Saw another bike accident happen right in front of me this morning walking to the station - only a hundred yards or so from where this one happened last year.

Guy on bike was heading down the road, he was coming from behind me (I could hear him accelerating pretty hard), then all of a sudden he hits an Escort that had pulled out in front of him, throwing him over it and landing about 20 feet down the road. I was very relieved to see him get up immediately - luckily he hit the back quarter and went over, any closer to the middle of the car and he might have caught a limb or ended up inside it. Escort driver was an African guy, complete with bluetooth headset. The bike was knackered as you can imagine, bits everywhere and leaking fuel.

Helped him move it and left my number as witness, he was ok apart from a bad leg.

Just reinforces my vow never to ride a bike on a public road!

 

wow.. lucky indeed. Similar happened to me a few years ago in Belgium, albeit at a higher speed.
Ended up fracturing my vertebrae and ribs. It did ache for a while!

 

Not read the linked thread, but if it was a 30 zone what was he doing accelerating hard to what I assume is above the speed limit?

You have to take account of other drivers, and what they expect to see on the road. Not saying the Escort driver was in the right (far from it, should've seen the bike whatever it was doing), but equally the bike might not be blameless.

I share your opinion of bikes on public roads though

 

I can't say how fast he was going as he was behind me, but he was definitely giving it some revs as I could clearly hear the bike over my headphones. It's a 30 limit but quite a wide, straight road so there's the temptation to go a bit over.

 

I hit one side on years ago. He ran a red light. Luckily I was in rather a large Mercedes. The impact was perfectly aligned so the rider came through my windscreen and ended up lying on the back seat !!

It does teach you to be very wary on a bike....it can be very sudden, very noisy and very sore when you connect with something.

 

I saw a bike accident a few years ago in London.. the guy was a complete muppet

On Charing Cross road near Leicester Sq, crowds of people about as it was a Saturday. Waiting at lights he's revving his Ducati 750SS trying to get some attention.

This is a strange crossroads with several roads crossing in the same place, so there are a few set of lights some way apart.

Lights change and he's off, giving it some beans. About 20 metres down the road there are still plebs crossing the road and he's heading for them pretty quick. A middle aged guy steps off the kerb, bike swerves around him and goes over on its side as its damp and greasy underfoot. Bike and knob who was riding it slide about 50ft down the street.

Luckily no-one was hurt and nothing was damaged but the bike, just a few dents in the knobs ego and bank balance.

I've every sympathy for those people involved in bike accidents where the car/lorry/pedestrian should know better. But if you're on a bike then you're vulnerable and should be doing the other guys thinking for them IMO.

 

Was this on Canon St? I heard that there was a bike accident there ~ 8:30am this morning.

 

Another story, a mate of mine was heading home from work in Basingstoke a few years ago. Went over a bridge which was the middle of an S bend. i.e sharp left, over the bridge, then sharp right. If you're coming the other way there is a fairly long straight before the bridge.

Anyway, this guy was driving along minding his own business in his 1.4l Escort (pale blue and particularly crap), just got over the bridge when a young lad on a racy moped came into the corner too quick, onto the wrong side of the road and lodged his bike in the Escorts radiator and sailed straight over the top of the car.

My mate got out and checked the lad was ok - which he was surprisingly (just a broken arm). Other than the bike lodged in the radiator, the only other damage was a dent and the guys belt buckle imbedded in a dent in the roof just above the windscreen. Luckily for my mate, and the lad, he'd been going fast enough to just clear the car!

 

Nope, not sure where that is?

It was parallel to Charing Cross Rd as it happens. Upper St Martins Lane -> WC2H 9NY

 

Err! I was asking Neil about the accident this morning.