Have you ever been knocked down?

bcmf

Knocked down once.
Out training on a summers eve on the old Finglas road (before it was bypassed) just up from the Garda station.Was fairly motoring (oh to be young again) and a guy pulls in to the side of the road in a van with all his family in it inc. his 9month pregnant missus.Anyway he opens his door! I see it to late but try to steer around him.Bars get wrapped up the edge of the door sends me and bike arse over tit into the middle of the road.Anything coming either way and I would have grown a set of feathers on me back.Anyway was fairly badly damaged but lived.I thought his missus was gonna drop right there :eek:

As regards Helmets;Always.
Once up on Luq I put my front wheel where no front wheel should be put.Went straight over the bars head ladnded first and smashed my Rudy Project helmet in 2.That could have easliy have been my head.

blorg

HJ Simpson wrote: »

Knocked down once years ago. I was waiting at the roundabout at the
M50/N81 when a gap appears and the driver who had sat behind me for a minute or two forgot I was in front of him and knocked me down from behind.

I had a similar experience, was using a bike box/advance stop line as they are intended (sitting in front of traffic waiting to turn right.) Was there for at least a minute (left turn light had already gone and traffic was passing on the left lane.) When the right turn arrow went, the guy behind just drove straight into me. I'm lying on the ground, and he jumps out yelling at me claiming I had "come out of nowhere," and to "get up, there's nothing wrong with you." Luckily for me there were witnesses. My arm was broken although I didn't realise this at the time (shock/adreneline I guess.)

Only other occasion where I was knocked down as such was in Sandyford. Big queue of traffic following this idiot in a Jag proceeding for quite a distance at around 5 km/h with no room for anyone to overtake him, god knows what he was at. Anyway having got sick of this I started to overtake the queue of cars and when I got to the car immediately behind him, that car swung pretty suddenly right into an entrance, clipping my back wheel and sending me flying around 15m. I can understand why he did it, probably felt pretty much as impatient as I did, but he wasn't indicating and certainly didn't check his mirrors.

Luckily no harm done there beyond needing a replacement back wheel. Didn't pursue him for that as in fairness I could see his side of it and I shouldn't have been overtaking on a junction.

Limestone1

Never been knocked down but took an embarassing spill on Temple Hill on an icy morning -went sliding for about 10 yards coming to rest half under a Mondeo waiting in a line of cars at the lights. Luckily they all saw me and didn't decide to move off when the lights went green until I had crawled sheepishly away.

I never wore a helmet until one day walking towards College Green , I witnessed a doddery old boy, driving a taxi, pull into the inside lane which was previously occupied by an unhelmetted cyclist that he obviously didn't see. As the cyclist lay on the ground with his head twitching and going into spasms, I made a mental note to never cycle around Dublin again without a helmet.

Ghost Rider

Without a what...?

Limestone1 wrote: »

I made a mental note to never cycle around Dublin again without a .

Robin1982

I was going to vote "Once" until I read all the replies and realised I've been knocked off my bike at least 3 times, although only one of which I would call serious. The other two were the usual car turning left without signalling or looking, and a motorbike pulling across the road and ending up skidding in to him. No big deal really.

However, the week before Xmas last year I was knocked off my bike at that little mini-roundabout on Auburn Avenue (just before the big roundabout). I used to cycle to work every day (40km total) so I had the lycra gear on, plus helmet, backpack and high-viz coverings. Front and rear lights too.

Going down the road through the mini-roundabout, a black car on the road to the left drives out in front of me, which I was none too pleased with until I realised that the SUV behind it had decided to pull out too. I look to my left and see the SUV accelerating towards me and it's that moment when you know you are going to be hit, and you just wait for the impact. Next thing I know I'm flying through the air (I remember the feeling, I was just airborne and it felt weird but fun).

Then I hit the tarmac. I landed on my left side, slightly on my back. The backpack must have taken most of the impact for my back, but my shoulder, hip and thigh definitely felt it. Can't remember at all if the helmet hit the ground. I used to imagine that if I ever got hit by a car in traffic, I would be quick as a flash alert and be nimbly rolling out of the way of everything. Not so, I just lay there in the middle of the road and groaned. The SUV had stopped (holding up the rush hour traffic) and a couple of people had come over to investigate. After wiggling my fingers and toes, I reckoned I could get up and after a minute or two I slowly got to my feet and shuffled over to the grass verge. The SUV pulled in then.

Luckily a motorcycle cop passed by, and took all of our details, and her insurance etc. Yes it was a young mother, her kid in the back had laughed or something and she said she looked round at him and therefore didn't look properly at the roundabout. She was pretty freaked out. I was feeling dazed at this stage (had to lie down as shins were killing me) but remember her admitting to cop it was her fault. After a while I was sore but I guessed I seemed ok and asked her to drive me to work (yep, pretty dazed). By early afternoon, both my wrists and hands had seized up completely and walking hurt a lot. Went to the hospital then. Turns out the side-impact had snapped the bike away from me, tearing the tendons in both my wrists (unfortunately I work with computers all day long). They still hurt all the time and I get weekly physio. The leg wounds have healed (nasty gashes that's all) and my shoulder muscle took 2 weeks to get back to normal.

Haven't contacted her yet as different people are giving me different advice (which ranges from "give her a call and get a few quid for your bills" to "sue her and her kid") plus the physio says recovery could take up to 6 months. Not sure what to do.

Worst of all though is I can't get on a bike now. Its not just the wrists, which makes things painful, its the horrible feeling I get when I think of cycling in traffic again.

bassman22

when it happened to me the first time I was off the road because had to wait about 6 weeks for new front forks to be ordered in.
I was worried that I might have lost my road confidence and it felt strange being back on it again but you just have to get on and you'll find you'll manage.

the second time i was knocked down in america while on a cycle on my own, and had to cycle the damaged bike back. so didn't really have time to worry about lost confidence!

didn't feel a thing until about a half an hour later both times, amazing what adrenaline can do. of course i was in bits with muscles i didn't even know existed for the next week or so!

bassman22

Robin1982 wrote: »

Next thing I know I'm flying through the air (I remember the feeling, I was just airborne and it felt weird but fun).

remember that feeling myself, its a strange one all right! think i was a bit luckier than you though, landed elbow then shoulder then back, then the momentum took me back to my feet. no bones broken just a bit of skin missing on the elbow, cuts on the back and shoulder and of course the sore muscles!

it reads strangely but i do consider myself lucky because of no broken bones

Mint Sauce

midonogh wrote: »

I got knocked down in Tooting Broadway, South London.

remember seeing a guy getting picked out of the road somewhere betwen tooting broadway and balham station, south london, during the morning rush hour heading northbound, think it was in 96/97, his bike was a wreck, a driver helped him to the side if the road, wasn't you was it, used to use that stretch of road ocasionaly, didn't see the actual incident

Ghost Rider

Whether you want to litigate in order to make money or simply be compensated your medical bills and other expenses is a matter for your own judgement, and possibly for your conscience. Personally, I don't believe an innocent victim of a road traffic accident should be left out of pocket afterwards so I would pursue it (and in fact am pursuing a similar claim at the moment).

To that end, my advice would be this: wait until your injuries have fully healed, then get the driver to pay for all of your medical bills and any other related charges (e.g. bike repairs). It is important you sit this period out and be sure everything has been dealt with; you never know what might come up six months down the line. Besides, you have two years before the Statute of Limitations comes into effect (i.e. it becomes too late to make a claim).

At this point, I would give her the option initially of settling with you directly. It'll save you some time and hassle, and there's a good chance she'll go for it in order not to lose the no-claims bonus on her insurance policy. I would give her a certain, specified period in which to decide whether or not to go with this course of action.

If you don't hear back from her within this period, it's time to contact her insurance company. With a police report and medical documentation, you shouldn't have any problem with your claim.

Robin1982 wrote: »

I was going to vote "Once" until I read all the replies and realised I've been knocked off my bike at least 3 times, although only one of which I would call serious. The other two were the usual car turning left without signalling or looking, and a motorbike pulling across the road and ending up skidding in to him. No big deal really.

However, the week before Xmas last year I was knocked off my bike at that little mini-roundabout on Auburn Avenue (just before the big roundabout). I used to cycle to work every day (40km total) so I had the lycra gear on, plus helmet, backpack and high-viz coverings. Front and rear lights too.

Going down the road through the mini-roundabout, a black car on the road to the left drives out in front of me, which I was none too pleased with until I realised that the SUV behind it had decided to pull out too. I look to my left and see the SUV accelerating towards me and it's that moment when you know you are going to be hit, and you just wait for the impact. Next thing I know I'm flying through the air (I remember the feeling, I was just airborne and it felt weird but fun).

Then I hit the tarmac. I landed on my left side, slightly on my back. The backpack must have taken most of the impact for my back, but my shoulder, hip and thigh definitely felt it. Can't remember at all if the helmet hit the ground. I used to imagine that if I ever got hit by a car in traffic, I would be quick as a flash alert and be nimbly rolling out of the way of everything. Not so, I just lay there in the middle of the road and groaned. The SUV had stopped (holding up the rush hour traffic) and a couple of people had come over to investigate. After wiggling my fingers and toes, I reckoned I could get up and after a minute or two I slowly got to my feet and shuffled over to the grass verge. The SUV pulled in then.

Luckily a motorcycle cop passed by, and took all of our details, and her insurance etc. Yes it was a young mother, her kid in the back had laughed or something and she said she looked round at him and therefore didn't look properly at the roundabout. She was pretty freaked out. I was feeling dazed at this stage (had to lie down as shins were killing me) but remember her admitting to cop it was her fault. After a while I was sore but I guessed I seemed ok and asked her to drive me to work (yep, pretty dazed). By early afternoon, both my wrists and hands had seized up completely and walking hurt a lot. Went to the hospital then. Turns out the side-impact had snapped the bike away from me, tearing the tendons in both my wrists (unfortunately I work with computers all day long). They still hurt all the time and I get weekly physio. The leg wounds have healed (nasty gashes that's all) and my shoulder muscle took 2 weeks to get back to normal.

Haven't contacted her yet as different people are giving me different advice (which ranges from "give her a call and get a few quid for your bills" to "sue her and her kid") plus the physio says recovery could take up to 6 months. Not sure what to do.

Worst of all though is I can't get on a bike now. Its not just the wrists, which makes things painful, its the horrible feeling I get when I think of cycling in traffic again.

neilled

Its your call as to whether or not you want to "sue her and her kid" - sounds a serious enough accident to have been in and you need to get yourself checked out. If she caused the accident then yes she should pay - name what you think would be a fair price to cover your medical costs and if she refuses then take her to the cleaners through her insurance company.

Lets put it this way, if you scrapped her D4 Tractor with any part of your bike I'm sure she'd have been shouting away at you, hand out, looking for cash.

midonogh

irish-stew wrote: »

remember seeing a guy getting picked out of the road somewhere betwen tooting broadway and balham station, south london, during the morning rush hour heading northbound, think it was in 96/97, his bike was a wreck, a driver helped him to the side if the road, wasn't you was it, used to use that stretch of road ocasionaly, didn't see the actual incident

Not me. I came off in 2001 opposite the Sainsbury's at Tooting Broadway. Tooting traffic is always manic so not suprising to see more accidents there. I did not live there at the time, but moved to Tooting Bec a few years later

Mint Sauce

midonogh wrote: »

Not me. I came off in 2001 opposite the Sainsbury's at Tooting Broadway. Tooting traffic is always manic so not suprising to see more accidents there. I did not live there at the time, but moved to Tooting Bec a few years later

as i said, used to cycle round that area, used to vary my route, would either join the main road and cycle towards clapham south, at either tooting broadway from garrath lane, or at balham station, and carry on up balham high street, or just join clapham south coming from wandsworth direction, guy i seen hit flew past me durring the morning rush hour, he was wieving through the traffic a bit going as you approach the hill between balham and clapham south, as i cleared the traffic, seen a car in the middle of the road, his managled bike, and him being helped to the pavement, legs covered in road rash and blood

Thefirestarter

Heres quite a few in the past few months
1. cycling home from school, a woman backed out without seeing me and her stupid 4x4-school-run jeep's bumper went straight into my gears and broke the lot. Bike was useless after that because it was all bent.

2. Going past a van and the guy opened the door and...wallop. I thought i was going to go through it

3. Going past yet another van, the sliding door was open and i didn't know some was inside it until a Toolbox was chucked out and hit me in the face

Painful memories

blorg

@Robin1982- it's not a matter of "take her to the cleaners," she admitted she wasn't looking at the road, caused an accident, and left you injured.

I would not look for compensation if all I had was grazes and bruises but you were seriously injured. Torn tendons, six month recovery and can't get on the bike (I too was shocked out of it after my accident, even after it healed.)

She is insured, she is not paying the money out of her own pocket.

Make sure you are 100% healed before you settle anything.

The PIAB was set up to streamline this whole claims process and reduce the time and legal cost involved. It's €50 to submit a claim, they are a neutral third party that will assess what you are due, and that is that.

Personally I would not try to settle personal injury issues on a one-to-one basis (bike damage, sure.)

Alkers

Doored once on the way to school, the door clipped the left handle bar (car parked on path me in bike track) and I went flying to the middle of the road. Still have the image of a jeep screeching to a halt about 3 feet from my face. Didn't have any actual injuuries (was only about 14 at the time) and the bike was fine too. Sat on the footpath for about 10minutes before cycling the rest of the way to school. Was fine all day but then when I got home that evening I was in floods of tears telling the story to my parents.
Had one near miss with a van turning left into a side street without checking his mirrors, that was seriously scary. He didn't even notice and drove on none the wiser. Think I wheeled the bike the rest of the way that day.
Another time was going along in the cycle track in Ranelagh, coming out of town. Just coming up to the Bank of Ireland on the LHS, someone pulled out of the road on the left as I was halfway across it and I went straight into her front wheel. I used to cycle with my keys attached to the strap of my rucksack and these left an almighty scratch over the bonnet of her car. Needed a new wheel and front forks for that one but was uninjured.
Fell of a million and one times on the mountain bike, always wear a helmet for that.

Cabaal

kona wrote: »

i do, i have 2!!!

but youd suprised the amount of people who will buy valve caps over helmets!

bet you look funny wearing at at the same time

Cabaal

Robin1982 wrote: »

Haven't contacted her yet as different people are giving me different advice (which ranges from "give her a call and get a few quid for your bills" to "sue her and her kid") plus the physio says recovery could take up to 6 months. Not sure what to do.

Worst of all though is I can't get on a bike now. Its not just the wrists, which makes things painful, its the horrible feeling I get when I think of cycling in traffic again.

My advise, send her a registered letter outlining what your requesting and give her say 10 working days to respond, if she fails to then seriously talk to a solicitor and request for all bills to be paid, bike to be fixed/replaced, any further damaged equipment to be paid/replaced.

If you really wanted to you could go after her for how it affects your work etc, I personally wouldn't but it really depends how bad you are and having problems with wrists is far from ideal when working with computers!

Ghost Rider

Why not?

blorg wrote: »

Personally I would not try to settle personal injury issues on a one-to-one basis...

Cabaal

Used to cycle about 4 miles to work each day down hill about 4-5 years ago and I passed a school on the way, one day I was coming upto a junction and the lights where green for me to go but somebody stopped there car and then opened there door infront of me so they could leave out there kids.

Wasn't going too fast but still hit the door with abit of a speed, didn't damaged my bike but hurt my wrist abit..hurt me for a few weeks after that which wasn't ideal was I'm right handed :mad:

Have had alot of near misses since but nothing else

Lawless_Samurai

Got knocked off my bike when I was ten after flying out in front of a car. Don't remember any flying sensation. Pulled out on the road looked to my right saw a car and BAM! Woke up on the ground surrounded by loads of people looking at me. Didn't brake anything but ripped the skin off the side of my face. Had to have an operation to remove the stones and grit that got stuck under my face!

blorg

Ghost Rider wrote: »

Why not?

Because there is now a cheap and official procedure to manage these claims in an impartial way without solicitors, (e.g. the PIAB) and insurance companies are a hell of a lot more powerful than you are.

Note I am talking here of injuries that require significant levels of compensation that the responsible party is not going to want to pay themselves in any case, so "not getting the insurance company involved" doesn't really come into it. Scrapes or sprains that heal within a couple of weeks I would not be looking for anything in the first place.

I would be concerned basically that handling it yourself rather than through the official channels you could manage to dig yourself into a hole.

I have been through a claim before, tried to be reasonable and not even remotely trying anything on (not claiming anything beyond what was evident on the X-Ray.) But my experience was that the other side's solicitors are not "reasonable" but raise issues such as was I wearing a helmet, lights and extra visibility clothing (for a broken arm at 11am.) I went through a series of five medical examinations by a range of different consultants for what was a very simple injury shown on the original X-Ray. Since the witnesses who spoke to the Gardai were French tourists, the insurance co refused to setting but insisted on taking it court, pointing out to me that it might be difficult to get these witnesses to testify in court. (Settled in the end when it was clear I was more than happy to go to court.)

A friend in a motorcycle accident had a similar experience more recently; trying dealing with it himself, he was immediately thrown in to the insurance co's legal department who were quickly trying to dig into him.

Ghost Rider

What about compensation for any medical bills you might have incurred? A few trips to a GP and a physio will come to around 200 quid. I think it's fair to expect the other party to fork out in some way for this.

blorg wrote: »

Scrapes or sprains that heal within a couple of weeks I would not be looking for anything in the first place.

kevmy

Well I fell off pretty badly once and was knocked/pushed off once.

The time I fell off was actually worse. It was an icy day and I was taking my normal way home from college. I cut through Gort na Coirbe in Galway from the bridge to Dunnes Stores. Anyway there was some construction going on and some trucks had been taking shortcuts over the kerbs onto the cycle path. I was flying it and went to go over the kerb on to the cycle path. Between the small bit of remaining ice, the muck from the trucks and my speed and angle I came off going over the kerb. I took a fair bit of a fall, hit my head and my 2 elbows. Felt like a tit as there was no cars around. Got up walked home. When I got home I put a pack of frozen peas on me head. About an hour later I started puking. My housemates got worried and brought me to hospital. They checked out my head said nothing was wrong with it (it actually felt grand and had little bruising) and that I was puking from shock.

The other time I was cycling into college along the Dyke Rd. This road gets really narrow at one point and only one car could pass (they have since widened it). I happened to be going in at rush hour and there is always a line of cars going nowhere. I used to always take the outside of the cars even though I shouldn't. Anyway I was approaching the point where it narrows. I saw a car coming the opposite way but presumed he would stop as he couldn't get by. I kept going, unfortunately so did he. I had to make the decision whether to go between the two cars (where there was no room) or go into the bushes on the opposite side. I chose the bushes and briars. I got about three quarters of the way past the car thinking I might just get away with this with some bad scrapes when the front wheel hit a big bastard of a stone in the undergrowth that I couldn't see. I landed in the briars. I was dazed for a few seconds on the ground before hopping up too see the guy in the car clip somebodies wing mirror and speed away. One of the people from the cars on the other side got out and helped me. He reckoned your man was at fault for essentially trying to drive over me when he could clearly see me. I didn't want to do anything though as I WAS on the wrong side of the road.

Anyway I survived but me face and hands where cut to ribbons and my jacket was ruined. My muscles were a bit sore as well but I think the briars actually saved me from the worst of it. The front wheel was totally fooked though and I had to get a new one, thankfully there was nothing wrong with the forks. Luckily with my new course I don't have to come in during rush hour so my cycle in is very pleasant

blorg

Sure, but if it starts to involve trips to a physio I would not be counting it under a minor injury, and would probably seek compensation beyond the medical bills. I would tend to absorb a simple GP visit if the general outlook was nothing serious wrong.

I know people though who have gone the "just want my medical bills, nothing else" route and who have been screwed over.

Cabaal

blorg wrote: »

Sure, but if it starts to involve trips to a physio I would not be counting it under a minor injury, and would probably seek compensation beyond the medical bills. I would tend to absorb a simple GP visit if the general outlook was nothing serious wrong.

Its certainly not minor if it goes on months,

Jnealon

Myself and my mate were out for a spin one Sunday morning and both of us got swiped by this little old lady. My mate got the rough end of the stick as I landed on him and he broke my fall

Chips Lovell

Little old ladies are lethal. Almost got hit by two in one day once.