Anyone not been hit by a car

Commuting, Day rides, Audax, Incidents, etc.
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foxyrider
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Joined: 29 Aug 2011, 10:25am
Location: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by foxyrider »

RickH wrote:Wasn't there some (minor) research done with different combinations of clothing (normal, hi-vis, cycling kit), helmet (or not), etc. that showed that the most effective item for getting cars to give space was a long blonde wig? Make of that what you will :D

Edited to add: found a link - the guy got an average of 14cm more space with a blonde wig on.

Rick.


that must be it - i'm the perfect combination! 14st, with long blonde hair and no helmet! :lol:
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!
reohn2
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by reohn2 »

foxyrider wrote:that must be it - i'm the perfect combination! 14st, with long blonde hair and no helmet! :lol:


Stop it I'm beginning to fancy you now :shock: :? :|
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"All we are not stares back at what we are"
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AlaninWales
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by AlaninWales »

pwa wrote:I think all cyclists should be required to be 6ft+ blokes weighing 14 stone or more. Drivers really don't fancy having me bounce off their bonnets and tend to give me plenty of room.

6 foot 6, 230 pounds and was once fighting fit: I've still had drivers pass close enough that my right handlebar (flats) has scraped paint of the doors. In fact one once passed so close that my right peddle caught in is front nearside wheelarch.
Fasgadh
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by Fasgadh »

Dump truck survivor (only bike written off). Yet to get hit by a car though.
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Guy951
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by Guy951 »

pwa wrote:I think all cyclists should be required to be 6ft+ blokes weighing 14 stone or more. Drivers really don't fancy having me bounce off their bonnets and tend to give me plenty of room.

I am a 6ft, 14 stone (and a bit) bloke. That didn't stop a moron mistaking me for an empty roundabout in September 13.
What manner of creature's this, being but half a fish and half a monster
borderghost
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by borderghost »

Touch wood i have not been hit by car despite riding a bike reguarly since i was 10 years old (over 25 years ago), even when i was a teenager i had a job delivering prescriptions to the elderly/disabled spending many dark winter nights on the road covering many miles per round, only run in i had was with a police car who told me to get on the kerb, can not win as i thought even as a teenager back then i should have been on the road, was very aggresive as he said "there is the kerb there now get on it". Have had a few close calls over the years but nothing to write home about.
The fat commuter
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Location: The hilly side of Sheffield

Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by The fat commuter »

Never been hit in thirty plus years of cycling. However, this week I had two near misses (why is it called a 'near miss' - if you nearly miss something, you hit it - surely). Anyhow, this week I had some numpty on Monday morning in a van so eager so get past me that he missed my front wheel by inches. I chased after him - which I regretted as it was downhill and I missed/forgot about my turning so had to then ride back uphill to get to it! Then, the following day, I had a load of cars passing and doing a left turn as I was about to do a left turn - fair enough, the majority were not a problem. One was just that little bit too close, but another decided also to turn left on me as I was actually turning myself. I suppose that I should have moved into primary before turning left as I was taught on the bikeability course - but it's never been an issue on that junction before. I'm guessing that the fact that so many cars were turning left, the drivers just had a sheep like mentality and followed each other and unconsciously didn't see me.

I have had a cyclist hit me before when driving the car. Many years ago when driving down a pedestrian street that you were allowed to drive down (if that makes sense). I slowed to a stop as someone stepped in front of me. Next thing a cyclist slid down my windscreen - he'd hit the back of my car and gone right over the roof. I didn't feel a bump of his bike impacting, so got a shock as he rolled down the bonnet and onto the floor. Fortunately, he was OK - most apologetic and insisted in checking over my car for damage (could see no damage to him or his bike either). In a strange way, I've always found the incident mildly funny - I hope he recalls the story in the same way.
Tacascarow
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by Tacascarow »

Never been hit, but got punched in the face yesterday.
Classic road rage case.
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horizon
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by horizon »

He must have been on his way back from the BBC then.
When the pestilence strikes from the East, go far and breathe the cold air deeply. Ignore the sage, stay not indoors. Ho Ri Zon 12th Century Chinese philosopher
Tacascarow
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by Tacascarow »

horizon wrote:He must have been on his way back from the BBC then.

Nah twasn't JC unless he's lost twenty years & had lots of tats up his arms. But the thought did cross my mind afterwards that he might be missing his top gear fix.
Imagine there will be a few petrolheads looking for someone to blame other than their beloved Messiah in the next few days.
pwa
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by pwa »

Tacascarow

I hope the bruises heal quickly. Violence, or even the threat of violence, leaves a nasty feeling for a long time. Fortunately, most people out there, whatever their mode of transport, are as repelled by violence as we are.

My half jokey comment about my size deterring the less caring drivers from colliding with me is applicable where I take up a position away from the gutter, giving a driver the choice of waiting or hitting me with the front of the car. My size is obviously less of a deterrent where a driver thinks he / she can just squeeze around the side.
Tacascarow
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by Tacascarow »

pwa wrote:Tacascarow

I hope the bruises heal quickly. Violence, or even the threat of violence, leaves a nasty feeling for a long time. Fortunately, most people out there, whatever their mode of transport, are as repelled by violence as we are.

My half jokey comment about my size deterring the less caring drivers from colliding with me is applicable where I take up a position away from the gutter, giving a driver the choice of waiting or hitting me with the front of the car. My size is obviously less of a deterrent where a driver thinks he / she can just squeeze around the side.

No bruises, just a glancing blow. Reported to the police but I don't expect any results. They have more to do than chase a handbag swinging Neanderthal.
My road position was his problem. He couldn't understand why I wasn't hugging the parked cars.
& I was going with the flow of traffic anyway so not hindering his speed in anyway, just denting the idiots ego I suppose.
I do need to keep my mouth shut though.
He had followed me for someway & there was lots of engine revving intimidation before he finally passed. When he did & hurled a load of abuse I'm afraid I did tell him to fornicate off.
Better to just ignore & keep smiling.
JCroxton
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Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by JCroxton »

Never been hit by a car as such. I've had a car pull out from parking at the side of the road, it was too quick for me to swerve, so he just ended up with a door full of my left pedal. Karma.

I also lost control down a gritty lane, and the only effective brake I had was the bonnet of a parked car at the bottom.. Pride dented. Bonnet fine. Although the owner of the car didn't seem to care for my well being, and wondered off when he realised his car was unharmed!
niggle
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Location: Cornwall, near England

Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by niggle »

I have only been hit by a car once, or rather my bike has: aged about 12-13 at night I made a right turn into a side road across the path of a driver of a Rover P6. I honestly thought the car was much further away, fooled by the inboard, i.e. close together, pair of the four headlights being lit. At the last instant I realised my mistake and that my only option was to pedal harder: the car just took off my mudguard mounted rear dynamo light with 'snick' noise. I remember the driver was a bit cross and a lot shook up. At about the same time, again at night, I rode into the back a parked dark green Thames van on my own street (lit with those yellow sodium lights) and was knocked out by the contact with the back window. A helmet might have avoided the KO that night, Dad hammered the forks of my Hercules Hustler straight the next day and it carried on for a year or two more without problem.

No more contact with a vehicle when cycling since those own fault incidents in the mid 1970s, though I have had two minor low speed filtering nudges when motorcycling, both times partly to blame, and two minor prangs when driving, both definitely down to the other driver.
toomsie
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Joined: 25 Aug 2014, 11:05am

Re: Anyone not been hit by a car

Post by toomsie »

No cars so far. I ran over a bottle in the road. Did fall fortunately.
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