he'll have to resit his test at least given that he only passed it 3 months ago.
  • & more fun for thought, how much are his next insurance quotes going to be? ;)
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    & more fun for thought, how much are his next insurance quotes going to be? ;)
    Irrelevant, probably - what odds he actually has any?
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Scary stuff. Its only after you pass your test that you really learn how to drive.

    I remember a Cavalier blowing its front tyre out on the 2 lane Queensferry Bridge as we cycled towards it. Somehow it did a 180 degree spin without hitting the sides of the bridge or us. We didn't even stop we were in shock/
  • bails87
    bails87 Posts: 12,998
    cougie wrote:
    Scary stuff. Its only after you pass your test that you really learn how to drive.
    /

    But if everyone drove like they were on their test there would be very few crashes :wink:
    MTB/CX

    "As I said last time, it won't happen again."