And another one hits the road.

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

biking_fox

Guru
Location
Manchester
Fortunetly for me, unlike the other thread, it was slow, side on, and I walked away.

Wide sort of 2 lane part of the A6 coming into manchester. Stationary traffic on the right, Free lane on the left where I am making progress. Car from the other lane is waved through a gap, doesn't check my lane and pulls completely out in front me. Smack.

I know the junction. I'm usually aware at that point of the possability, but didn't have the time or space to do anything more than try and brake/

Him " You must have jumped the light"
Me " It was Green!"
Him " I didn't see you"
Me " You didn't look." Points to bright yellow top. "I''m not hard to see"
Him " I was waved across"
Me " That doesn't mean you don't need to look!"

GRRRRR :tongue:

But:
At least he stopped. And talked. And was about as polite as I was. After some discussion including a passer by he gave £30 which might sort of cover my buckled front wheel. Fortunetly the frame and forks seem OK.
I don't think he noticed the fairly large dent I left in his wing.
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
biking_fox said:
Fortunetly for me, unlike the other thread, it was slow, side on, and I walked away.

Wide sort of 2 lane part of the A6 coming into manchester. Stationary traffic on the right, Free lane on the left where I am making progress. Car from the other lane is waved through a gap, doesn't check my lane and pulls completely out in front me. Smack.

I know the junction. I'm usually aware at that point of the possability, but didn't have the time or space to do anything more than try and brake/

Him " You must have jumped the light"
Me " It was Green!"
Him " I didn't see you"
Me " You didn't look." Points to bright yellow top. "I''m not hard to see"
Him " I was waved across"
Me " That doesn't mean you don't need to look!"

GRRRRR :tongue:

But:
At least he stopped. And talked. And was about as polite as I was. After some discussion including a passer by he gave £30 which might sort of cover my buckled front wheel. Fortunetly the frame and forks seem OK.
I don't think he noticed the fairly large dent I left in his wing.

Poor you. At least, like you say, he stopped and from the sound of it knew he was in the wrong, even if he tried to defend himself - hence stumping up cash. Let's hope he got to work, or home or whatever, shook for a bit, and will always remember the event in future when waved across.

Of course there is the line of thinking that you ought to have exchanged details, told police etc. Which I sort of agree with. Although now, when he does notice the dent, he has no idea who you are, so can't start to change his mind and blame you and come after you for damages. If you're not hurt, you've maybe made the best of it. Although I'd get the whole bike checked out by a bike shop - damage to frame and forks isn't always apparent.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Glad you are OK - Did you get his number just in case ?

The A6 into Manchester - blooming awful road - that's where I got wiped out by a left turning transit, that was in the outside lane - turned across me as I was doing 25 mph in Levenshulme on the way out of town.

Just so many side streets and lane swapping - it's awful.
 
Next time lie down in the street until the ambulance arrives, you cannot tell what kind of physical damage you have suffered until after the adrenalin has worn off and few if any of us are medically qualified to self assess. Find out like I did hours later that you've chipped a bone or strained your back and you have no come back whatsoever. Lie down. Do not get up until someone qualified to do so picks you up.
 
OP
OP
B

biking_fox

Guru
Location
Manchester
Thanks all for your sympathey. It does help and the irritation is slowly fading.

Kudos to Harry Hall Cycles, for being close by, having a decent range of stock on hand and not on order, generally friendly and knowledgable staff. £40 for a new wheel. 15mins or so fitting tyre back on etc, and I'm good to take my life into other people's hands again.

That is good advice about lying in the road. But I'm not lying on the A6 unless I really can't move.

Levenshulme is the worst bit. There are wide enough roads / lanes and generally only forward moving traffic for the rest of my route. But that short stretch is just bad.
 

Tynan

Veteran
Location
e4
probably the easiest accident to have of late, if I have th whole lane to myself, bus lane like, I move left anf right depending to try and open up the angle

and cover the brakes, had two near misses in the last month

well done for coming out ok, £30 for a wheel was rather cheap, I've twice stung people for £50 and that was ten or more years ago, I think I still ended up out of pocket both times
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Unfortunately, it's the reaction to get up, I've done it and ridden 20 miles home with nasty injuries. Because the body is pumping already, the self defence systems kick in and you spring off the road - that's why the bugger in Levenshulme did a runner... 1 broken hand later next day.....

I've had mates wipe out racing big style, and first question...hows the bike - I've done it myself...

Being fit is sometimes a big problem with injuries, as the body is able to cope better - like the blobs that whinge about walking up stairs, just the lactose pain in your muscles from regular bike riding would hurt them ?
 
I second Mickles advice about laying still wherever you have fallen, and in whatever pose you have ended up in. Follow the 5-step check plan before getting up.

  1. lie still and give yourself a mental check from your toes to your head, work out exactly what areas hurt.
  2. Tell people not to touch you. DO NOT remove your helmet.
  3. Wriggle your fingers and toes. If you can't wriggle ALL of them you are in Big Trouble and must NOT move again. Lie perfectly still and DO NOT let anyone but paramedics touch you.
  4. If you pass the toe test, tense your calves and release, then your thighs, then your stomach, then your forams, biceps and your jaw.
  5. Now reach up and touch your neck gently. Does it hurt? If not, gently run your fingers up the spine into the base of your skull. If you feel a twinge at any time stop immidiately. DO NOT let anyone touch you.
 

surfgurl

New Member
Location
Somerset
I'll second the "don't let anyone touch you apart from a paramedic" line.

I was driving to work a few years ago and came across a car on its roof on a nasty bend in the lane. A girl, who can only have just passed her test, was stood by the roadside crying into a mobile phone. I pulled up and put the hazards on and stayed with her. Along came Mr 'I've done a St John's Ambulance course' and got her to sit in the passenger seat of my car and fashioned a neckbrace out of a blanket from his car. He disappeared, funnily enough when the ambulance arrived. The paramedics were not too happy as she could have injured her neck or back. I was not best pleased when they mentioned they may have to take the roof of my car to get her out on a spinal board.
Thankfully she was ok and they got her out and took her off to hospital.
 
Top Bottom