OK, it's time to confess..
About a year or so ago, I hit a yr7 schoolboy (11/12 y/o).
I came out of work on a Friday and thinking of getting home powered down the road, down a hill and there's a bridge, I was doing about 35 and was looking at the road only a couple metres ahead of me (the traffic was light, no cars very close).. I looked up at the traffic lights as I came under a bridge (they were green) and then as I looked back down there was a group of 4 or 5 schoolchildren ahead of me, as my brain thought "what the? " and "ride around them" and "sh*t, no space ahh I'm gonna hit" I broke and must have hit one at around 20-25mph.. I did call out...
I was wearing no helmet and flipped in the air landing on my rucksack, still clipped in I skidded down the road on my back/rucksack..
I immediately got up, took bike off road and turned around to shout some abuse etc......
Then I saw the boy, who was apologising, had blood covering half of his whole face, and a massive puddle of blood on the road about a foot long by half that wide... OMG...... I scraped him up and obviously waited for ambulance and police etc. When his dad turned up and went in the ambulance he thanked me for stopping which was nice, but after having to go police station etc it was late when I got home and I was obviously shaken, and ached for a few days after..
The boy ended up having scans and such but was just cut and bruised, nothing permanent - there is no crossing there, and I was not charged or anything like that...
It's amazing how much blood can pour out from your head and I was lucky not to have hit mine, and will always remember this...
Surely I can't be alone in having done something like this?