A very sad tale

tillson

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 29, 2008
5,252
3,197
An ex-colleague of mine who now pilots an air-ambulance sent me this message.

just got home 2015, three cancelled jobs
and one very sad one - a girl in her twenties knocked off her bicycle
by hit and run driver! Bike in two pieces one piece missing,
remaining piece 50 mtrs from her. Serious pelvic and head injuries
(helmet smashed to bits). We sweated and sprinted for her, flew like
a madman spent 1.5 hours in hosp with her but it looks as though she
either won't make it or will be seriously brain damaged. I'd like to
get that driver in a quiet place with my shotgun and a bag full of
shells!!

Having read this, it makes me wonder if cycling on the roads is worth the risk. We have no
cycle lanes where I live and my route to and from work is all on roads. You just don't know
if the drivers passing you are drunk, on drugs or simply don't care abot you.

All governments seem to do is tax you out of your car and into danger.
 

jerrysimon

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 27, 2009
3,292
112
Cambridge, UK
A sad tale for sure. In Cambridge we are better catered for.

If I had to commute on a busy main road to work everyday via bike, quite frankly I wouldn't bother.

My wife refuses to ride her bike on the road not that she ever rides it anywhere really.

Regards

Jerry
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,128
30,555
That is very sad and terrible for her relatives and friends too.

However, we must see it in the context of the over a million people who ride a bike sometimes or regularly and the 30 million drivers out there in the UK. Then the low risk of that occurring to any individual is seen to be very low indeed.

Of course in an ideal world it would never happen, but there will always be the odd few rogue elements who don't deserve a place in our society. Fortunately though, they are vastly outnumbered by the decent.
.
 

Tiberius

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 9, 2007
919
1
Somerset
I regularly see our local air ambulance crew, as we operate from the same airfield. We always give them a little time on their own when they come back from a flight because sometimes they just don't want to talk or deal with visitors.

Both of the regular pilots are cyclists, and commute to work by bike. They wear helmets, but then they are used to wearing them when flying. One of them tells me that since taking up this job he would never go on a motorcycle.

Nick
 

20 inch terror

Finding my (electric) wheels
Oct 1, 2009
15
0
i wish i could be more forgiving,however,i have only just got back to work after being t boned by a mug in a van....4 breaks in the shoulder,titanium plate holding it all together,big scarring (chicks dig them!) and a year and a half off............red means STOP fool........
 

carpetbagger

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 20, 2007
744
18
blackburn
Lets hope with that with sufficent publicity this maniac is caught.If so i bet the punishment doesn't fit the crime,probably 12 months ban and small fine instead of lifetime ban,prison,large fine and car confiscated and sold and proceeds donated to victim/family.
While out on sunday so idiot with his wife and 4 year old son found it amusing it drive up behind me and blow the horn which could have resulted in an accident...i should have got his number and reported him..but nothing would have happened anyway....
 

themutiny

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 26, 2009
354
0
A young cretin found it immensely amusing to shout obscenities out of his car window at me last night. You should have seen the look on his face when I caught him at the lights. He was cr@pping himself. I didn't say a word...
 

Alex728

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 16, 2008
1,109
-1
Ipswich
While out on sunday so idiot with his wife and 4 year old son found it amusing it drive up behind me and blow the horn which could have resulted in an accident...i should have got his number and reported him..but nothing would have happened anyway....
Other than in 13 years time the son may probably do worse when he starts driving, and even then his family will stand by him :mad:

A similar incident to what happened to the unfortunate young lady occured when I lived in Reading. Luckily(!) the lad involved got catapulted into a rubbish skip and survived with relatively minor injuries.

The cops investigated, and found out in the end that the driver had deliberately sought him out to run him down due to a previous argument over money. He hadn't even used his own car but one he had borrowed from his ex-girlfriend claiming he was going to sell it! It took detectives a fair while to piece together the entire story but justice was done - the driver got a fairly substantial prison sentence for GBH as well as motoring offences.

That said where I live far more young folk are killed in motor cars or on their motorcycles/mopeds.

I have always gone by the maxim on the road (even as a pedestrian or passenger) that other road users are mentally subnormal/psychotic/want to kill you and take precautions accordingly..
 
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Alex728

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 16, 2008
1,109
-1
Ipswich
All governments seem to do is tax you out of your car and into danger.
although some gets spent on rubbish millenium domes and ill-advised warfare in foreign lands, I do often wonder how much of our taxes are in fact used up clearing up after RTC's like the above and all the others involving every form of road user? I read somewhere (may even have been a motoring page in the paper) the cost of every RTC is tens of thousands to the public purse..
 

Mussels

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 17, 2008
3,207
8
Crowborough
although some gets spent on rubbish millenium domes and ill-advised warfare in foreign lands, I do often wonder how much of our taxes are in fact used up clearing up after RTC's like the above and all the others involving every form of road user? I read somewhere (may even have been a motoring page in the paper) the cost of every RTC is tens of thousands to the public purse..
I saw an estimate of about £2m for every life lost, this was made up from huge assumptions with taxes from future earnings taken into account and loads of other stupid figures to exagerate the claim.
 

Dynamic Position

Esteemed Pedelecer
Feb 28, 2009
307
2
It is extremely sad and worrying when accidents happen and life is threatened. Usually there are two sides to take account of but there is no excuse when it is a hit and run.
Some years ago a friend of mine on his racing bike had an accident when he accidentally ran into the back of a car which was stopped in the cycling lane. It was his fault for not paying sufficient attention and he couldn't argue because it was a police car!
 

Alex728

Esteemed Pedelecer
Dec 16, 2008
1,109
-1
Ipswich
The estimates I've seen of RTC costs have been much less than £2m per life but still not insignificant.

A significant proportion of the younger folks at work and who I go partying with have lost friends in RTCs, ironically none of them were on bicycles! Nearly all were young folks in high powered vehicles they obtained very soon after getting their licenses.

this was also why I ride an e-bike in preference to a moped or motorbike - there seem to be more opportunities for evasive action and sometimes to avoid being broadsided it makes more sense to wait and see what the other vehicle is doing and not trust red lights or anything else.

I fear that even if we put a copper on every road junction, CCTV in every corner of the roads and patrolled the air with helicopters you couldn't stop many incidents like this as they are much more to do as much with a complete lack of empathy for others than driving skills, and its impossible to effectively judge this in something like driving tests.
 

carpetbagger

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 20, 2007
744
18
blackburn

Tiberius

Esteemed Pedelecer
Nov 9, 2007
919
1
Somerset
this was also why I ride an e-bike in preference to a moped or motorbike -
And we still regularly get the claim from people that "...they don't have the power to accelerate out of danger...." when all the evidence is that its the power that gets them into danger.

Nick

PS. Smoking is good for people and seat belts kill.
 

Barnowl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 18, 2008
954
1
I actually feel reasonably safe on my bike. The roads I use are OK and 99.x% of drivers give me plenty of space and drive perfectly safely. Also I feel much more aware of my surrounding when I cycle. Much more so than when I used to ride with dropped handlebars.

Inappropriate speed and lack of attention seem to be responsible for most accidents and you can be hit by a vehicle just about anywhere - even walking along the pavement or sitting at home watching the telly.

Amazes me that cycling on the pavement causes such a fuss.
 

daniel.weck

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 8, 2009
1,229
2
we must see it in the context of the over a million people who ride a bike sometimes or regularly and the 30 million drivers out there in the UK. Then the low risk of that occurring to any individual is seen to be very low indeed.

Of course in an ideal world it would never happen, but there will always be the odd few rogue elements who don't deserve a place in our society. Fortunately though, they are vastly outnumbered by the decent.
.
My thoughts exactly.

We have some pretty nasty roads around here, narrow lanes and blind corners (dense fluffy hedges). I'm one of those ultra-visible cyclists (yellow jacket, blinking LED lights, reflective white bands), but it would only take one stupid/lazy/distracted/tired driver to send me to hospital.

I know someone who was seriously injured, so I appreciate the risks. That being said, thanks to the e-bike assistance I can now afford to avoid the main road traffic at peak time: I choose safer routes, usually longer, twistier and often with more up-and-down hills (nearly always much more pleasant: country-side smells, fresh air, landscape, etc.).

Cheers, Dan

EDIT: to be honest, I am more worried about hitting potholes at speed than about traffic (my small 16" wheels don't like holes)
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
53,128
30,555
Yes, like Daniel and Barnowl the traffic doesn't put me off cycling, even in the very congested parts of London Boroughs and also on high speed trunk roads.

My belief in the relative safety of two wheels is supported by my 63 years of cycling with not a single scratch to show for it. Despite the comment from Nick's air ambulance man, motorcycles can also be very safe as my 53 years of riding them shows. Although I'd been off many times in competition, I never came off on the road once in all those years.
.
 
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barrycoll

Pedelecer
Sep 14, 2009
235
11
as flecc says, if you are going to continue cycling, then ghastly events such as this, must be taken in context....
however, as a keen cyclist, and also as a Senior Observer for the Institute od Advanced Motorists (the IAM), I have to say that any one of us is quite capable of not "seeing" a cyclist....after a long day at the wheel, or any number of possible distractions ( including not feeling well), then the incidences of "Look but did Not See" rises dramatically..
I have actually been giving instruction to a candidate about to take his advanced test (with a Grade One traffic cop as the Tester), when we entered a roundabout with a cyclist also entering from the right...my trainee, looked but did not see, and how we avoided him I still dont know...
however 2 things come to mind....firstly the cyclist was riding much too defensively close to the kerb, and not taking his due place in the centre of the one entry lane into the roundabout, so his visiblity was lowered dramatically..
secondly, he was wearing brown or black clothing, and nothing that pro-actively "grabbed" the eye, and said 'I'm here'!
hi-viz clothing is a MUST, if you want to be seen against the suburban back drop, as even a dozy driver may then pick up information (of your presence) early enough to plan a change of speed and/position...
the vogue nowadays for matt balck crash helmets, and black cycling kit leaves me in dispair, as we dont live in Holland or Denmark, where the first onus is on the car driver to allow for any cyclist....somehow hi-viz is not seen a 'cool', but ultimately cyclists have to take some responsiblity for alerting motorists to their presence, as the alternative could be A&E..
all the emergency services are painted in hi-viz colours basically to be seen

and lastly, I definitely will avoid cycling on any national speed limit 2 lane country road...the closing speed of 2 approaching cars could be 120 mph, and being the cycling meat in the sandwich does not appeal!!
 

Barnowl

Esteemed Pedelecer
Sep 18, 2008
954
1
When entering a roundabout I always expect anything on the left to just pull straight out (my hands are on the brakes ready and I'm watching the driver). I don't wear Hi-Viz but you're right I should. :)