cycling & driving: THE FEAR (1 Viewer)

[ann post]

about 4 miles outside of letterk i was on a straight two lane road with verges, so i was on the verge minding my own business, and all of sudden i heard a car horn sound behind me and the car impact noise, i looked over my right shoulder and there were two cars mid-crash screeching past me, about 2ft off my right elbow; one with its front end ploughing into the drivers door of the other which was half sideways at this point sliding under the weight of the car ploughing into it. the guy who was doing the ploughing managed to wrestle his car free and career into the ditch on the right, which was about 3 ft lower and led into a field. i was sure he was going to roll over but he landed in soft ground and the car just rolled to a halt. the other car careered into my path and stopped up ahead of me. the ploughing guy drove out of the field and pulled up beside us, so the three of us ended up on the verge. in retrospect i wish i'd punched both of them for driving stupid (they were definitley speeding before the impact, and had to be half way into a retarded overtaking sequence) and smashed their cars up a little more and give them a lecture about cyclists not having quite the same resilience to impacts as cars do, but i was a bit shocked so i just asked was everbody ok and cycled on. boy racer idiots can fuck off.

anyone had similar?? or been mowed??

 

[Ciansy]

I've been knocked down (and run over) while cycling, but it was in a very different situation. I was cycling along on the left of the road, coming up to a crossroads. My intention was to go straight on, and just as I reached the junction a woman in a car overtook me. She then proceeded to turn left without indicating, cutting me off and resulting in me smashing into the side of the car, falling off the bike and having my foot run over by the car.

It was only a small car, and by some freaky chance my foot was completely flat when it was run over so there were no bones broken, just an awful lot of bruising and swelling. I couldn't cycle for quite a while after it, so I know exactly what you mean when you talk about THE FEAR.

 

[La La]

woah that must have scared teh shit out of yoU!!!

i know it doesnt look cool, but do people still wear cycling helmets? admittedly i dont - and i should, particlularly after a very sobering chat with a friend of my mother's a few years ago - knocked clean off her bike and her head smashed against a rock. had she not been wearing a helmet, it would have been game over for her. the helmet itself was cracked down one side but saved her head from what would have been a fatal impact.
i know this and yet i still dont wear a helmt. im such a doofus.

 

[flashback]

Ah yeah, I got hit the week before last even.
I have been hit a fair few times at this point, but I was out on the road a lot when I was a nipper. I have forgotten most of them.
I was hit on the way into school, on Newtown part ave, properly mowed down, ended up bollixed, lying in the gutter in the rain, fucked.

And, I got up, and tried to leg it into school, because I didn't want to be late again, since I knew there would be trouble. Yer man who hit me was trailing after me, saying he was sorry, helping me carry the bike which was fairly wrecked at that point. He had just t-boned me, hard. I could barely move after it. I remember just lying in the gutter, in the pissings, looking at sweet wrappers.
He told me he was the guy that did the sculpture on the Rock road / Frascati road, the one of the woman.
I thought that was interesting.

Another time a car drove me off the road in Bray, and a courier pulled up to see if i was ok, buzzed off up the road, and came back a while later. Apparently he had booted the shite out of the car for me. I appreciated that.

I was hit by a bus on the Stillorgan road, because he said i should have been in the cycle lane. He hit me on purpose. I jumped the bike onto the path to keep it up.

One time though, out in Wicklah, there was a car RIPPING past me, and there were two cars over taking eachother oncoming. I think the car that came past me squeezed in so much that it hit something, a rock off a wall, and flipped in front of me, and skidded for ages on the roof. There was two people in the car, your one in the passenger seat was a bit knocked around. The place reeked of petrol.

Its mad watching a car hit something and take off and flip in the air. Had it been slightly nearer I would been browners I think.


So, with all this raging success on bicycles, I decided to get a motorbike. Then I really started having crashes. I knew it was bad when I realised that I had hit the same make of car more than once.
And when I hit a cop car.
And a JCB.


Simpler times.

 

[Doctor Muscles]

The only logical solution would be to buy cars and start terrorising cyclists yourselves. Balance shit out like.

 

[ann post]

woah that must have scared teh shit out of yoU!!!

i know it doesnt look cool, but do people still wear cycling helmets? admittedly i dont - and i should, particlularly after a very sobering chat with a friend of my mother's a few years ago - knocked clean off her bike and her head smashed against a rock. had she not been wearing a helmet, it would have been game over for her. the helmet itself was cracked down one side but saved her head from what would have been a fatal impact.
i know this and yet i still dont wear a helmt. im such a doofus.

1: borrow helmet from a friend
2: hit yourself in the head with a hammer
3: remove the helmet and repeat the procedure.
4: decide which you prefer and reconsider the helmet buzz.

 

[flashback]

Ahh no, like, I am a simple enough soul in a number of ways, but I wear a lid. Skulls are hard, but, yeah, no thanks. I wear a lid. All the time.
I used to take it off on long climbs when I was training, if it was very hot. but now wearing it is cooler than not.

My lid...

top notch.

 

[Ciansy]

Jaysis La La, even I wear a helmet and I'm terrified of the opinions of others! I have to be, it comes with the age.

 

[La La]

Jaysis La La, even I wear a helmet and I'm terrified of the opinions of others! I have to be, it comes with the age.

i'm not bothered about how it look as such, but have always found them really uncomfortable. look i know im digging myself a hole here so i'll buy one as soon as I get back home

 

[Ciansy]

i'm not bothered about how it look as such, but have always found them really uncomfortable. look i know im digging myself a hole here so i'll buy one as soon as I get back home

Our work here is done *zooms away*





I've been awake for a loooong time now.

 

[Catwoman]

Wear a high-viz vest too, la la. My boyfriend is always saying 'You know when it's bright outside you don't need one' but the way I see it is if someone does knock me off (as nearly happened a couple of weeks ago) they won't have a leg to stand on when you sue their ass.

 

[rettucs]

I own 3 helmets. 2 cheap-ish ones for work and then this baby for the proper stuff;

I can say with a degree of some certainty that one of my work cycle helmets saved my life. I have had crashes (nothing as dramatic as flashback's), one of which involved a punter opening a car door, me cycling at about 19m.p.h up the Rathmines road, getting impaled on the corner of the car door, falling off the bike, cracking my head so hard that I couldn't see for a while after it, chipping a bone in my ass and several other related injuries. I was in a heap for about a month after that one. The irony being there wasn't a scratch on the bike.

I've a lovely little scar where my arm meets my torso from that injury. Chicks dig scars though, right?

Get a lid La La. All the cool kids have them these days

 

[rettucs]

Wear a high-viz vest too, la la. My boyfriend is always saying 'You know when it's bright outside you don't need one' but the way I see it is if someone does knock me off (as nearly happened a couple of weeks ago) they won't have a leg to stand on when you sue their ass.

I concur, especially in the city. Its not the drivers in front of you or behind you that are the danger. Its the ones coming against you looking to turn right (across your path), or cars on sideroads to your left trying to sneak out into any little gap in traffic they can. They often just glance at whats coming and can often miss a cyclist. A high-viz will help you be noticed, regardless the time of day. I've see it with me own eyes!

 

[classic seanc]

I can't wait to have an exciting crash. Not like the dopey ones I have now.

Also, I have a helmet. It's awful looking, Argos yoke. But I'm not made of money like...

 

[magicbastarder]

She then proceeded to turn left without indicating, cutting me off and resulting in me smashing into the side of the car, falling off the bike and having my foot run over by the car.

classic left hook. if anyone tries this, slap the side of their car. then cycle on blissfully as they get all enraged.

 

[rettucs]

classic left hook. if anyone tries this, slap the side of their car. then cycle on blissfully as they get all enraged.

this morning on my way to work there was a bin lorry driving in the bus lane, in my way. When I got up alongside him I noticed his window was down so I proceeded to inform him of the rules of the road and that he was not allowed to drive his vehicle in a bus lane. He called me every name under the sun. He looked like one of those scousers from brookside, but I feel ok about the incident. I feel I've educated him and that he won't be driving in bus lane's any more.

The moral of this story? Not sure actually...

 

[Pantone247]

i know this and yet i still dont wear a helmt. im such a doofus.

wear a helmet, seriously

 

[magicbastarder]

this morning on my way to work there was a bin lorry driving in the bus lane, in my way. When I got up alongside him I noticed his window was down so I proceeded to inform him of the rules of the road and that he was not allowed to drive his vehicle in a bus lane. He called me every name under the sun. He looked like one of those scousers from brookside, but I feel ok about the incident. I feel I've educated him and that he won't be driving in bus lane's any more.

The moral of this story? Not sure actually...

you tried to reason with a guy driving a bin lorry? i hope you were wearing your good helmet.

 

[rettucs]

you tried to reason with a guy driving a bin lorry? i hope you were wearing your good helmet.

ah, thats the moral. Wear your good helmet when reasoning with terry out of brookside while hes driving a bin lorry.

I never realised what a poor opinion bin lorry drivers had of me. I swear it wasn't me that pissed in his tea.

Still, my conscience is clear and all

 

[La La]

wear a helmet, seriously

i will. everyone who has posted here - i promise i will. no more lala the doofus riding through town with no helmet.


pantone: how is the cycling to work going?

are your lungs burning?