Another cyclist seriously injured

[tillson]

In 2009 14 people were injured as a result of using a bicycle pump for purposes for which it was not designed.

What a curious statistic. Did these 14 people then attend their local A&E facility armed with an unlikely story?

" ........honestly, I was watering my Azaleas when I stepped backwards and tripped. This caused me to fall and I ended up sitting on the pump. Unfortunately, I was wearing a pair of flimsy Speedo swimming trunks at the time of the accident and these did little to impede the advancing pump......."


Well, I've got my story ready.

 

[banbury frank]

Hi
If you think that's Funny you want to see what some get up to with vacuum cleaners

Worker caught having sex with Henry Hoover - Telegraph

click on the link sex with a bicycle further down in the right-up





Frank

 

[Mussels]

What a curious statistic. Did these 14 people then attend their local A&E facility armed with an unlikely story?

" ........honestly, I was watering my Azaleas when I stepped backwards and tripped. This caused me to fall and I ended up sitting on the pump. Unfortunately, I was wearing a pair of flimsy Speedo swimming trunks at the time of the accident and these did little to impede the advancing pump......."


Well, I've got my story ready.

I just asked my wife about this as she did a stint in A&E, apparently it was more common for people to come in with foreign objects stuck in their bladders than the other route.
Too much information?

 

[Alex728]

I agree Lemmy, I've often remarked on how extraordinarily low our road accident figures are, I'm sure the lowest in the world. The USA's road deaths are a pro-rata multiple of ours and many European countres are very high. Although much improved now, at one time Portugal had three times our road deaths with about one fifth the population, a horrific figure.

a lot of EU countries despite having the same free expression we have (or even more) have a more controlled media that does not report "crime/bad news" often claiming its against privacy laws and this often makes these other countries seem "safer" than Blighty..

The flipside of the "easier" moped laws found in some other EU countries is that its paid for in spilled blood of young people...

I don't think using the road is that unsafe, and TBH I often feel safer on a bike than as a pedestrian or in a car, and would feel safer than on a moped or motorcycle. However, different areas of the country have different traffic patterns. Here, a lot of fast traffic ends up on the A12/A14 where bikes don't usually go, and the roads are often very quiet outside of peak times.

 

[indalo]

And the point of this thread is....?

Cyclist die everyday
Drivers die everyday
Pedestrians die everyday
Dogs die everyday
And so on....

I have just seen this posting having been away for a couple of days and my heart sank when I read it.

It really is beyond my understanding how, in the 21st century, after all that went on in the world over the last 70 years, anyone in Britain can write something so cold and unfeeling in a public forum. If we have reached the point in civilised society where we, (or some of us) really don't give a toss about the loss of human life or the infliction of life-threatening injuries, then we must be on the point of returning to barbarism.

I really feel sick to the pit of my stomach by this poster's callous remark and I sincerely hope that no-one ever writes in such an insensitive manner should any relative or close family member of his ever suffers any serious injury.

Indalo

 

[eTim]

I have just seen this posting having been away for a couple of days and my heart sank when I read it.

It really is beyond my understanding how, in the 21st century, after all that went on in the world over the last 70 years, anyone in Britain can write something so cold and unfeeling in a public forum. If we have reached the point in civilised society where we, (or some of us) really don't give a toss about the loss of human life or the infliction of life-threatening injuries, then we must be on the point of returning to barbarism.

I really feel sick to the pit of my stomach by this poster's callous remark and I sincerely hope that no-one ever writes in such an insensitive manner should any relative or close family member of his ever suffers any serious injury.

Indalo

Indalo - it wasn't meant as an insensitive post, just curious as to why you would single out an accident in Cheltenham when there are so many deaths and serious injuries in so many places around the planet, why are you worried about someone in Cheltenham? Seemed a bit pointless to me?

There seems to be a recurring theme on the forum at the moment revolving around speed, crashes, how safe do you feel on the roads etc? I know these things come and go in waves, but hey, I'm entitled to ask the question aren't I?

If I was was worried about the thousands of deaths that occur every second on this planet I wouldn't have a life of my own, why so worried?

I've lost friends close to me in the past, some of them serving their country, some of them riding motorbikes, some family, it's sad, sh*t happens, get over it, no-one is getting off this planet alive !

 

[lemmy]

I have just seen this posting having been away for a couple of days and my heart sank when I read it.

It really is beyond my understanding how, in the 21st century, after all that went on in the world over the last 70 years, anyone in Britain can write something so cold and unfeeling in a public forum. If we have reached the point in civilised society where we, (or some of us) really don't give a toss about the loss of human life or the infliction of life-threatening injuries, then we must be on the point of returning to barbarism.

I really feel sick to the pit of my stomach by this poster's callous remark and I sincerely hope that no-one ever writes in such an insensitive manner should any relative or close family member of his ever suffers any serious injury.

Indalo

If you really feel sick to the pit of your stomach about a few remarks on a forum, thank your lucky stars that you live in a society where you can live your daily life so divorced from reality.

I have covered a few wars and many famines and awful world events in my career and sometimes seen things that made me feel pretty sick. But to feel so physically ill as you do because someone writes something you don't like must make any interaction with the rawness of the real world intolerable to you. How on earth do you cope?

 

[jbond]

Ah, Statistics, donchajuslovem? This is not disproving a null hypothesis to a 95% confidence level using X^2 tests and least squares regression, this is tabloid journalism.

So Car and M/C KSI have dropped 15% but Cyclist KSI has risen 15% in the same period in total numbers. Meanwhile the number of routine cyclists has dramatically increased. For Cyclists the KSI numbers are small and what's KSI anyway? As a London M/C and Cyclist we've got a similar problem with M/C in bus lanes. Shock Horror! Cyclist accidents have risen by 50% in studies since the scheme came in. Except that was a rise from 2 to 3. Meanwhile M/C accidents have fallen 15% but that was a drop from 7 to 6. The London Cyclists groups use this to justify trying to get the scheme killed while M/C groups try to use it to get the scheme extended. Meanwhile, the councils do one or the other based on political positions and nothing else.

Frankly it's all ok. Some people have accidents and make mistakes which is regrettable. Some common sense could be applied to road design and legal changes could be made that might make a difference. Cycling will get safer the more cyclists there are on the road and the more likely other road users are to expect them. In the end, what will happen will happen, just try really hard to make sure that statistic isn't you.

 

[peasjam]

I think the figure is 111 deaths - if your wife/son/husband/daughter dies on a bicycle does it really make a difference to know that more people have started cycling? Does that make each death less important? I don't think so.

Obviously not.

Fail to see how this relates to the original post though, and to be honest I take offence at your aggressive manner.

 

[Alex728]

Frankly it's all ok. Some people have accidents and make mistakes which is regrettable. Some common sense could be applied to road design and legal changes could be made that might make a difference. Cycling will get safer the more cyclists there are on the road and the more likely other road users are to expect them. In the end, what will happen will happen, just try really hard to make sure that statistic isn't you.

I regularly read the 112nederland.nl website to practice my Dutch (as you would expect its a news site about the work of the Emergency Services) and its clear from there that even in a country with very sensible road layout, and a strong culture of road safety. a lot of crashes involving all sorts of road users still happen.

 

[jbond]

I regularly read the 112nederland.nl website to practice my Dutch (as you would expect its a news site about the work of the Emergency Services) and its clear from there that even in a country with very sensible road layout, and a strong culture of road safety. a lot of crashes involving all sorts of road users still happen.

I'm willing to bet though that the total number of accidents may be much bigger than in the UK but the accidents per cyclist or per cyclist-mile is much less. So if you're careful and try hard not to be involved in accidents your personal chances of having an accident are less. The point is that people screw up. Some times two people will screw up in the same time and place and one or both will get hurt. Just try really hard not to be one of them. But if cycles are unusual other road users won't expect them and will manage to screw up their interactions with them more often. If cycles are very common, they'll be more likely to look out for them and avoid the screw up in the first place. Regardless of that cyclists will still manage to be stupid and do things like riding up the left side of lorries and buses.

 

[Mussels]

Regardless of that cyclists will still manage to be stupid and do things like riding up the left side of lorries and buses.

Riding up the left hand side of lorries is not instantly stupid or dangerous, mosts cyclists I see in London ride up the left hand side without incident. Stupid is riding up the side of a long or articulated vehicle without judging what path various bits of the vehicle will take round the next bend, that goes for the right hand side as well.

 

[Alex728]

I'm willing to bet though that the total number of accidents may be much bigger than in the UK but the accidents per cyclist or per cyclist-mile is much less. So if you're careful and try hard not to be involved in accidents your personal chances of having an accident are less.

On 112nederland cyclists very rarely make an appearance as victims of crashes, most of the crashes involve cars. NL actually has a much smaller population than the UK (about a third compared to the UK).

That said if you look at where the crashes happen, they tend to be outside the urban areas.

I agree that the more cyclists on the road the safer it usually becomes, I think this is why my town and surrounding areas are safe as whilst its not quite Cambridge, loads of folk are getting on bikes recently and they are being seen a lot more often on the roads at all hours.

 

[jbond]

Riding up the left hand side of lorries is not instantly stupid or dangerous, mosts cyclists I see in London ride up the left hand side without incident. Stupid is riding up the side of a long or articulated vehicle without judging what path various bits of the vehicle will take round the next bend, that goes for the right hand side as well.

And there's not enough space in this box to explain the problem completely. But we're probably talking about the same thing.

There's a vehicle-cycle accident that is comparatively common in London and that results a KSI cyclist. And that's riding up the left side of a lorry or bus about to turn left and getting caught between the kerb and the rear wheels. You'd think people could leap off the bicycle and onto the pavement but the kerb makes this harder. And being run over by the rear wheels of a lorry is no fun, even if it's just the edge of your foot. This all looks to me like a self inflicted injury since it's completely avoidable and the result of pure stupidity. People still do it though and they still get hurt.

 

[mishabgt]

Hi
If you think that's Funny you want to see what some get up to with vacuum cleaners

Worker caught having sex with Henry Hoover - Telegraph

click on the link sex with a bicycle further down in the right-up





Frank

Frank, what made me laugh was that when you go to the article about the offender with the bike being brought to court, there is a link about a Telegraph blog titled "How do you have sex with a bicycle"... the link goes nowhere, so I guess we'll never know (although those who feel they HAVE to know will just have to try to figure it out themselves!)

 

[indalo]

In case anyone else doesn't understand, the point of my original post was that I care about other people and when a fellow cyclist comes to serious harm on our roads, I want to acknowledge that on this cycling forum as it's so easily overlooked in the news pages.

I hadn't reckoned on the hostility such an innocuous article would engender from forum members. That any forum member can be so devoid of pity as eTim is difficult for me to to grasp but for him to actually type the response he did makes me despair. As for Lemmy's remark,

thank your lucky stars that you live in a society where you can live your daily life so divorced from reality.

I would remind him that while he was shooting things with his camera, many of my colleagues paid the ultimate price for the free society we all now enjoy because other people were shooting at them with guns!

Perhaps Lemmy's proximity to some of the nasty things which go on in this world has so inured him to reports of death and serious injury that he has lost all compassion for his fellow man?

I have covered a few wars and many famines and awful world events in my career and sometimes seen things that made me feel pretty sick.

I don't know but what I do know is that, were it not for the sacrifices made by countless British people over the last century in particular, the likes of Lemmy would not have the right to free speech, nor the right to abuse the privilege with impunity.

Perhaps some of those displaying such lack of compassion as Lemmy and eTim might feel differently about a lot of things had they attended just a dozen or so of the funeral processions at Wootton Bassett over recent years and witnessed what grief really is in British society. If nothing else, there were great lessons to be learned about respect and dignity there, something sadly lacking in some parts not far from here, so that one cyclist in Cheltenham is about so much more than just a news item copied on to a cycling forum page to be belittled in import by ignorant people.

Perhaps incredibly, reading further within the same forum thread, I note that Peasjam takes offence at something by HarryB, the offensiveness of which is lost on me. Peasjam, if you feel offended by Harry, then how can you not be offended by the cold, insensitive manner displayed by some others in this forum?

God bless all who wear uniform and put themselves in harm's way for the good of all the people of this great nation and beyond.

I care,
Indalo

 

[peasjam]

Peasjam, if you feel offended by Harry, then how can you not be offended by the cold, insensitive manner displayed by some others in this forum?

I'd mentioned that the statistics on accident rates over time if are only useful if you also take into account changes in the number of cyclist in the same period.
His response was to attack me and portray me as someone who didn't care for human life. I felt his aggressive tone and resorting to cheap emotional blackmail to support a point (though I'm still unclear, given my original post, what that point is) was unnecessary.

Clearly any avoidable death is a tragedy for those it effects and I don't think anyone here would disagree with that. Suggesting otherwise is deliberately needling people for a response which is pretty juvenile.

The other posts/arguments seem to be disagreements between other individuals which I don't personally feel the need to get involved in.

 

[lemmy]

Clearly any avoidable death is a tragedy for those it effects and I don't think anyone here would disagree with that. Suggesting otherwise is deliberately needling people for a response which is pretty juvenile.

Exactly. See his response to me. And "cheap emotional blackmail" is an exact description. This kind of thing is self-indulgent emotional grandstanding.

I am reminded of Oscar Wilde's remark, "the more he talks of honesty, the faster I count the spoons". I have had much dealing and a fair bit of travel with the Armed Forces but I have never met this kind of mawkishness among the people who do the fighting.

 

[indalo]

Clearly any avoidable death is a tragedy for those it effects and I don't think anyone here would disagree with that. Suggesting otherwise is deliberately needling people for a response which is pretty juvenile.

The other posts/arguments seem to be disagreements between other individuals which I don't personally feel the need to get involved in.

We probably didn't need to get personally involved in 1914 and 1939 in disagreements between other individual countries. We did so because we thought it was right!

Of course any death or serious injury, avoidable or unavoidable, affects people close to the event and I haven't suggested that those forum members who directed their uncaring and unkind comments towards my posting might disagree with that one fact. Clearly, however, they really don't care which, if they kept their thoughts to themselves would be fine, but in publishing their opinions and making light of such matters they, as a consequence, diminish the importance and gravity of such events for all those involved which is both insulting and offensive.

I really do think they should be ashamed of themselves.

Regards,
Indalo

 

[peasjam]

Comparing a forum disagreement with the 1st and 2nd World Wars is probably stretching it a little...

...but I do get your point.

Matt.