Bicycle Accident - 2pm today

[titch juicy]

It doesn't matter how much anecdotal evidence you report; some people will just stick fingers in their ears and go lalalala if it doesn't suit them to listen.

It's the same with wearing earphones in city traffic. It's dangerous- despite people lucky enough to not have had an accident caused by it, telling you otherwise.

[milk76]

DJKQ you are dead wrong about the ammount of protection helmets offer.

It may be reasonable to question their value compared to a perceived negative effect on car driver caution if they are used. There might even be weight to the public health advantage of greater cyclist numbers en mass in the absence of compulsary helmet laws.

But the TRUTH is Cycle helmets significantly reduce fatal and life altering injuries in all catagories of blunt force trauma (low, medium and high velocity) Over my years as a trauma surgeon i have seen many tragedies wept over for lack of this basic cheap safety equipment. You might not wish to wear one and that is your right. But if one kid reads that they are not effective, believes you and stops wearing theirs, then that is a shame.

[reeko]

I cycle daily and started when at uni. I never bothered with a helmet, found them awkward and distinctly not cool. That was until the day I got to study a brain that had not been fixed in formaldehyde. Basically it had the form and texture of stiff blacmange. I was struck by how fragile it was - it wobbled like jelly and looked like you could easily stick your finger through it. After that I thought an extra layer of protection was probably a good idea. You can argue the evidence til the cows come home, BUT IT IS YOUR BRAIN. Better safe than sorry.

[spark67]

I have cycled for almost 15yrs around london, & I would not get on my bike without a helmet, no it won't protect you from being run over by a car or lorry (not even a suit of armor would) but it doesn't take a lot to damage the brain from an impact to the head from the height of falling off a bike. I know of someone (one of my sisters work colleagues) who suffered blood clots on his brain due to banging the side of his head on the kerb as he fell off his bike after having braked suddenly, he had two major ops to remove them. (a helmet would have reduced the impact and prevented this he was told) And a fellow cyclist I know lost control and went over his handle bars head first into a lampost near the park in camberwell, he had mild concussion, but could have been a lot worse with out his helmet which cracked under the impact.

I think it should be up to the individual to wear one or not, we are all as adults responsible for our own safety (though I do feel young children should wear them at all times)

I am glad the lady in the accident is ok, I see so many accidents on my commute, Cyclists & motorists need to look out for each other more and have some common sense, I see stupid risks on both sides regularly on my travels sadly :/

[DJKillaQueen]

Hi Milk. Whilst I totally accept you experience of dealing with accident trauma, and agree that in specific circumstances a helmet helps, and totally accept your point about children feeling they are not useful if told they don't help, I would also add that some drivers might also think that because a cyclist is wearing a hlemet, the damage they can do in an accident is limited. In fact I know that some drivers think this way, which is why they are more cautious around cyclists without helmets.

Also the evidence doesn't support the theory either....

http://cyclehelmets.org/1012.html

As the about article points out, fatalities often are the result of a combination of serious injuries. If a lorry crushes you while turning a corner, it's not a head injury that kills you....and that fatal impacts are often at such a high speed from the vehicle that again, a helmet would not have made any difference to the outcome.

SF the OP clearly states the car cut the corner and drove into the oncoming vehicle lane, as cars were turning left. The cyclist was not in the junction box, but at the head of the traffic waiting to turn left. Seems clear to me.

[LadyDeliah]

I use a snowboard helmet, cycle helmets seem too flimsy!

[the-e-dealer]

Maybe that explain s why more motor cyclists die on the roads than cyclists

[Atticus]

to suggest that drivers take less care around cyclists with helmets is utter folly. I would ask how you go about measuring this if I didn't think it was such rubbish. Idiosyncratic at best.

[the-e-dealer]

Yes Seat Belts, Zebra Crossings, Parachutes and Cricket boxes other causes of danger in modern Life.

[DJKillaQueen]

It's my experience of 20 years plus of cycling Atticus. And I did say 'some' drivers, not all.

[the-e-dealer]

And safety razors the number of fingers i have lost to them whoops oh no ....

[DaveR]

"to suggest that drivers take less care around cyclists with helmets is utter folly. I would ask how you go about measuring this if I didn't think it was such rubbish. Idiosyncratic at best."

Risk compensation is a very well-established and widely studied phenomenon, and although there is not much evidence specifically regarding cycle helmets, it's reasonable to think that both cyclists and drivers might change their behaviour if they perceive that wearing a helmet makes the situation inherently safer. If you think about it, do you drive differently where there is a clearly marked cycle lane compared to where there isn't? Is it possible that at a subconscious level you are more careful to give space to individual cyclists where there is no cycle lane?

That having been said, the evidence that helmets offer benefit if you have an accident is good enough for me - I always wear one on the road. The evidence that cycle helmets make cycling overall safer is much less certain (for whatever reason) which is why I'm not an advocate for compulsory helmet wearing.

[anapau]

Last year I went over the handlebars going down a hill (collided with the side of a car then braked hard) and smashed my face up pretty badly, four front teeth went through my top lip, badly fractured the bone above my teeth, skin came off lower half of face & nose. Obviously very traumatic but had I not been wearing a helmet I would have definitely broken my nose and suffered head injuries, as I took the full force of the fall on my face but the helmet jutted out enough to protect my nose and forehead...needless to say I'm an advocate.

[Applespider]

Atticus Wrote:

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> to suggest that drivers take less care around

> cyclists with helmets is utter folly. I would ask

> how you go about measuring this if I didn't think

> it was such rubbish. Idiosyncratic at best.

It is anecdotal but on the rare occasions that I do end up cycling without a helmet, it does feel like drivers are giving me more room when they pass. Since obviously, there's no obvious way of ensuring it's the same drivers, it's entirely subjective. And since I do prefer to wear one, I'm not going to even attempt to experiment more extensively.

Again anecdotally, on the days where my pony-tail is sticking out of my helmet and clearly visible, it feels that I'm getting more room than when I've got it tucked inside my buff.

Even if both could be proved, I suspect it's more subconsciously done than intentionally.

Ouch, anapau! Hope you're OK now!

[the-e-dealer]

Ok so if you ride in the buff with a Pony Tail the cars will avoid you!

[Vilmos]

No one has mentioned wearing visibility clothing so you can be seen when you are riding a bike. If a car driver hits a cyclist then it is very difficult for him or her to explain that they just didn't see the person. If people riding push bikes insist on wearing dark clothing then they stand a very good chance of being hit by a driver who just didn't see them.

I shudder when I (quite often) see people on bicycles carrying toddlers and wearing no visibility clothing whatsoever. For myself, I wear both a safety helmet and a large reflective waist/shoulder band that I used when I rode a motor bike when I am riding my push bike.

[DJKillaQueen]

LOL e-dealer...not really the right time of year to put that to the test....

I agree vilmos. Visibility is the most important thing and a hi-vis vest can be bought for a quid in poundland. Seems a small price to pay for being visible. I also have little sympathy for cyclists that don't use lights too. Lights are often the only thing you can see when driving, if a cyclist is filtering at night, in weather like rain for example. And if I'm driving and sat at lights, I always look for cyclists in the passenger mirror before moving off.

Having said that though, the first time I was knocked off my bicycle (20 years ago) was in the middle of the night, no traffic apart from me and the car that hit me. I was lit like a christmas tree. He overtook me, changed lane knocking me off, and did a runner. I had a fractured wrist as a result. Poor drivers are always poor drivers, no matter what you do.

[northlondoner]

loobylou Wrote:

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> Having been knocked off my bike in the summer (by

> another cyclist and on a cycle path), I would urge

> every cyclist to wear a helmet. I was knocked out

> and spent several hours at King's being stitched,

> X rayed and CTed ( not in that order). Had it not

> been for the helmet, things would have been a lot

> worse. As it was I drove my nearest and dearest

> mad asking the same questions over and over again

> for at least 3 hours, after that I began to

> remember what I had said but I still don't

> remember what happened in the accident, or how I

> managed to ring my relatives to let them know what

> had happened. Fortunately a witness rang for an

> ambulance and waited until my daughter arrived.

> Definitely wear a helmet!

Gosh - hope you;re ok...

[Applespider]

Hmm, e-dealer, I think I'll pass on trying your idea out... at least for this year!

High-vis is most useful at dusk or on rainy/foggy days. After dark, you'd be better off just wearing white. At night, reflectivity (and lights, obviously!) is more useful to help drivers spot you than a high-vis vest. Some high-vis vests do have decent amounts of retro-reflective tape on them but most cycle clothing seems to just have thin lines of silver reflective which don't show up all that well from a distance. If I know that I'm going to be out after dark, I wear a wide silver reflective "Sam Browne" sash belt that shows up well in headlights.

You can get different colours of retro-reflective tape (white, yellow, red, blue, green and even black) that you can stick onto your bike (i.e. on seat stays/seat posts, forks) or rucksacks so that it reflects. Reflective spoke 'straws' also help in terms of being visible from the side while being unobtrusive during the day.

While we're talking helmets, it's also worth considering sticking a light front/back on it too (the Knog Frog ones stretch well on different shapes) so that you have some visibility at a higher point than usual too. It also has the advantage that if you glance down a side road or do a lifesaver, cars in that direction can see you more too.

[loobylou]

yes I'm fine , thanks for posting, my knuckles may never be the same but my head is fine...which is the most important! :)

[belladonna]

I have cycled in London for over 30 years, sometimes wearing a helmet, usually not...just preference, nothing to do with fashion. I should wear one, I know, In Australia you have to by law I believe.

I've not noticed cars taking any less care if i am wearing one...there are considerate motorists, and there are b......s. The white van that ran over my bike as he reversed a case in point, but i'd been distracted and not observant, In my world it seems that cars are out to get you and these days i take care to stop at zebra crossings and traffic lights, it's a jungle out there on city streets. wear reflective jackets, and flashing lights, and enjoy the freedom and fitness cycling offers you but i'd advise you to wear a helmet....

The other month i witnessed one cyclist hurtling the wrong way down a one way street collide very nastily with another man on his bicycle...ambulance called....today an elderly cyclist lady just crossed the road in front of a motor cycle, i'd opted to stop....

should i go On?

[spark67]

I find the notion of drivers taking more risk if you wear a helmet strange, as a driver also it makes no odds to me, I give a wide berth when I see someone on a bike if they are wearing one or not, as a cyclist it was near misses that drove me to wear a helmet in the first place , especially the driver who passed so close Their wing mirror flew off as he hit my handle bar, as I was then sent sprawling onto the pavement in borough one time, just stopping my head from hitting the ground. I got my first helmet soon after that.

[Andybol]

I'm a long term cyclist who is just learning to drive and whilst I think there are horrendous drivers out there I am also absolutely paranoid about hitting someone on a bike and I have to admit a few have gone up the left hand side of me whilst driving, which is a very stupid thing to do as a driver won't be able to see you till quite late.

Personally I think there should be cycle high ways and cycling can and should be made more safe by way of creating seperate lanes etc where possible. Equally drivers need to take more care in assessing their surroundings when driving. Finally cyclists need to not take as many risks as they seemingly do to get somewhere faster - I'm not saying this happened in this instance as it sounds like a lousy driver but as a cyclists I use to dart in and out of traffic which I now realise is dangerous.

I think it's much more complex than crap drivers.

[Burbage]

Atticus Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> to suggest that drivers take less care around

> cyclists with helmets is utter folly. I would ask

> how you go about measuring this if I didn't think

> it was such rubbish. Idiosyncratic at best.

You could read this and then you'd find out.

[howdood]

Re Anybol's "cycling can and should be made more safe by way of creating seperate lanes etc where possible". I have to say that separate cycling lanes are the most dangerous thing on the roads. One: they mean that drivers don't feel they have to defer to (or even look out for) cyclists who are turning right - as now the cyclist is "changing lanes" rather than the driver "overtaking a vehicle signalling a right turn" as would be the standard Highway Code interpretation.

Two: they encourage cyclists to pass stationary traffic on the left, which (as he points out) is generally more dangerous than overtaking on the right as motorbikes, mopeds, and sensible cyclists do.

Three: given the dodgy quality of the roads in Southwark, the last thing you want is to be riding on two wheels over a pothole which you've been forced into because the cycle lane leaves you nowhere else to go (I nearly came off my bike in moving traffic last week on a 6-inch deep pothole in the middle of the bike lane going East from the East Dulwich Road/Peckham Rye junction.)

Four (and finally): every cycle lane ends somewhere, and however many cycle lanes there are, we all have to ride on the open road sooner or later. The more cycle lanes there are, the more people come to believe that bikes "don't belong on the roads" and drive accordingly. I've had enough abuse from motorists over the years to know that the biggest problem is the number of drivers who sincerely believe that bikes shouldn't be on roads, full stop. Cycle lanes are a short-sighted concession to such bigots!