Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
thirdcrank
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Re: Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Post by thirdcrank »

The point is that no matter who reports defects and no matter how bad they are, the response of the highway authority may still leave a lot to be desired (to put it politely.)

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sirmy
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Re: Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Post by sirmy »

"The point is that no matter who reports defects and no matter how bad they are, the response of the highway authority may still leave a lot to be desired (to put it politely.)"

In your opinion, apparently not of judges, who are the ones who count
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al_yrpal
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Re: Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Post by al_yrpal »

[youtube][/youtube]Just a postscript. The bike has been repaired with s/h 9 speed Ergos and Bellini bars which were in a parts box, having been swapped when someone went from drops to straight bars. Wheels got trued up ok. New cables and bar tape. Total cost £135 which gets it back on the road. After 4 weeks my upper arm is still very painful, but I can ride for short distances. Thanks to Reading CTCs Bob Bristowe! And thanks for your kind wishes
Red letter day today because for the first time in more than 30 years my BMI was under 25. :D

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
Postboxer
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Re: Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Post by Postboxer »

You could write to the council detailing your losses and your injuries, suggest they contact their own solicitors for a ball park figure of what you would get for your injuries if they were found liable, point out that the next person's bike may cost a lot more to repair and may be more severely injured. Then point out that you've reported the defect to them and report it also via fillthathole or whatever, so that they can now decide whether they best repair it or not.
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timdownieuk
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Re: Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Post by timdownieuk »

Hmm, I'm sorry to hear of your accident Al and glad you weren't more seriously injured BUT, from looking at the photos I wouldn't say that that road surface is any worse than many I ride on. If we expect pristine billiard table smooth roads we must all be prepared to pay for them. Suing a council for not producing such roads will just end up costing everyone more money. The only winners would be the lawyers.

As you've hinted yourself, having blown up your front tyre rock hard may have been a factor. A hard tyre is good for rolling resistance, not for grip. A softer tyre might have flexed over that ridge where a hard one would bounce.

I don't mean to be unsympathetic but I think if you fall off your bike on a surface like that you probably have to recognise that you may have been partially responsible.

If it had happened to me I think I would just write it off to experience.

Tim
Psamathe
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Re: Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Post by Psamathe »

I have a bit of a "thing" about potholes and the poor quality of repairs that I've experience; particularly having had to replace the broken front springs on my car twice in the last 2 years!! and ...

Having thought about this, the council has a duty to maintain the roads in safe condition. Assuming you can argue that the poor road maintenance caused your accident it comes down to the council being aware of the hazard.

On the assumption that nobody had previously reported the accident (i.e. authority not aware of the hazard through 3rd party reports), I believe they are still under an obligation to periodically inspect the roads. The frequency of the inspections is generally documented by the authority and depends on the road category. So, depending on how much time and effort you want to put into this, you could check with the council how often they inspect that category of road and when they last inspected it. If they inspected it recently then they should have been aware of the hazard and repaired it. If they have not inspected the road within their own guidelines for the road category then they have again failed.

Of course they may have inspected it within a reasonable period and the hazard has subsequently developed. But there is the possibility maybe worth investigating.

As an example, Norfolk publish a "Transport Asset Management Plan" (available from the Council's web site) and part of that plan given inspection frequencies for different road categories:
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Ian
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531colin
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Re: Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Post by 531colin »

Very late seeing this. Sorry for your pain, Al, I hope you get back to fitness soon.
This spring I was with an experienced cyclist who was brought off by a carbon copy of your road repair. Riding a (hired) hybrid with big tyres (in Slovenia, as it happens).
Last summer I was with another experienced cyclist who was brought off on York Racecourse.....they had laid sand over the hard surface (for the horses) then laid plastic matting over the sand (for vehicles), my friend caught the edge and that was that.
Both riders had hard falls.....you know what happens, you try to go up an edge at a shallow angle, the wheel follows the edge, its no longer underneath you and down you go.
As an aside, I thought "tar overbanding" of road repairs has been stopped after pressure from the motorcycle lobby....just googled it, and I now wonder...https://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=ie7&q=tar+overbanding&rls=com.microsoft:en-GB:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7SUNC_enGB402&gfe_rd=cr&ei=8BsGVMz6OI2MOq6OgMAJ&gws_rd=ssl
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al_yrpal
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Re: Fell off on a sort of tramline - advice please?

Post by al_yrpal »

Thanks Colin, shoulder is still quite painful but very slowly improving. I can just manage an hour and a half on the bike now . Determined to maintain fitness for a mini tour later this month hopefully .

Al
Reuse, recycle, thus do your bit to save the planet.... Get stuff at auctions, Dump, Charity Shops, Facebook Marketplace, Ebay, Car Boots. Choose an Old House, and a Banger ..... And cycle as often as you can......
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