Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.

After learning to ride, have you been in a collision while cycling? (choose 1st one that applies)

Poll ended at 12 Nov 2014, 9:17am

Yes, shared fault with motorist
1
1%
Yes, came off, motorist fault
51
58%
Yes, came off, other road user fault
6
7%
Yes, came off, my fault
7
8%
Yes, but I didn't come off the bike
8
9%
No, no collision as far as I can recall
11
13%
Other / it's complicated (explain below...)
4
5%
 
Total votes: 88

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mjr
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by mjr »

661-Pete wrote:That's going to lead to a rather slanted set of results. What conclusions if any do you expect to draw from your survey?

I'm expecting inconclusive evidence about "have most forum participants been knocked off by motor vehicles?" and maybe some interesting evidence on how many participants have collided with anything.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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pdstsp
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by pdstsp »

I got taken out by a cat - does that count as "other road user"?
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mjr
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by mjr »

Sorry but cats aren't a DfTroad user category or controllable by walkers so I feel that's either rider fault if it was foreseeable or other/complicated if it darted out. :-)

Not as strange the time a dead chicken almost caused a multi bike crash...
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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pdstsp
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by pdstsp »

It'll have to go down as "other/complicated" then - bit like the fracture to my pelvis which resulted.

Dead chicken - do tell.
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Guy951
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by Guy951 »

How did I manage to forget being offed by a heron?

But that was off road, so I don't spose it counts anyway.
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9494arnold
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by 9494arnold »

1/ Straight over bonnett of car coming from a side road.He stopped at junction and waited for ages (if he'd have gone when he first got to junction I'd have struggled to get anywhere near him) Thought I'd made "eye to eye " contact ,Bright summer day, Red Cycling Shirt no dazzle , you can tell how close I was to junction I hit car behind the end of the bumper and in front of the front wheel arch.
Dead Mercian and a weak back I still suffer with.

2/ Pedestrian stepped on to a Pelican which was in my favour as I was just on the pedestrian part, I wasn't going that quick (I'd just stopped at Traffic Light less that 10 metres behind) she had her head down on Mobile, my choices were hit pedestrain/road side railings/oncoming car (I did try an go behind the rather large lady ). Just caught the lady,
One Wrecked 531c Raliegh and a torn Cruiciate Ligament.

3/ Range Rover passed me from behind on a fairly narrow country road , thought "blimey that's close" then the double horse trailer he was towing came past and pushed me straight in the ditch. Fortunate it had a sloped front I suppose, I could have been underneath it. Needless to say they didn't stop.

4/ Jaguar came so close on overtake I had to ride off the road and into the hedge(again didn't stop)

This is over about 40 years so not too bad on average I suppose. Plus miriad near misses, including car paint on the rear offsidetrack nuts of a trike( that's how close he got) .
Flinders
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by Flinders »

Apart from the common or garden idiot turning right across me on Wigmore Street in London, knocking me off, and not stopping (my thanks to the other drivers that stopped to see I was OK) , I had a passenger open a car door on me when both I and the car were stationary at traffic lights, knocked me clean over sideways. She simply didn't look before opening the door. :?
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Heltor Chasca
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by Heltor Chasca »

All my lucky escapes were as a commuter in London:

Pedestrian jumping out of the back of a moving Roadster bus on Oxford Street and I ran into her. Shock all round.
Elderly pedestrian walked out into the road in front of me by Lords. Slammed on brakes and flew over handlebars and bit the Tarmac at her feet. Everyone ok. Her husband was giving her an earful from the other side of the road. Poor, long suffering lady.
In the City I got rammed up the backside and ended up on the bonnet of an old man's car whose foot had slipped off the clutch.
I got hit on the roundabout outside Lords (what is it about the place?) by a car who claimed not to have seen me. It was winter so my clothes afforded me loads of protection although shredded. Sore elbow for ages but mainly shocked at how intense the impact of the vehicle was.
Whacked in the back of the arm by a white van's wing mirror in East London. Cricket bat smack likeness. Didn't stop.

Over 5 years in London I guess I'm lucky. Since living in the West Country I've fallen over several times from the effects of cider.
iviehoff
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by iviehoff »

beardy wrote:I wonder if collision with other cyclists is a far more frequent occurrence?

That is the only thing that has bought me off, both of us thought it was our own fault which was rather handy in not leaving us feeling bitter towards the other. As it was a low speed cycle collision there was only scuffs and a few drips of blood.

For me, cyclists is the least common kind of contact with other road users. The most frequent kind of contact I suffer is with pedestrians. That may be a function of the fact that I have a commuting journey through the West End of London where there are lots of unwary pedestrians, especially in the evening. Most of them are just slight glances and nothing happens to either of us.

I have suffered quite substantial damage to the bicycle, especially, and me to a lesser extent, in collisions where I haven't come off. A car that forced me to rear end it by overtaking me as it suddenly screeched to a halt to stop by the kerb (for no apparent reason) on a steep hill wrote off a bicycle and pair of spectacles and left me with a bruised face, but I didn't actually come off. One collision with a pedestrian who suddenly ran out in front of me wrote off a wheel, but I managed to stay upright on that occasion.

I recall five occasions of coming off due to another road user, 3 cars and 2 peds. In the only cycle/cycle collision I recall, it was the other cyclist that came off, and it was my fault.
Ben@Forest
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by Ben@Forest »

I've just voted as 'shared fault'. I was doored by someone who didn't look but I've put it down as shared fault because she was a child (13/14 years old opening a passenger door so obviously with no mirror to check) and I should have not been so close to the door. I got a buckled wheel and bad grazes but that was about it.
Topher Allan
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by Topher Allan »

My first accident happened on a roundabout, when a motorist pulled out in front of me. The road split into two lanes on the approach to the roundabout; the driver in the right hand lane saw me and stopped, but the one in the left hand lane pulled straight out without having a good view of the road. I went into the side of the car, and then fell sideways onto the tarmac. I was lucky in that my shoulder (and the car) absorbed most of the impact - there was no damage to the bike. I didn't notice that I was bleeding from the bridge of my nose, where my glasses had hit my face, until I arrived at work.

My second accident happened while I was at a T-junction, completely stationary and waiting to turn right out of a minor road, and a driver was turning right into the minor road. He cut the corner and drove straight into my bike. Fortunately I'd just managed to jump clear - I wasn't technically knocked off, but I did end up off the bike. The bike itself needed a new front wheel and new brake levers, which the driver paid for.
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b1ke
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by b1ke »

Three times in total. Car door twice and once cut up on a roundabout. Most recent was August this year.
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jezer
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by jezer »

I've been cycling for nearly 57 years, and have never been hit by a motor vehicle. Is this a record? I'm probably tempting fate :shock:
Power to the pedals
landsurfer
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by landsurfer »

I go back to my previous post.
Cycling is not dangerous.
Those that wish to portray it as so will have us banned from the roads.
Don't talk us off the roads.
“Quiet, calm deliberation disentangles every knot.”
Be more Mike.
The road goes on forever.
Postboxer
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Re: Have you been knocked OFF in a collision while cycling?

Post by Postboxer »

It's the driving that's dangerous!
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