My boss went down a pot hole on his racing bike spent 3 months in hospital,now had to retire with brain damage.Life is a risk sometimes.I have Grand Children .Id like to see them grow up .
wear a helmet ,very lucky escape for myself .
- Thread starter Hixyhicks
- Start date
you need a bigger light 
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Glad you are ok and not now looking to replace your bike with a wheelchair, but sod being concerned for the driver due to his age, its clear he's long been an accident waiting to happen and the loss of his license is completely fair, By handing that in he'd escape any sort of prosecution, so its not a case of you being overly kind due to his age, thats par for the course.
You havent broken an law, you were cycling inside the speed limit and the entire onus is with the driver.
You should pursue it for compensation and damages because now at every junction, especially at night you are going to be fearful of a repeat performance.
As to more lights, bloody hell how many do members thing the OP would need, its nothing to do with that and he's clearly got enough along with ONE THAT IS FLASHING. Cars dont have flashing lights, nor motorbikes and its very noticeable even in daylight so the reason the drive missed it at night is likely his eyesight and not looking left properly but as with so many concentrating on the traffic he'd be joining. No number of lights, 2 3 or even ten would have prevented such an accident.
Age is not a forgiving factor and the driver should rightly lose his licence and be forced to compensate you for your losses.
You havent broken an law, you were cycling inside the speed limit and the entire onus is with the driver.
You should pursue it for compensation and damages because now at every junction, especially at night you are going to be fearful of a repeat performance.
As to more lights, bloody hell how many do members thing the OP would need, its nothing to do with that and he's clearly got enough along with ONE THAT IS FLASHING. Cars dont have flashing lights, nor motorbikes and its very noticeable even in daylight so the reason the drive missed it at night is likely his eyesight and not looking left properly but as with so many concentrating on the traffic he'd be joining. No number of lights, 2 3 or even ten would have prevented such an accident.
Age is not a forgiving factor and the driver should rightly lose his licence and be forced to compensate you for your losses.
It's well recognised that the eye's iris reaction is slower with age, making it difficult to cope with the changing contrasts of light and dark, particularly with the very bright modern lighting.
In my 80s my daytime sight is excellent but I suffer the same at night, so as a result I will not drive after dark now under any circumstances. My last after dark drive was a very short local one in November 2019,. but that was enough to convince me that to continue to do so wasn't fair to other road users.
.
You flecc are a wise old owl and a voice or reason knowing your limitation's, through your self constraint one has made the rightful and correct decision and imposed this.
Sadly other folk don't realise or admit it isn't safe for them to continue but still do so.
Sadly other folk don't realise or admit it isn't safe for them to continue but still do so.
I had a similar accident a number of years ago, but in my case the car (An Audi), coming towards me turned right, across my path, into a turning I was approaching and had almost reached.
Horrible feeling. Nowhere to go, just hit the brakes, hit the car and fly over the bonnet to the other side. Mine was in daylight and sunny summer weather and I was wearing shorts and a T shirt. There is always gravel at a turning, ouch. My language was similar.
After I quickly calmed down, I spoke to the driver who admitted liability and gave me his details, I made my own note of his reg. A very nice couple who witnessed the accident also gave me their details. I did report the driver to the police, and also attended casualty, and following this made a personal injury claim through my Trade Union against the driver.
I wanted the driver to have a tangible repercussion for his carelessness. It took a long time but I eventually got over £5k. More importantly the police interviewed the driver and he took the option they gave him to pay to go on a course in respect of his careless driving. He would have needed to make his insurance company aware of that and then have to pay more.
Surprisingly, despite my gravel rash, I was able to ride my bike home after the accident and it seemed remarkably not to have suffered any serious damage. When I hit the brakes I slewed around as I impacted with the car, and rather than hitting front fork first, it was my rear wheel and the whole side of my bike that hit the car as I exited stage left.
My solicitor made me take my bike to be inspected at a cycle shop. I had noticed that one of the rear frame tubes that connected to the rear axle had been slightly bent. I pointed this out to the cycle shop, asking if it was possible to bend it back. They wrote me a letter writing the bike of, due to the slightly bent frame tube, as being aluminium they believed it had lost its integrity.
So about £1,200 of my claim was for my written off bike, but unlike a car where the insurance company keep the written off car, I just kept the bike. The tube remains bent to this day, and the handling is slightly suspect, but I kept riding the bike after the accident and ride it still.
I also got a letter from the hospital I attended confirming that I had broken a bone in my hand. I also attended a private clinic to have my injuries accessed as part of the personal injury claim, paid for by the insurance company of the car driver.
With the type of impact your bike, like mine suffered, there could be more damage, potentially to the frame as well as the wheel, than you realise. That was a nasty experience and I hope you feel better soon. I would encourage you to keep riding.
Horrible feeling. Nowhere to go, just hit the brakes, hit the car and fly over the bonnet to the other side. Mine was in daylight and sunny summer weather and I was wearing shorts and a T shirt. There is always gravel at a turning, ouch. My language was similar.
After I quickly calmed down, I spoke to the driver who admitted liability and gave me his details, I made my own note of his reg. A very nice couple who witnessed the accident also gave me their details. I did report the driver to the police, and also attended casualty, and following this made a personal injury claim through my Trade Union against the driver.
I wanted the driver to have a tangible repercussion for his carelessness. It took a long time but I eventually got over £5k. More importantly the police interviewed the driver and he took the option they gave him to pay to go on a course in respect of his careless driving. He would have needed to make his insurance company aware of that and then have to pay more.
Surprisingly, despite my gravel rash, I was able to ride my bike home after the accident and it seemed remarkably not to have suffered any serious damage. When I hit the brakes I slewed around as I impacted with the car, and rather than hitting front fork first, it was my rear wheel and the whole side of my bike that hit the car as I exited stage left.
My solicitor made me take my bike to be inspected at a cycle shop. I had noticed that one of the rear frame tubes that connected to the rear axle had been slightly bent. I pointed this out to the cycle shop, asking if it was possible to bend it back. They wrote me a letter writing the bike of, due to the slightly bent frame tube, as being aluminium they believed it had lost its integrity.
So about £1,200 of my claim was for my written off bike, but unlike a car where the insurance company keep the written off car, I just kept the bike. The tube remains bent to this day, and the handling is slightly suspect, but I kept riding the bike after the accident and ride it still.
I also got a letter from the hospital I attended confirming that I had broken a bone in my hand. I also attended a private clinic to have my injuries accessed as part of the personal injury claim, paid for by the insurance company of the car driver.
With the type of impact your bike, like mine suffered, there could be more damage, potentially to the frame as well as the wheel, than you realise. That was a nasty experience and I hope you feel better soon. I would encourage you to keep riding.
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not cheap but well worth the money and best fitting helmet i have bought, the dentist is expensive
When something similar happened to me in 1989, I gave up cycling... but the pandemic got me back onto bikes: a 31 year gap, and now I'm an ebike addict! Following directions from Google Maps on my way to work, I found myself on expressways twice yesterday - bloody terrifying with cars and lorries zooming by far too close at high speeds. But I got through deadlocked traffic elsewhere... My bike horn needs new batteries.
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I agree - that's the only bicycle helmet type worth using IMHO. Saved my teeth.View attachment 44616
View attachment 44617
Chain Reaction | MTB, Gravel & Road Bikes | Epic MTB Gear
We love bikes & MTB. Discover our epic bikes, bike parts, cycle apparel, accessories & more. Let us hook you up with all the gear you need to send it!www.chainreactioncycles.com
not cheap but well worth the money and best fitting helmet i have bought, the dentist is expensive
I'm really glad you're ok and in that situation a helmet was a really good idea but I don't think this is a blanket endorsement for helmets. For one, it has been shown that both riders and drivers act differently depending on whether a helmet is there or not. The idea is that the rider is more reckless as they feel more protected and the driver sees you as more protected and thus takes less care. I know it sounds daft but I think you have to look at the bigger picture and look at places where so few people die of cycling injuries but where helmet wearing is very rare i.e. Holland. The point is, if you do get into a crash a helmet is much better but it might just make it more likely that you will have that crash in the first place.
Anyway lecture aside I am glad you are ok and got away with it and regardless of your speed that was totally the driver's error and they should be held accountable. If a motorbike was doing 30mph no one would dream of blaming the rider but as it is a cyclist (the last known 'identity' that can be publicly flogged) there will be a fair share of victim blaming.
Anyway lecture aside I am glad you are ok and got away with it and regardless of your speed that was totally the driver's error and they should be held accountable. If a motorbike was doing 30mph no one would dream of blaming the rider but as it is a cyclist (the last known 'identity' that can be publicly flogged) there will be a fair share of victim blaming.
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