I'm such a plum, cyclist down.

[helston90]

The last part of my commute is through a city, there's a delightful part where the bus/ bike lane ends and all the queuing traffic just merge across to the left.

I always anticipate this well in advance and filter through a gap to the outside of the traffic, yesterday I completely stuffed it. The traffic was stop start, and I was obviously carrying too much speed to anticipate the car stopping, managed to ride straight into the back of the car.

Insurance covers the damage to the vehicle, ibuprofen is taking care of the whiplash to my neck and shoulders but what can I take to stop feeling like such a prat? I've carried out that manoeuvre a gazillion times before - I'm gutted that I've given car drivers another reason to tut at cyclists and my family and friends to point out that cycling is far too dangerous to consider doing.

 

[Mugshot]

Blimey, how fast were you going?

 

[Venod]

Accidents happen, the good thing is your OK and have the cover to sort the motorist out, this should give you some brownie points with the driver.

 

[C R]

The last part of my commute is through a city, there's a delightful part where the bus/ bike lane ends and all the queuing traffic just merge across to the left.

I always anticipate this well in advance and filter through a gap to the outside of the traffic, yesterday I completely stuffed it. The traffic was stop start, and I was obviously carrying too much speed to anticipate the car stopping, managed to ride straight into the back of the car.

Insurance covers the damage to the vehicle, ibuprofen is taking care of the whiplash to my neck and shoulders but what can I take to stop feeling like such a prat? I've carried out that manoeuvre a gazillion times before - I'm gutted that I've given car drivers another reason to tut at cyclists and my family and friends to point out that cycling is far too dangerous to consider doing.

View attachment 410618

From the look of the car you are lucky you didn't break anything, other than your pride.

I am always concerned that if I have a prang, for whatever reason, the worst of it will be Mrs C R telling me how many times she told me how dangerous cycling is. It has taken the best part of six months to convince her that cycling to school with the monkeys would be fine.

GWS.

 

[helston90]

Speed wise probably around 20 I would say, I hit the car at about 45 degrees to too out the window with my arm.
She was over the moon that I had insurance, she was also very emotional having just finished a 12 hour night shift at the hospital up the road.
Very lucky not to break anything - swmbo would take great pleasure in selling all my bike stuff if I did, luckily it sounds like I have one chance left!

 

[glasgowcyclist]

The bike!
What about the bike??!

 

[Fonze]

Don't sweat it !
We're humans, and make mistakes ..
Bikes and cars can be fixed, as long as you're ok, then alls good !
It's a lesson learnt so move on and don't dwell on it ..

 

[helston90]

The bike!
What about the bike??!

Good point, sorry I missed this out of the original post, the bike appears to be fine, I've just given it a once over in the conservatory and it looks good. I'm going to give it a clean down and a thorough check before riding but it looks like my body took the brunt!

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Couldn't you just say the sun was in your eyes, it was a misjudged overtake and you only 'clipped' it, or the car came out of nowhere, was hard to see as it didn't have any hi-vis, etc, etc...

 

[MiK1138]

Hope your OK Helston, as for the Plum Factor just need to chalk it up to experience, Shoot Happens and hopefully thats you filled your quota for a while

 

[Sixmile]

Those darn black ninja cars, how were you meant to see it?!

 

[roadrash]

As far as friends and family are concerned, reckon up how many miles you have cycled and compare that to the number of accidents you have had , hopefully that should show you how rare an occurance they are, as already said upthread,chalk it up to experience , learn from it and move on,

 

[dhd.evans]

The last part of my commute is through a city, there's a delightful part where the bus/ bike lane ends and all the queuing traffic just merge across to the left.

I always anticipate this well in advance and filter through a gap to the outside of the traffic, yesterday I completely stuffed it. The traffic was stop start, and I was obviously carrying too much speed to anticipate the car stopping, managed to ride straight into the back of the car.

Insurance covers the damage to the vehicle, ibuprofen is taking care of the whiplash to my neck and shoulders but what can I take to stop feeling like such a prat? I've carried out that manoeuvre a gazillion times before - I'm gutted that I've given car drivers another reason to tut at cyclists and my family and friends to point out that cycling is far too dangerous to consider doing.

View attachment 410618

Have done this myself; ended up with mangled face, broken face-bones and lots of missing teeth - GWS and look out for incoming legalese from the car driver (i'm not a cynic, i'm a pragmatist).

 

[si_c]

Glad you're ok and the bike appears fine.

I wouldn't worry about giving cyclists a bad name though, you had insurance, so aside from riding into the back of the car, you did everything right.

 

[Pale Rider]

If one is going to clout the back of a car, one may as well do it properly, which you certainly did.

Sounds like the driver is a sensible member of society.

Rather than harming the reputation of cyclists, I reckon you've given her a good story for the garage and her mates at work.