my accident yesterday

jenko1982

hi all. i have been cycling for 3 years now and had my first bad accident yesterday. i have been on boards a while but this is my first post. i am justreally amazed how a driver on a nice clear road could not have seen me with a new hi vis jacket, lights on (even though it was only 15.00) and no traffic to obstruct his view. basically he was coming from opposite direction to me and turned in right so cut across me. i was doing approx 35-40kph and by the time i saw him it was to late. i pulled on the breaks and tryed to swerve behind but before i new it BANG. luckily i got away lightly i reckon i just missed back wheel. i just have a badly sprained ankle, torn ligaments in foot and some cuts and bruises. so i was very lucky. take care out there lads, expect the unexpected

DePurpereWolf

happy to hear you're alright.

Gareth2011

Glad your not too badly injured. What was drivers excuse? I didnt see you or I thought you were going slower? Is the bike wrote off?

Surveyor11

Did you get the drivers details (Insurance etc.)? It's good to have these in case you have any treatments such as physio etc - you can claim it from their policy. Or bike damage - might be worth while having the frame checked for any cracks.

There's a lot of drivers out there that just don't seem to be aware (or care) about cyclists. I've had it happen to me plenty of times, thankfully without a bang yet and it is particularly frustrating when you've got a strobe and a high output light upfront, as I do. Drivers will pull out from feeder lanes without looking (as happened to me the other morning coming through Castleknock), cut across you and (my pet hate) try and overtake you when turning right with arm extended as some daft b*nt in a Qashqai did on the way to the park from the NCR last night.

Sometimes, I think it's the speed - they just can't judge cyclists doing 30 odd kph and they chance it - there's a huge variety and types of cyclists who go at completely different speeds. There's also a big "I'm all right jack in my metal cage" camp as well, that see cyclists as a nuisance that don't pay road tax (sic).

You've got to be expecting the unexpected all the time, hard way to find out though OP. Hope you and the bike are ok.

clever_name

I know from being hit in the past that it can take a couple of days for an injury to be noticed, take it easy over the next few days and keep track of any aches or pain.

Also I would recomend taking photos of any injury and any damage to your bike or gear. If possible have someone try to get a few photos of the road where it happened too.

And keep prove of any payments you make, taxi fare, doctors and so on.

Gareth2011

I have to cycle on the n7 to go to the bank in roscrea, main road the whole way before I get into the town. Its 26k return and luckily enough the hard should is the width of a car but I wear a bright orange and green jacket. You couldnt miss me but thats not to say some knob coming from behind wont verve into hard shoulder while texting , ive seen it many times. they see an open road and they think ah yeah its fine but because their not paying attention they dont bother looking to the hard shoulder and only glance at the rd. Stupid Little scumbag flew be yesterday (bothways) on the same rd must have been doin about 150kmh in a 100 zone 5 people in the car and a little fiesta too. He was going that fast i felt the same breeze as he passed as you do when a truck goes by you. I was waiting for the blowout.

Gareth2011

clever_name wrote: »

I know from being hit in the past that it can take a couple of days for an injury to be noticed, take it easy over the next few days and keep track of any aches or pain.

Also I would recomend taking photos of any injury and any damage to your bike or gear. If possible have someone try to get a few photos of the road where it happened too.

And keep prove of any payments you make, taxi fare, doctors and so on.

Also be sure to report it to the guards. Insurance company will ask this. I found this out when a girl ran out in front of me on a motorbike on wet roads and I had to slam on the brakes, Bike went on its side and the girl ran off crying. I found out where she lived she tried to get the money to fix the damage to the bike but her father kept saying I was going too fast. Because I idnt report it to the guard's I didnt have a leg to stand on. or bike to sit on

mackeire

was there much damage to the car?

Only joking! My missus's sister was driving one day and turning right. I was sitting in the back of the car. It was the same situation as this, clear road and cyclists coming towards her. She assumed she had the right of way because she was in a car and they were on bikes. She went to go and nearly hit the cyclists and started beeping at them. I explained to her that they had the right of way and all she said was 'oh well' and drove off after the cyclists passed.

Surveyor11

mackeire wrote: »

She assumed she had the right of way because she was in a car and they were on bikes.

That seems to be a common misconception around motorists, some see cyclists as secondary road users. "ah sure it's grand, it's only some fella on a bike":mad:

julio_iglayzis

mackeire wrote: »

She assumed she had the right of way because she was in a car and they were on bikes. She went to go and nearly hit the cyclists and started beeping at them. I explained to her that they had the right of way and all she said was 'oh well' and drove off after the cyclists passed.

Good lord.:eek:

SoapArtAvenger

I got into my first accident yesterday as well, except only it was completely my fault. I was focussing on the traffic lights up ahead and didn't notice the set directly in front of me turning red. Pedestrians started crossing, it was pretty wet and I couldn't brake hard enough and ended up on my right side after possibly hitting a woman. From what I remember it's likely she tripped on the curb side after trying to step back, but either way I felt pretty bad about it! Understandably she was fairly angry, I'd probably be the same way. At least I only have a couple of bruises.

Canis Lupus

SoapArtAvenger wrote: »

I got into my first accident yesterday as well, except only it was completely my fault. I was focussing on the traffic lights up ahead and didn't notice the set directly in front of me turning red. Pedestrians started crossing, it was pretty wet and I couldn't brake hard enough and ended up on my right side after possibly hitting a woman. From what I remember it's likely she tripped on the curb side after trying to step back, but either way I felt pretty bad about it! Understandably she was fairly angry, I'd probably be the same way. At least I only have a couple of bruises.

Ooops.

CramCycle

SoapArtAvenger wrote: »

I felt pretty bad about it! Understandably she was fairly angry, I'd probably be the same way. At least I didn't seriously injure/kill her due to my lack of observation while on the road.

Try not to take this the wrong way but I would suggest reading this before doing any more cycling: http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/

SoapArtAvenger

CramCycle wrote: »

Try not to take this the wrong way but based on your other posts, I would suggest reading this before doing any more cycling: http://www.cyclecraft.co.uk/

In fairness these are separate incidents. I know they were both avoidable but just because the time between them isn't huge doesn't mean I'm not generally a safe cyclist. I genuinely believe I am! Inferring otherwise from my posting history is unfair since the distribution of my topics of posting is considerably narrow given I only have (now) 5 posts... That's like seeing some individual a few times over a give time with the same hoody and assuming they always wear that hoody.

VanhireBoys

Glad you are OK OP.....! As the boys said take it easy for the next few days and dont let any aches or pains pass.. Get yourself checked out !

I had an off recently and in pure shock got straight up and got bak on to find the bike bent like a hoop.. then i noticed the blood pissin from my face ... as i said pure shock

Its the old Hill street Blues line once again...! "Lets Be Careful Out There"

jenko1982

thanks everyone for your concern. ye the driver said he just didnt see me. in fairness he came to the hospital. i also got detail from another driver you saw the accident. my lovely bianchi will be going to the Lbs in the morn, forks, hoods, handle bars all bent out of shape. my dad actually had an accident identical to mine a year ago and he came off alot worse with alot of broken bones. he was actually goin to meet me on the road yesterday but is still low on confidence and opted out when he saw it was raining. the one positive is at least ill have an excuse to keep the feet up and avoid washing up over christmas

Chris O Donoghue

I bin cyclin nigh on forty year, and I'm convinced that we cyclists just do not register with some drivers, particularly those who learned to drive when bikes were scarce, during the late 90's and noughties.

It's not that they don't see us, it's that they've never learned that a bike is a road user like any other. Most of them think we're some sort of shrub.

You'd wonder about the quality of driving instructors out there, I wonder is bike awareness a module in learning to drive?

CramCycle

SoapArtAvenger wrote: »

In fairness these are separate incidents. I know they were both avoidable but just because the time between them isn't huge doesn't mean I'm not generally a safe cyclist. I genuinely believe I am! Inferring otherwise from my posting history is unfair since the distribution of my topics of posting is considerably narrow given I only have (now) 5 posts...

I have had a few accidents and also thought I was a safe cyclist but a few changes have lowered the number of collisions I am in considerably. I was not having a go at you but just pointing out there maybe a constant in your small number of collisions. In your previous post, you mention missing the light, you also missed the pedestrian(s) who was stepping out/preparing to step out on to the road and admit that you were focusing on one thing, the traffic lights down the road, a key part IMO of safe cycling is taking in as much as possible, you won't get everything but it helps. I wasn't there so I could be wrong, I am just going on your post and you are right, commenting on previous posts was out of line and I shouldn't be doing that when not part of this thread, apologies.

jenko1982 wrote: »

thanks everyone for your concern. ye the driver said he just didnt see me. in fairness he came to the hospital. i also got detail from another driver you saw the accident. my lovely bianchi will be going to the Lbs in the morn, forks, hoods, handle bars all bent out of shape. my dad actually had an accident identical to mine a year ago and he came off alot worse with alot of broken bones. he was actually goin to meet me on the road yesterday but is still low on confidence and opted out when he saw it was raining. the one positive is at least ill have an excuse to keep the feet up and avoid washing up over christmas

Glad your getting checked out/got checked out, most important thing, hope that nothing else crops up. Hopefully the bike won't take much to get up and running again.

tomasrojo

Glad you're ok, jenko1982. I don't cycle as fast as you, but I do find that indicating to cars that are about to turn that I'm going straight ahead by pointing straight ahead and making a small emphatic motion makes them stop, even when they've started crossing. As I've said before, I don't find static lights and static hi-viz jackets really register all that well.

Then again, maybe this gesture only seems to make a difference and doesn't really, but I think it's enough to make a motorist pull back from going through with the manoeuvre (depending on your speed and their speed, I suppose, among other factors).

BostonB

Good to hear you're ok. +1 on taking it easy I got whiplash after my off, about 4 or 5 days later.

A lot of blind spots on cars especially with the thick pillars on some cars. I've done it myself when driving only spotted as cyclist last minute as the angle between me and them changed and they just pop out from behind the A pillar. Until then the angle was constant and they were hidden by the pillar.

Always wary of right turning oncoming traffic on the canal as cars love to dive across you when they see a gap, or behind another car, so they don't see the cyclists behind till last minute.

GlennaMaddy

I had the exact same thing happen to me (as the OP) a few years ago. I use a helmet light now to shine it in the direction of oncoming right turning drivers, for some reason a fixed light doesn't seem to register with them.

tomasrojo

GlennaMaddy wrote: »

I had the exact same thing happen to me (as the OP) a few years ago. I use a helmet light now to shine it in the direction of oncoming right turning drivers, for some reason a fixed light doesn't seem to register with them.

Yes, as I said above, I find that static lights don't register. I also think if you're arriving at a junction at the same time as a car, be prepared to stop, no matter who has right of way.

As BostonB said, be wary of gaps in traffic. The nearest I've ever come to a collision was entering a yellow box: car going through perpendicular to my trajectory got VERY close. He assumed all traffic had stopped either side, and I don't blame him for that. Valuable lesson for me anyway.

jenko1982

GlennaMaddy wrote: »

I had the exact same thing happen to me (as the OP) a few years ago. I use a helmet light now to shine it in the direction of oncoming right turning drivers, for some reason a fixed light doesn't seem to register with them.

ye i actually have a light for my helmet but as i said it was still daylight so
i just had my flashing front and back lights on. but i reckon no matter how well were lit up there will always be accidents. ive just been around to the 3 nearest garda stations to report the accident an of course not a garda to be seen anywhere

Wishbone Ash

jenko1982 wrote: »

i am justreally amazed how a driver on a nice clear road could not have seen me with a new hi vis jacket, lights on (even though it was only 15.00)

I'm just wondering if his view was hindered by a very low winter sun in his eyes?

I was out for a spin today and on several occasions I had great difficulty seeing traffic lights when there was a very low sun shining on a wet road (even though I was wearing sunglasses). It made me very aware that some drivers may have difficulty seeing me.

Darkglasses

Same here, I had major visibility problems on my ride home today. Very headachey squinting into that sun too.

Dermot Illogical

Darkglasses wrote: »

Same here, I had major visibility problems on my ride home today. Very headachey squinting into that sun too.

You should've worn dark...oh, nevermind.

BostonB

RT66 wrote: »

You should've worn dark...oh, nevermind.

LOL.

Darkglasses

Glad someone picked up on that one!

rothai

When the weather turns bad, and traffic gets heavy that's when drivers seem to do stupid things. They brake red lights, turn left at last minute without indicating or looking. They are very unpredictable. There is one junction I go thru on the way home and nearly every evening cars brake the red lights so late it does be green for a second or two for me. Sometimes I pull off only to have to stop cos another idiot is coming. I often feel like pushing me bike forward and letting them hit it.
I agree with the general feeling here that a lot of drivers see cyclists but just don't care. They are in too much of a rush home and feel they are bigger than you...
Expect the unexpected this weather

mp31

jenko1982 wrote: »

...ive just been around to the 3 nearest garda stations to report the accident an of course not a garda to be seen anywhere

Isn't that just a kick in the teeth (figuratively speaking)... that sort of stuff makes me mad :mad:

BTW 35-40kph - tis impressive... how many years of cycling did it take to get to that level of performance.

Esroh

Glad your ok OP
With my drivers hat. I start my 2nd delivery run from 16.00 h onwards and I can say that all the High-Viz and standard bike lights in the world do not work nearly as well as the a Front+ Back flashing light.
In the wet weather especially if your not concious of cyclists they can dissappear in the glare of headlights especially on roundabouts.
So as said before on the thread 'Be careful out there'

jenko1982

mp31 wrote: »

Isn't that just a kick in the teeth (figuratively speaking)... that sort of stuff makes me mad :mad:

BTW 35-40kph - tis impressive... how many years of cycling did it take to get to that level of performance.

ye well i didnt get a kick in the teeth but i did bang my chin which made me bite my lip:)

doesnt take much to do does speeds on the flat, if my skinny legs can do it im sure you can too:)

iamjenko

Yeah right, you were no where near 35kmph...

manwithaplan

The War of Jenko's (on his) Ear

Will the real Jenko please stand up (might be a problem for one of you!).

jenko1982

iamjenko wrote: »

Yeah right, you were no where near 35kmph...

hey bro ur jus jealous u couldnt even get near that going down a hill.
just checked my computer and i was actually doing 40.1kph.:cool:

jenko1982

bike jus back fom shop. all good, headset just needed to be straightened.
will also get a new saddle and handleba tape as they were roughed up.
will be back on the road in no time