What’s the worst cycling accident you ever had? Was it your fault or someone else’s?

Flit clicker

Mine is nothing to write home about. During the end of beast from the east I slipped on some remnants of black ice. I was doing about 30 kph.

Grazed right arm. The worst hurt was my pride when skangers were laughing and calling me a spa outside SuperValu skerries.

Beasty

Flit clicker wrote: »

beast from the east I slipped on some remnants of black ice. I was doing about 30 kph.

Someone mention me?


:pac:

Beasty

Actually broke my wrist falling on ice on the way up to Ardgillan back in 2010.

That's my 4th worst....

3rd worst was back in 1965, when someone run into me/over me on a bike - compound fracture of the leg. Definitely her fault even if I did run into the road in front of her...

2nd worst was in 2009, when I ended up in the Beaumont. Had a bad concussion and cannot remember the accident but I know what happened after someone on here who witnessed it from down the road said I was like a bag blowing in the wind as I flew over the handlebars. Skin graft round the eye with that one. FingalCoCo settled out of court for a very dodgy hard shoulder that had been made that way by one of their sub-contractors

The worst - I'm keeping that to myself - don't want to appear a drama queen around here...


:pac::pac:

Flit clicker

Beasty wrote: »

The worst - I'm keeping that to myself - don't want to appear a drama queen around here...


:pac::pac:

Oh you tease

Biker79

A head-on collision with another cyclist who strayed into the wrong side of a cycle path, at 35 KMPH.
Had mild concussion and fairly bad facial bruising and bleeding.
Would have been much worse without a helmet.
Completely affirmed my instincts to always wear a helmet.

sidcon

Cycling along past a school, car pass my by and decided to pull in and brake hard to drop of kids.
Not giving me enough time to brake as no indication.
Slammed into back of the car and my mouth took the brunt of the damage lost 4 front row bottom teeth.
Was about 17 at the time and by coincidence my parents happened to drive past also as it happened. Teeth where found brought to dental hospital and the worked on getting them back in for the full day. Steal bar at back of teeth holding them together.
Teeth are still good now 20 years later and are obviously dead so just need to get them done with whitening every two years or so.

Beasty

Flit clicker wrote: »

Oh you tease

Oh, go on then

magicbastarder

my fault, cycled into the back of a taxi. no major damage to me - just six stitches and embarrassment, but i folded the frame of the bike up.

knucklehead6

Broken collar bone and wrist. Knocked off a Viking colt by a car way back

dubbrin

OTB going downhill. Brushed past a signpost and landed onto a footpath. Caught both my knees on the kerb, still have no feeling just above the right knee. Broke my wrist into pieces and now full of metal. Worst mishap I've ever had. Took years to get back to some level of confidence on two wheels

07Lapierre

My worst was when I was a teenager. Cycling home from college, I had a bag hanging off the handlebars. The bag swung into the front wheel sending me over the bars. I wasn’t wearing a helmet, hit my head off the road and had to cycle home with blood pouring into my right eye. Bike was fine though.

RobertFoster

Took a header off my friend's bike when I was 8 cycling with no hands. Broke 3 front teeth and scarred my chin.

retalivity

Back in November, slid when turning right going downhill at the Mount Venus road junction in Dublin. Bike slid from under me and landed on my face. Concussion, 13 stitches above my right eye, 3 bones broken around my right eye socket and cuts and bruises on my nose, chin and whole right side. No-one else involved, slippy roads with leaves, water and my own speed/lack of carelessness the cause. Was told i'd need surgery on the bones to fix them but as there was no impact to my vision or jaw/teeth, after a week the docs said id be ok to let them heal on their own.

Only just getting back on the bike now, face is still a bit sensitive and contact sports (I played 5-a-side) are off the table indefinitely. Here's me the morning after smiling at my killer headache - I won't inline it!

https://i.gyazo.com/1901785185f01cbfb0d2d481b0137499.png

Wishbone Ash

Flit clicker wrote: »

.... skangers were laughing and calling me a spa outside SuperValu skerries.

Ah here - we don't have skangers in Skerries!

Beasty

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Ah here - we don't have skangers in Skerries!

I know, I know....

...I'm living in Wexford now

monkeyslayer

T boned an impatient driver. Broke my neck, shoulder, breast bone, little finger and absolutely trashed the helmet I was wearing,. Which saved my life. Settled in high court. I tell everyone now they might only ever need to have that helmet on just once in your life, but that one time, if you're not wearing it...

Peterx

100% self inflicted broken collar bone. I was doing night classes and missing training so decided to go fixed wheel on my singlespeed commuter. Cycling home from the aforementioned night classes I took my hands off the bars and then on a downhill section stopped pedalling, to freewheel. Instantly thrown to the ground. Broken collarbone. Pure stupidity. Missed even more training

Daroxtar

50/50 blame but I prefer to think it was someone elses fault. Descending Wicklow gap on the Orwell Randonee, doing about 50kmh.
A couple of lads passed me and then cut back in quickly as a car came around the corner. The chap in front of me braked hard and I didn't react quickly enough and clipped his rear wheel.
Separated AC joint, fractured elbow, 3 broken ribs and a punctured lung. 5 days in hospital with an oxygen mask and chest drain. 2 months off work.
Never felt the head hit the ground but my helmet was in bits inside. Could have been a lot worse.

CramCycle

Not sure as I have had a few, the funniest was completely my fault. Used to cycle round my mates small quarry (long abandoned), and there was a drop at one end. He stood there analysing it and decided he was going down it and I told him he was an idiot, would really mess himself up. After arguing for a few minutes, he told me the last thing I said was "I'll prove it to you". Wheel exploded at the bottom and frame bent. Had to be carried home by two of them, bike was hidden in his house (it was my mothers) and never spoke of again.

micar

A few years ago, I was cycling from clontarf to howth.

Back then you had to go from the cycle lane over to the road in between the bridges over to Bull Island

On the road, there had been pipes laid. They had dug about 1 foot trench all the way along.

When this was filled in, there was a very narrow gap (few mm) between the old and new road surface, the front wheel went into the gap as I was approaching a slight bend.

I panicked and had to hop the bike out of the space. Is I did this I went into the kerb and went over the handlebar into the footpath landing on my left shoulder and probably my head. My left arm was tucked in against my ribs.

Suffered nasty wound to left elbow and bruised ribs.

Still have keloid scar on the elbow.

Considering some of the other stories, I feel quite lucky

WOT

I was going straight through a junction in a cycle lane. The Mercedes Vito van parallel to me, without any indication, was turning left. The traffic light was amber.

Bish bosh boom

I broke the wing mirror clean off the van with my forearm and hit the deck. Thankfully the driver stopped the van immediately rather than continue to turn across me. Couple of bad bruises and a sore foot for a few weeks. Bike was fine. My helmet made contact with the van and the ground.

I thanked the driver for not killing me and we went about our days. Driver didn’t see me and I didn’t know he was turning left but assumed he was going straight too. Both at fault.

I do ride more defensively since then and try to avoid this vulnerable road position. Also pull up on amber more often.

Worst was when I went over the bars of my BMX 25 years before that. Completely my own fault.

Stay safe out there.

Seth Brundle

Knocked down about 25 years ago at the airport roundabout by a driver rushing to drop people off for a flight.
Drifted in and out of conscious for a few hours and was left with brain and back injuries (which thankfully cleared up after a few months).
I'm assuming that a helmet, had I been wearing one, would have reduced the impact my head took against the ground and lessened the brain swelling.

neris

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Ah here - we don't have skangers in Skerries!

Probably from balbriggan on a day out

neris

monkeyslayer wrote: »

T boned an impatient driver. Broke my neck, shoulder, breast bone, little finger and absolutely trashed the helmet I was wearing,. Which saved my life. Settled in high court. I tell everyone now they might only ever need to have that helmet on just once in your life, but that one time, if you're not wearing it...

Just out of curiosity anything happen to the driver? Ban? Points?

AndrewJRenko

I slid off on ice one January morning, in front of Dundrum Library, after coming down the hill from Sweetmount at a fair clip. Good few cuts and abrasions around my chin, and I thought I had broken my wrist. Got back on the bike and cycled on into work. I scared the pants off one of the ladies when I came in with blood dripping around my face. An xray confirmed there was no serious damage to the wrist.

Captain Havoc

The blood makes it look far worse than it is.

D13exile

2nd worst was about five years ago when I skidded on some loose gravel as I was going round and down a fast sweeping left turn that had been recently resurfaced (unknown to me up to that point!!) and the bike went out from under me causing me to shred my left leg on the surface chippings as I was still clipped in. Skin was gone from my shin up to my thigh and bleeding profusely. Had to cycle home about 15kms with blood spilling down my leg and getting some shocked stares from pedestrians as I passed them by. Naturally some "funny kid" asked me if I forgot my tampon when I stopped at lights.

Worst crash was in 1985 when I was a kid who had just gotten his new racing bike and being from the Dublin 13 area, I went to the one place where I could see how fast I could go, ie the top of the Hill of Howth and down through the village. All was going well until some woman decided to pull out of a side road across my path where I immediately slammed into the side of her car near the front wing and I sailed over the bonnet and flew through the air for what seemed like some time before hitting the ground and rolling for some distance. No clip in pedals in those days but no helmet either. A few passersby helped me up and apart from some cuts and later bruises, and ripped clothes, I was shaken but undamaged. The driver of the car I'd hit was screaming about the damage to her car (some things never change!) until one old man told her to shut up as she was in the wrong and she could have killed me. I had to limp home the 7kms to my house with a banged up bike (front wheel mangled and forks bent) to find my father cutting the grass. Naturally he wasn't impressed with what I'd done to the new bike nor with the fact that I hadn't had the presence of mind to get the woman's car reg so he could report her for dangerous driving and get her to pay for the bike repair.

Bambaata

Car side swiped me and broke thumb, wrote off a 6 week old Cannondale Supersix HM minor compared to most here

Brian?

I’ve been incredibly lucky or insanely skilled on the bike, more likely the former. I’ve be cycling seriously for almost 30 years without a major crash. That includes a few years racing.

My worst destroyed a rather pricey Castelli jacket

I can make a play for the most comical crash, is that a thing.

Rolling up to the start of the biggest sportive in Phoenix, Az. Mass start arranged by pens for each predicted time. I was looking around for my pen and barely moving. Hit the lid off bottle and went flying arse over tit. Didn’t even get time to clip out. I was like a turtle on the back with a bike still attached to my feet.

About 5000 people staring at me. I don’t embarrass easily. But I was mortified.

numbnutz

Cycling between east wall road and Alfie Byrne about thirty years ago road when six lads ran across the road.Hit two of them,over the handlebars and head into the kerb. I will never forget it. The sound of a helmet slapping concrete.
Luckily I was wearing a helmet my mother had bought for me a couple of weeks previous. A few cuts and bruises but no other injuries. Absolutely blessed. This was before helmets were a necessity for longevity if you were a cyclist.
As everyone else has said only for I was wearing my helmet I have no doubt it could have been really serious.
I would also say wear proper gloves. When your fingers get ****ed from road rash its a complete pain.

I then progressed on to motorcycles and that's when the ultimate non injury what an absolute gob****e accident happened....

Alanbt

monkeyslayer wrote: »

T boned an impatient driver. Broke my neck, shoulder, breast bone, little finger and absolutely trashed the helmet I was wearing,. Which saved my life. Settled in high court. I tell everyone now they might only ever need to have that helmet on just once in your life, but that one time, if you're not wearing it...

Mine was similar accident, someone pulling out in front of me, but nowhere near as serious though. Couple of cracked ribs and ‘slight’ puncture to lung. No longer assume drivers see me at these junctions (even thought I had 2 front lights on at time of accident)