Back down to earth!

[millzy555]

Had an incident today, with some idiot driving not giving way. End result me crashing through his windscreen, over the roof and hitting the road. Witnessed by all. Travelling about 35km/h, and no time to brake. So will be definitely wearing armour nextn time and sticking off the roads, too many inconsiderate drivers. Worst thing is the prick tried to blame me, when clearly he was in the wrong (not giving way when turning right). Solicitor across the road agreed with me. Currently icing every bone/ muscle in the body. Lesson to all: Dont trust anyone on the road!

[Glenn_M]

Ouch!
Glad you're (relatively) OK though. Pretty scary out there sometimes isn't it?
Cheers,
Glenn

[full-throttle]

That looks bad..

Are you ok?

Completely agree - there are too many bad drivers in Melbourne, always in a hurry. Stick to the bike paths - much more enjoyable.

[jonescg]

Wow! You were lucky to come out alive on that one!
You must have hit him pretty square

[kfong]

I was hit by a car when I was a teenager riding a bike, breaking my left collar bone. Never felt safe on the road with a bike after that, knowing how it threw me like a rag doll. I only ride on side streets, bike paths and sidewalks. Not worth dealing with idiots on the major road ways. Owned a 650 motorcycle when I was in my twenties, the safety factor was improved but the idiot drivers where the same. Held onto it for three years, but felt it was an accident waiting to happen. Ebikes appeal to me since I don't always ride with a helmet and don't really like going over 30mph due to the wind noise. If I need to get to a place any faster I just use a car.

[thewmatusmoloki]

Glad you're ok Millzy.

You were pretty lucky to come out of that accident alive.

I was going to work 5 years ago turning right on a roundabout when I was collected from behind
by some blind dickhead and sent head first across the road for about 5 metres, helmet into the kerb.
When I got up I noticed that this sub-human had parked across the intersection and was loudly swearing at me for being in the way.

Unfortunately, due to the heavy traffic, I couldn't run across the road and sort this bloke out. (sure would have LOVED to though)
When he saw the look in my eye's he jumped back into his ute and took off.....

What the hell is wrong with these turds.

Nothing has stopped me from riding though.

[dogman]

Man,,, good that nothing got broken in that one. That could so easily have been the ol double collarbone or worse.

Turned right in front of you, would be the equivilant of the left cross in the USA. One of the hardest to avoid of all.

Stopping in time can't be done. But next time, if there is one, try to lock the rear wheel, throw a skidding turn that sort of matches his the opposite direction, then throw a turn back the other direction. The idea is to swerve to the centerline of the road and then thread the needle between the turning car and the other cars going straight.

That manuver has saved my life three times on motorcycles.

[millzy555]

It seems everyone has had a close call. I'm all good, in some pain today but happy there's no broken bones. I was more worried about the Lipo's!!!!, so ran over to the bike to check all was ok. Few scrapes on the forks but will give it a good check over today. Expecting something to be bent!!

[Hyena]

Ouch mate, very nasty indeed. I narrowly missed a similar thing last year when a car did the same but with my beefy 9" hydros I managed to pull up *just* in time but almost went over the bars - the back wheel was off the ground. As dogman said aiming for the middle of the road under hard braking and hope that they're out of the way by the time you get there is often the best although if you're going to hit them it's best to hit the front quarter like you did and go over the bonnet somewhat unobstructed rather than plow headfirst square into the middle of the car - it may as well be a brick wall and it's a broken neck waiting to happen.

I hope you have his details and got names and numbers from witnesses for any issues that may arise. I reckon at the least he owes you a new bike that you didn't realise was badly damaged until afterwards
Were the police involved ? I think here you're legally supposed to call them when anyone is injured in an accident but not sure what the law is like in Vic.
Any mention of your ebike ? Not that you were going at non-pedallable speeds but I'm curious if it was raised.
Glad you're OK

[Lessss]

Vehicle drivers will ALWAYS try to blame the cyclist because the cops will always try to blame the cyclist as well.

aussierightcross.png (52.27 KiB) Viewed 1070 times

[The fingers]

Yesterday a guy 15 feet in front of me got pinched from the left by a car entering a driveway of a gas station. He did a fine job of swerving around the car. At least if he got hit he would have another cyclist as a witness. I was seen because of bright yellow vest and leg bands. He was in street clothes, virtually invisible next to me in the blind spot of the car's right windshield pillar. Also glass from automobile windshields can remain in the skin un-noticed for years, be sure to remove any using shop vac or sticky tape. Hope you get better soon. You are in our prayers!

[mettleramiel]

Drivers can be real jerks. I've almost been hit a few times and they always yell at me because in their minds, they shouldn't have to signal when turning in front of a cyclist, we should just be able to read their minds. Myself, I find that the bigger and louder the truck is, the more likely they are to run you over and blame you for doing it.

My wife was hit while riding her scooter. She flipped right over the handle bars and landed on her face. The asshole came out and said to her "Look at the frocking scratches on my car!! You better have good insurance!" Didn't even take a second to ask if she was ok, she was still lying on the ground. Even if it was her fault, shouldn't you care more about the person that could be badly injured than your scratched car? I think everybody should be required to ride a bike for a few weeks prior to getting their driver's liscence so they can understand the rules of the road much better. There is a reason to shoulder check, people.

I've been hit by other people in my car many times and I once hit another car myself, my fist reaction was ALWAYS to make sure that everyone in involved is alright regardless of who is to blame. Who cares who's fault it is right now? Worry about that later. I can't say that the other parties involved have had the same concerns.

[Ossielocal]

Wow very lucky ,i ride my bike like i ride a motor bike always looking ahead and thinking whats this person going to do , had a few close calls on my 250 motor bike .

[Lebowski]

Vehicle drivers will ALWAYS try to blame the cyclist because the cops will always try to blame the cyclist as well.

aussierightcross.png

I see your problem, you're driving on the wrong side of the road !

Glad you're OK though. Friend of mine T-boned a car like that while doing 70kmh on his
old GS750. Still has problems with his one leg, 20 yrs later....

[dogman]

You do have to read thier minds, in order to brake or swerve in time. Watch drivers eyes all you can. If they look at you, it's often because they are turning. They don't see you, just the road they are about to cross you to get to.

It's also why I tend to prefer riding slowish on the street, 20-25 mph. It gives me more time to react to the inevitable right and left crossers. Routes particualrly prone to the problem are simply not ridden. My town is blessed with some good alternate routes to the worst streets.

[John in CR]

Glad you're ok millzy. That could have been a lot worse even at that fairly low speed.

To help oncoming or side street traffic see me and better realize my speed, I move left/right within my lane. Since I added that to my defensive riding a couple of years ago, the frequency of incidents where cars turn too close in front of me has dropped to near zero. During the day, movement is especially important to visibility, since looking as us from the front or rear traveling in a straight line we can appear almost stationary. Cars are so much larger than us from a front view, yet cagers still so often don't see a car, which means we're practically invisible, especially those who ride near the side of the road. We have to do everything we can to be seen. Some side-to-side movement within the lane is like waving "I'm coming and don't try to run over me". Even though it seems to work still I prepare for evasive maneuvers when approaching all intersections, because I ride under the assumption that I am invisible to them, and if I do get hit it means I messed up regardless of fault from a legal standpoint. It's a foolish mistake to rely on the law and legal rights of way to stay safe, and because we are so extremely exposed to such large hard fast moving objects in close proximate, we really do need to go the extra mile in terms of taking control of our our safety.

John

[Architectonic]

Glad to hear you are more or less OK. Were you riding with your front light on? I'm going to ride with my (12v) lights on all the time from now on...

[Kirk]

Damn glad to hear you're alrite. I'm a low fast mover on my trike and just assume my invisibility cloak is working. Those suckers in cages are out to get ya, don't care what they claim to the contrary.

Happy Trials
Kirk

[Alastor]

Hope you get well soon.Irresponsible drivers....the worst inhumane monsters in my opinion...they don't really care if you are ok they only care for there freaking equipment.
Its like watching someone passing out to the street and the only think other passengers do is mining there own business or avoiding the poor man.
Take a look at this experiment you will go mad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVuXy_Tps0Q .

Best wishes of a quick recover

[Trackman417]

Wow thats insane.....
I was coming back from my lunch break. And on my way to work I almost got hit 3 times . Which breaks the previous record of me almost getting hit of zero.
I hope you get better mate. Remember you are helping to change the world, they are not.

[heathyoung]

Yep I had a very similar thing, doing 40ish and juuust stopped in time.

Ride with lights on all the time, a magicshine front + rear is only 15W, uses bugger-all battery. Very tempting to use a large diameter (6") 18W LED worklamp as a DRL for the myopic cagers that seem to try and kill me daily

[The fingers]

I use a helmet light for the "approaching locomotive" effect, but even with all the lights, bright yellow, and reflectors I wear, I got hit anyway.

[HypnoToad]

I'm glad you're ok dude, metal can be replaced, you cannot.

[Hyena]

And then there's this old favourite (from today)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5kXuExW ... e=youtu.be

[The fingers]

I heard once that car doors kill more bicyclists than any other cause.