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

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

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.

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

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

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.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

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

Probably from balbriggan on a day out

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.

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.

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)

neris wrote: »

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

No nothing, no laws were broken, just reckless impatience.

Most comical one for me without doubt was falling into the canal at Cross Guns Bridge - tried to cycle between the gate and a post beside the canal, hit off the gate and wobbled down the bank. Because I was clipped in, wasnt able to break the fall.

I was standing up to my waist in water, trying to climb out. The bank there is about 8 feet high and fairly steep. Couldnt get out.

Good few people walked past, asking helpful questions like "are you alright?".

Then a chap that on any other day I'd have described as an absolute scobe came along walking his pitbull, seen me in the water, skipped down the bank and says "give us your hand", pulled me out and then pulled my bike out. I was grateful to say the least.

Broken ribs, punctured lung and 7 stitches in my back from the (folded) key fob - 3 days in hospital, about 6 weeks off work iirc. It was racing, but race wasn't "on" at the time which was probably part of the problem, everyone had eased off was eating and drinking and someone went down ahead and no time to react. He admitted pulling away from a touch of wheels, so I guess that makes it someone else's fault?

I don't know whether it would've made difference, but I was let get up off the road which could have caused the punctured lungs, but only for needing the stitches and the doctor doing the stitching sending me for an x-ray, I would've just gone home and suffered it out assuming just cracking ribs.

That was the end of me racing, as I couldn't have another period out of the job in relatively short succession. However, I've got a racing licence for 2021, for what it's going to be worth the way things are looking.

Was in a cycle lane, in heavy London traffic. Went up the inside of a bus, at a junction, and was hit on the right by a milk van on the junction.

Broke my shoulder-blade, but made a full recovery after a good bit of physio. Always consider myself very lucky that it wasn't worse.

Cycling down a quiet enough street and suddenly a parked cars door swings open and my neck/chest area hit the upper corner of the door dead on. Ended up with some stiches just under my neck and unable to move my shoulder properly for months.

Wow, some serious injuries here. I've had anumber of breaks and cocussions myself, but not due to cycling accidents.

Ive properly come off my bike three times, all as a teenager. The first one I think I mentioned on here before. An old Raleigh front wheel had been put on "the wrong way", and the bearings seized, causing the axle to concertina into itself. I was crossing the road at the time, and came out over the handlebars. Breakfalls and rolling saved me from hurting myself beyond some scrapes and nicks.

The second one was on the way home in winter time from supervised study in school. I think i was probably in 6th year. I was cycling along by the canal, no street lighting, and too late I saw a guy walking ahead of me. He was walking on the wrong side of the road, so he didn't see my light, and had headphones on, so he didnt hear me. I went straight into him, and knocked him down. My one clear thought was that I had a flask of soup in my bag and if I fell it would break and everythin would be ruined. I landed, running, on my feet. To this day I don't know how I managed it .

The third one was the only time I was actually hurt. The likelihood is that I was concussed. Cycling to school on an icy morning, coming up to a hump back bridge, I got out of the saddle at the bottom to get up and over it, and on the first pedal strok, the bike came out from under me onblack ice. I rattled myself pretty badly, and the lady in the car behind me stopped because she was concerned about how hard I'd fallen. The reason I believe I was concussed is that she offered to drive me home, and I told her no, I needed to get to school

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

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

Yeah I was wondering, it's affluent af.
Anyway I'm lucky in that I've never really had any bad ones, I remember once in about 2005 my wheel went into the luas track at the Jervis St stop and I went flying off. It was wet out and mud went all over me that was in the track. Right in front of a rush hour crowd too, scarleh. Wasn't really hurt though.
A couple of times about 10 years ago I fell off while hammered coming back from pub, but the details weren't clear when I woke up the next day.

Worst crash: broken neck (3 vertebra, bits of scull tore off by ligaments too), dissected vertebral artery that included nice blood clot that could have resulted in stroke, stretched arm nerves. Four months ago. Then hit by
some nice depression/physiological-stuff/PTSD afterwards.