Let’s keep a perspective. I didn’t land on my head. I didn’t get squashed by oncoming traffic. And best of all, I got to use my one-day bus ticket some more. There are worse results after being side-swiped by a muppet taxi driver (“I was talking to my passenger”) and ending up on the tarmac in front of his potential death-machine.
There are, as ever, ironies in this; a) Just last night Mrs Towers, a friend and I were discussing cycle helmets. Mrs T pities the fool who wears them. Friend and I were/are in favour (and I was wearing today, as usual) b) If I’d not been responding to an irate email from a politician who wasn’t supposed to have seen the email I wrote to another politician about a private member’s bill… about cycle safety, I wouldn’t have been where I was when the muppet tried to undertake the car in front of him without looking c) I’m supposed to be writing about a cycle safety manifesto imminently.
So, today’s score card – grazed forearm (no fracture – which is wonderful, because olecranons (olecrana?) are bastards to heal. A scraped lateral malleolus. Some aches and pains and a slightly sore neck. A bike that’s at the bike shop again (kerching!).
But not dead. Which is probably a plus.
Soft tissue damage beats broken bones any day of the week. How badly did your bike do in the crash?
Hi Forrest,
I have taken it to the bike shop. I suspect it’s going to be ok without major surgery- the fork was massively rotated, but the spokes and wheel generally looked ok, frame not buckled etc. Fortunately I was only doing about 15 or 20, and the taxi that hit me had been stationary – he was pulling out from a queue because he couldn’t wait the extra few seconds behind a car turning right across the flow of traffic. And couldn’t be bothered to look in his mirror before he pulled into the cycle lane. Too busy fishing for a tip from his passenger, perhaps. (He admitted at the scene that he’d been talking to her).
Sigh. I was hit about ten years ago, coming (straight) through a green light, when somebody in a minivan wanted to make a left turn but didn’t want to wait for me. I remember making eye-contact with the driver before he hit me. My steel frame was bent in the impact, and I broke a few ribs.
I’m glad your crash experience was better than mine. But it pains me to read about other cyclists getting hit for the same reason I did – because some driver didn’t want to wait a few seconds. :(
The man sitting beside me on the couch, whom of course, you have met, would most likely not be here if it are not for bicycle helmets. At last count he’s destroyed three of them. Better bicycle helmets than skulls.
I shall pass that on to Mrs Towers, whom I believe you’ve met… :)