Cyclist completely uninjured by steam roller

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
Post Reply
pete75
Posts: 16370
Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 2:37pm

Cyclist completely uninjured by steam roller

Post by pete75 »

What the chances of this happening are I don't know but this poor chap ran into a stationary steam roller....


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ca ... e-28524709
Last edited by pete75 on 5 Aug 2014, 1:53pm, edited 1 time in total.
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
User avatar
[XAP]Bob
Posts: 19793
Joined: 26 Sep 2008, 4:12pm

Re: Cyclist injured by steam roller

Post by [XAP]Bob »

Presume the peleton split around it and he didn't?
A shortcut has to be a challenge, otherwise it would just be the way. No situation is so dire that panic cannot make it worse.
There are two kinds of people in this world: those can extrapolate from incomplete data.
User avatar
foxyrider
Posts: 6044
Joined: 29 Aug 2011, 10:25am
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: Cyclist injured by (crashing into a )steam roller

Post by foxyrider »

Feel sorry for him on one level but what sort of plonk could miss seeing a big steam roller like that?
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
Postboxer
Posts: 1929
Joined: 24 Jul 2013, 5:19pm

Re: Cyclist injured by steam roller

Post by Postboxer »

I agree with the edited heading, had a pedestrian collided with a stationary cycle and got injured and the heading in the paper was pedestrian injured by cyclist, there'd be a few complaints on here. I'll assume that it wasn't intentional and that the OP isn't a professional journalist with a few editors to check their posts before they get posted.

It is rather a unique vehicle to crash into and would be funny if they weren't so badly injured, as steamrollers are always cropping up in cartoons in comical situations.
TonyR
Posts: 5390
Joined: 31 Aug 2008, 12:51pm

Re: Cyclist injured by steam roller

Post by TonyR »

Seems it one of the UK National Elite Series races and therefore closed roads I'd assume. What plonker allows someone to park a steam engine on an elite cycle race track?
pete75
Posts: 16370
Joined: 24 Jul 2007, 2:37pm

Re: Cyclist injured by steam roller

Post by pete75 »

Postboxer wrote:I agree with the edited heading, had a pedestrian collided with a stationary cycle and got injured and the heading in the paper was pedestrian injured by cyclist, there'd be a few complaints on here. I'll assume that it wasn't intentional and that the OP isn't a professional journalist with a few editors to check their posts before they get posted.

It is rather a unique vehicle to crash into and would be funny if they weren't so badly injured, as steamrollers are always cropping up in cartoons in comical situations.


There you are I've altered the heading. Happy now ???
'Give me my bike, a bit of sunshine - and a stop-off for a lunchtime pint - and I'm a happy man.' - Reg Baker
Cusqueno
Posts: 144
Joined: 12 Mar 2011, 7:31pm

Re: Cyclist completely uninjured by steam roller

Post by Cusqueno »

What would have happened if he wasn't wearing a helmet (assuming he was)? Didn't the Daily Mail pick this one up? ("Driver of veteran vehicle shocked in unprovoked cyclist attack" ?)
User avatar
BeeKeeper
Posts: 1265
Joined: 29 Apr 2011, 6:45am
Location: South Devon

Re: Cyclist completely uninjured by steam roller

Post by BeeKeeper »

Am I missing something here? I really don't see the humour or need to raise another helmet debate when the facts are not really known. It says the rider's condition is "critical but stable".

A spokesman for the East Anglian Air Ambulance, which airlifted the cyclist to Addenbrooke's Hospital, said he had "ridden into the back of a stationary vehicle... sustaining serious head, chest and leg injuries".

Hope they make a full recovery.
Last edited by BeeKeeper on 5 Aug 2014, 3:45pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
661-Pete
Posts: 10593
Joined: 22 Nov 2012, 8:45pm
Location: Sussex

Re: Cyclist injured in collision with steam roller

Post by 661-Pete »

To be absolutely pedantic, one could argue that to say someone is injured by an immobile object is quite legitimate - at least where there is no possible ambiguity. If I walked into a room and banged my head on a low beam, and then complained "I was injured by a low beam", few people would seize upon my grammar - because my meaning would be obvious.

However it is the Keystone-Cops-slapstick connotations of this incident that require us to be careful of our language. I've set my version of the heading to what I think is the best compromise.

And furthermore - I can't help thinking of a well-known passage from Arthur Eddington's immortal classic The Nature Of The Physical World. Writing about the Theory of Relativity, he states:
Your suggestion would accept the testimony of the drunken man who explained that "the paving-stone got up and hit him" and dismiss the policeman's account of the incident as "merely spinning paradoxes". What really happened was that the paving-stone had been pursuing the man through space with ever-increasing velocity, shoving the man in front of it so that they kept the same relative position. Then, through an unfortunate wobble of the axis of the man's body, he failed to increase his speed sufficiently, with the result that the paving-stone overtook him and came in contact with his head. That, please understand, is your suggestion; or rather the suggestion which I have taken the liberty of fathering on you because it is the outcome of a very common feeling of objection to the relativity theory. Einstein's position is that whilst this is a perfectly legitimate way of looking at the incident the more usual account given by the policeman is also legitimate; and he endeavours like a good magistrate to reconcile them both.
Suppose that this room is a lift. The support breaks and down we go with ever-increasing velocity.
Let us pass the time by performing physical experiments...
--- Arthur Eddington (creator of the Eddington Number).
User avatar
foxyrider
Posts: 6044
Joined: 29 Aug 2011, 10:25am
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: Cyclist completely uninjured by steam roller

Post by foxyrider »

Cusqueno wrote:What would have happened if he wasn't wearing a helmet (assuming he was)?


He was taking part in an amateur road race where the wearing of helmets has been compulsory for at least 40 years!

If he hadn't been wearing a helmet a/ he wouldn't have been in the race and b/ he might well have had the same crash but probably not as he wouldn't have been racing!
Convention? what's that then?
Airnimal Chameleon touring, Orbit Pro hack, Orbit Photon audax, Focus Mares AX tour, Peugeot Carbon sportive, Owen Blower vintage race - all running Tulio's finest!
User avatar
jezer
Posts: 1581
Joined: 29 Sep 2007, 5:16pm
Location: North Wiltshire

Re: Cyclist injured by steam roller

Post by jezer »

TonyR wrote:Seems it one of the UK National Elite Series races and therefore closed roads I'd assume. What plonker allows someone to park a steam engine on an elite cycle race track?

When I was a BCF Race Commissaire in the 90's amateur races did not have closed roads. Elite races normally had a rolling closure I think, protected for as long as it took the peloton to pass through. If any vehicle had been left causing an obstruction a motor cycle escort would have waited by it warn riders. I'm a bit out of touch, it may be different now.
Power to the pedals
TonyR
Posts: 5390
Joined: 31 Aug 2008, 12:51pm

Re: Cyclist completely uninjured by steam roller

Post by TonyR »

foxyrider wrote:If he hadn't been wearing a helmet a/ he wouldn't have been in the race and b/ he might well have had the same crash but probably not as he wouldn't have been racing!


A "helmet nearly killed him" anecdote?
Tonyf33
Posts: 3926
Joined: 17 Nov 2007, 3:31pm
Location: Letchworth N.Herts

Re: Cyclist completely uninjured by steam roller

Post by Tonyf33 »

The chap involved was in the back up event to the elite race.
if indeed it was a closed off event & knowing how riders can be unsighted why was an immovable object like this allowed to be on the road or no warning signs/diverting bollards well before the hazard?
Post Reply