Knocked off

[Lozatron]

On stupid bloody bike lane on Uxbridge Road in Acton - big red van turned left without indicating, ran straight into me. Only witness ran off!

Anyone around ~7:20 saw someone getting knocked off want to come forward?

On a slightly related topic - what's the best front light I can get? Not terribly worried about cost right now...

On the plus side, I took all the impact and the bike suffered no damage at all...

 

[BenM]

A big, bad, front light won't stop a determined left hooker! FWIW I have one of many magicshine clones, though that is overkill unless you are riding on unlit paths.

Hope you weren't too damaged in the incident.

B.

 

[nightoff]

Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you recover quickly.

+1 for the magic shine. It's very bright for the money. Had mine about 4 or 5 months used most days with no problems.

 

[manualtypist]

At least you're ok. Far too many big vans/lorries and buses on the Uxbridge Road in Acton.

 

[Lozatron]

Yes - I was pretty lucky, all things considered...managed to avoid much damage and I'm only a little bit achy. Big red marks on my jacket scared the shoot out of me but was very relieved when I realised it was just the paint from the van...

I am also thinking about even more bright jacket - however I already have high vis and as you say - nothing will stop someone overtaking to turn left...

London Ambulance Service are stars though - they put my bike in the back of the ambulance to make sure it wasn't nicked, and then drove it and me home when my wife got worried...

 

[eddiemee]

Glad you're not badly hurt. You said the witness ran off but what about the driver? Did they stay around until the police came? Are the police going to take it further?

 

[Lozatron]

Driver hung around - was actually quite decent - apart from swearing that he did indicate and I was "going too fast" - he seemed genuinely concerned about my welfare. The police aren't going to do anything as no witnesses. I was all too shaken up to argue at the time. I have his details but as the police don't intend to do anything I don't see what I can do really.

 

[Dayvo]

Glad to hear that you're OK and nothing worse than shaken up - not nice, anyway.

At least the driver stopped, and seemed OK about it, except disagreeing with you about the indicator.

And how could you have been going too fast? In that case, he made an error of judgement (so it didn't matter if he indicated or not) and should have slowed down behind you until you had ridden away from his intended manouvre.

 

[siadwell]

"You were going too fast" seems to be becoming a common euphemism for "You were going faster than I thought you were".

As Dayvo says, that's his error of judgement.

If your injuries turn out to be anything other than trivial, or if there's any damage to the bike that wan't immediately apparent, you could try claiming off the driver's insurance.

 

[skudupnorth]

Hope you are OK,the lighter morning and nights are not doing any favours me thinks,i ma having quite a few close calls now unlike when it was dark and everyone was more carefull.