Crash on Friday

briano

Hi All,

Just to add to the growing number of "I've had a crash" threads, here's my entry.

I was coming up from Hollis st towards Leeson st. As I was crossing baggot st the lights turned orange, and I continued through, which was a mistake. There was a maxi taxi waiting at the lights heading towards town which was ready to go. As I passed, the car on the outside of the maxi started off and hit me full on the side. The bike went out from under me and I went down hard on the road. Can't really remember a lot more; Ambulance, Gardai and Fireservice came out, checked me out and took details and whatnot.

Anyway, as they say, it could have been a lot worse. Both my wheels are buckled, although thinkbike were able to sort out the front one. I also broke my shoulder and thumb and have quite a bruise where I hit my head off the ground (pretty happy I had the foam hat on).

Beasty

Jesus - another nasty one. Hope everything is as OK as it can be and you get over your injuries soon. Presumably they carted you off to hospital?

Do you think you were to blame in any way? You said you went through amber, which you are allowed to do if you cannot safely stop. Also, was this in daylight, or in the dark (in which case were you properly lit up)?

Captain Havoc

Get better soon briano!

briano

No, they offerred, but I declined to go with them, It was late on Friday night so I went to my OH's and headed to the vhi clinic on Saturday morning.

I had on cateyes and my helmet. Think I'll definately be investing in some brighter front lights when I get back up on the horse, as it were.

In hindsight, I shouldn't have gone through the amber and should have been more aware of the blindspot that the maxi taxi was creating. I think the Gardai said they'd be in contact during the week, but I'm not 100% sure on that. Regardless, I'm footing the bill myself instead of going after the driver.

morninwood

ouch. that's a proper hurter.
(arriving at the OH's all bruised up and dented must have triggered immediate and complete pampering by her though, which i always find amazing and am looking forward to after accidents )
hope you get well soon.

Alanstrainor

Jaysus, that's definitely a nasty one alright.
It seems like it could have been a lot worse from what i gathered from reading that. Get well soon man, take her handy.

Jumpy

All sympathy for your injuries, but unless that car jumped the red it looks like you were cycling through a red light rather than an amber.

Caroline_ie

Glad you're ok - I hope the bones heal fast.

I am not very good at Amber lights myself, I stop too fast and a couple of times I got a fright as cars or bus behind were not stopping...

Amber lights for a cyclist are quite fangerous, considering that most Irish drivers don't stop at Amber lights. If you brake too fast you have 8/10 chance to get hit from behind.

I am torn between stopping at Amber lights and taking the risk of getting hit from behind, or 'going with the flow' ...

Sometimes the right thing to do doesn't save you from getting hit, we have seen that in Astra Monti's thread.

tomasrojo

Hope you get well soon, briano.

Amber's a tricky one all right. Looking back at the driver behind as you approach an amber can make them more cautious, and maybe give you some idea of what they're going to do. The glassy-eyed, set-jaw type are not going to slow down.

Unfortunately, dividing your time between drivers behind you and in front of you is a tricky thing to get right.

Doctor Bob

If only drivers going through amber lights were the full extent of our worries. In the last few months I've noticed a lot of cars sailing through completely red lights ("If I just stick to the bumper of the guy in front of me..."). It's almost as if we're embracing our 'most northerly Mediterranean country' status even more fully these days.

Re the OP- green means proceed only if it is safe to do so, so I would argue that the cars should have been paying more attention to the crossing traffic, and should have let you pass safely (even if you were in the wrong, though I'm not suggesting you were). Cold comfort, I know.

The other thing to note is that the junction in question is quite wide, and traffic lights generally aren't set up with sufficient time to allow slower moving vehicles such as bikes to clear the junction completely, especially when twitchy taxi drivers are revving in anticipation...

Glad you made it out to tell the tale.

BostonB

Sorry to hear you got hurt.

Regardless of rights and wrongs, always veer on the side of caution. I forget sometimes, that on wide junctions, I'm not as fast on the bike as the car when clearing the junction.