So there I was riding along Camberwell Road having left work early and enjoying the weather and heading for a bit of a spin up to Crystal Palace, the closest approximation to a hill that South London seems to have on offer. All of a sudden I hear an almighty crash and watch how a bus heading the other way decapitates a rather large tree and grinds to a halt on the pavement opposite. Turns out the initial crash I heard was the demolition of a lamppost a few metres before the tree. Miraculously nobody appears seriously hurt - thankfully the pavement seems to have been empty at the time. Lots of screaming from the passengers on the bus, but no visible injuries.
As it happens I have a handlebar mounted video camera so I immediately review the footage on my phone, conclude it may be useful and go over to offer it to the bus company and the police. Unfortunately while the footage shows the impact with the tree, everything before that is obscured by vehicles in front of me. So it's hard to verify or refute the driver's claim that he was swerving to avoid a cyclist (onto the pavement???). I could find no other vehicles which might be implicated in the crash, but still, if the video can be of some use I'll be happy.
Scary stuff anyway.
The lessons I draw from this:
1. Camera cyclists don't always seek out trouble, sometimes trouble comes looking for us.
2. camera footage may be useful for more than just youtube or roadsafe.
3. Never, ever undertake a bus!
I curtailed my ride and headed straight home. Avoiding bus routes! Call me sentimental, but incidents like this make time spent with family seem more important than frivolous hill climbs.
"Post the video or it didn't happen"? I'll let the Met peruse it first, but promise to post it at some later date - tree decapitation by bus is pretty dramatic, trust me, it's worth the wait! ;-)
Here's a photo, though it fails to do the drama justice:
As it happens I have a handlebar mounted video camera so I immediately review the footage on my phone, conclude it may be useful and go over to offer it to the bus company and the police. Unfortunately while the footage shows the impact with the tree, everything before that is obscured by vehicles in front of me. So it's hard to verify or refute the driver's claim that he was swerving to avoid a cyclist (onto the pavement???). I could find no other vehicles which might be implicated in the crash, but still, if the video can be of some use I'll be happy.
Scary stuff anyway.
The lessons I draw from this:
1. Camera cyclists don't always seek out trouble, sometimes trouble comes looking for us.
2. camera footage may be useful for more than just youtube or roadsafe.
3. Never, ever undertake a bus!
I curtailed my ride and headed straight home. Avoiding bus routes! Call me sentimental, but incidents like this make time spent with family seem more important than frivolous hill climbs.
"Post the video or it didn't happen"? I'll let the Met peruse it first, but promise to post it at some later date - tree decapitation by bus is pretty dramatic, trust me, it's worth the wait! ;-)
Here's a photo, though it fails to do the drama justice:
