Horrible scene, Greenhow Hill, Pateley Bridge

[Pat "5mph"]

@ColinJ well done for keeping your cool, let's hope the poor cyclist recovers.

 

[Ern1e]

Well done Colin I think your actions where totaly correct imho, years ago I usedto work on a breakdown truck which at times had to go out to accidents involving vehicles so I know just how some of these look on arrival. This is one of those things you have to live with unfortunatly try not to dwell on the first sight you had and think about that at least you stopped one idiot from running into the people around the poor guy ! So again well done and hats of to you and at least it's good to know that some people still care enough to help their fellow men.

 

[fimm]

Well done Colin, hope you are OK.
Thank you for the information about how 999 calls work, Drago, Copper Cyclist.
The one 999 call I have made, my answer to "where are you?" was "on the island of Rum..." that was "fun" (not) trying to get the system to deal with that one...

(This was some years ago. Someone had been taken ill, rather than an accident. Fortunately we were on the side of the island facing Mallaig, so we had good mobile phone reception! I eventually was called back by a nice policeman in Mallaig police station who did know where Rum was, and the coastguard helicopter was called in.)

 

[darryll]

I had been out to Harrogate today for my stepdaughter's graduation ceremony. Afterwards, she, her husband, her mum (my ex) and I went out for a celebration meal in Nidderdale. We were in good spirits after the meal and I suggested driving back by a scenic route. So, we were heading up the steep ascent out of Pateley Bridge on the way over to Grassington and I had just commented on how dodgy the descent was and that there had been many serious accidents involving cyclists there when suddenly the driver of a 4x4 towing a caravan ahead of us braked hard and stopped.

We pulled up and got out to see what the problem was and saw a cyclist lying unconscious in the road. He looked in a very bad way. I felt as though I had jinxed the poor man.

A couple from another car ran over to him and were trying to decide what to do. The driver of the 4x4 was already on his phone to the emergency services. I went forward and the driver asked if I would take over the call while he tried to help the cyclist.

The man at the call centre was just trying to do his job, but I was getting frustrated with the delay that his questions were causing. I told him that it looked very serious but he insisted on trying to narrow down the exact location, asking for names of nearby buildings and so on. I told him to just get the emergency services on the way. It was on the B-road from Pateley Bridge to Grassington, about 1 mile up the hill. A quick look at an OS map would show exactly where that is - there would be no confusion from that description.

Anyway ... eventually a police car arrived and I passed the call over to one of the 2 police officers. The other joined the helpers who had got the victim in the recovery position.

Some people had gone up the hill to stop traffic coming down towards the scene. I went down the hill to explain to other stranded drivers what was happening and to try and keep the road clear for the ambulance when it arrived. I was just explaining to a young woman that an ambulance was on its way when it came tearing up the hill towards us, overtaking the stationary traffic. I motioned to her to pull forwards to the nearside verge but she panicked and instead reversed back out into the road, forcing the ambulance to stop. It was all very stressful ...

Everything seemed to be taking forever, though it was probably only a few seconds delay here and there. We got her forwards out of the way and then the ambulance got through to the accident scene.

I had already been thinking that it looked like the Yorkshire Air Ambulance might be needed when I heard it in the distance. It suddenly shot overhead and the pilot did a loop around the scene, trying to find a safe place to land. The terrain was not ideal, but he managed to put the chopper down in a field not too far from the victim.

At that point, one of the police officers came down the line of stationary vehicles, thanked us for our help and suggested that we all u-turned and head back down the hill to find alternative routes away since our help was no longer needed and we could not continue up the hill.

I am not 100% sure what happened, but I don't think a vehicle was involved. The incident took place on a very steep, tight, treacherous-looking bend so it might have been due to rider error, or it could have been caused by some problem with the road surface or with the bike.

I'm really hoping that the injuries were not as serious as they looked and that the rider makes a full recovery. If he does, I will try to contact him and explain to him what happened.

Strangely enough, I washed three bags worth of surplus clothes only yesterday and donated them to a Yorkshire Air Ambulance collection. I thought then what a great job it does and how we should all support such services.

Let's be careful out there, folks ...

Hi Collin, I am personally envolved in an accident when I was biking on the 15th of May 2015. I was airlifted and admitted in the hospital following road traffic accident happened. I had no conciousness after the accident and lacerations from my lips, wound unto my head, fracture to my left clavicle, etc. and just recovering now from normalcy. I am just a starter bike rider bike with few groups from Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

It seems your description above comes nearest to my situation and very glad if we can communicate further about this.( unless there are another accident during that day in the area)

[Moderator note: personal details have been removed from this public post and sent to ColinJ by Personal Message]

Thank you.

 

[ColinJ]

Hi Collin, I am personally envolved in an accident when I was biking on the 15th of May 2015. I was airlifted and admitted in the hospital following road traffic accident happened. I had no conciousness after the accident and lacerations from my lips, wound unto my head, fracture to my left clavicle, etc. and just recovering now from normalcy. I am just a starter bike rider bike with few groups from Harrogate, North Yorkshire.

It seems your description above comes nearest to my situation and very glad if we can communicate further about this.( unless there are another accident during that day in the area)

[Moderator note: personal details have been removed from this public post and sent to ColinJ by Personal Message]

Thank you.

Oh, wow - that's good news Darryll - I really feared that you might not have survived that horrible accident!

I am busy today and tomorrow, but I will contact you on Sunday if I have time.

I hope you make a good recovery from your injuries.

 

[Soltydog]

Glad your on the recovery path now @darryll & good news for @ColinJ too

 

[ColinJ]

I'm sorry, but I read some really tragic news this morning ... a cyclist was killed in what sounds like a very similar accident on the same bend on Friday afternoon - LINK.

I think it is time for a more strongly worded sign at the top of that hill. That's at least two dead cyclists and one dead driver in the past few years, and there may be more that I don't know about. On top of that, there have been horrible injuries, such as though suffered by Darryll.

Yes, it is ultimately the responsibility of each cyclist and driver to descend safely, but at least warn them "PEOPLE DIE ON THIS HILL - SLOW DOWN!!!"

 

[Tynan]

'was cycling with a friend' surely means not the accident you were at?

I've had some prangs over the years and when i was hurt or even unconcious, the smooth patter of the trained person was very very welcome in the moments or getting back to something vaguely close to with it again