Van v cyclist accident

[noj]

What an odd thing to say if he genuinely hadn't seen her. He's made an obvious mistake and is shaken by it, shock can kill someone.

Not really, I was more concerned at the time about the woman that had just gone across the front of his bonnet and was now in the road screaming that I was trying to keep calm and look after. The driver of the van just wasn’t my concern at the time and other people were talking to him and looking after him. Yes he made a mistake and he will have nightmares about that but at the time I simply prioritised the cyclist over the driver and paid him no attention.

I’m just a guy faced with an abnormal situation (for me) and my brain simply prioritised and dealt with things as best as possible.

 

[iamtheoneneo]

Saw a car take out a cyclist once. Cyclist was 100% in the wrong as the car was already starting to park in a spot and the cyclist was on the wrong side of the road and just tried to undertake the car. Basically moron.

Supposedly despite all the evidence the insurance firm still sided with the cyclist...

 

[AHarvey]

Not really, I was more concerned at the time about the woman that had just gone across the front of his bonnet and was now in the road screaming that I was trying to keep calm and look after. The driver of the van just wasn’t my concern at the time and other people were talking to him and looking after him. Yes he made a mistake and he will have nightmares about that but at the time I simply prioritised the cyclist over the driver and paid him no attention.

I’m just a guy faced with an abnormal situation (for me) and my brain simply prioritised and dealt with things as best as possible.

That's fine when explained that way, you focused on the higher priority. It was the "giving a stuff about him" that gave the wrong impression to me

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Saw a car take out a cyclist once. Cyclist was 100% in the wrong as the car was already starting to park in a spot and the cyclist was on the wrong side of the road and just tried to undertake the car. Basically moron.

Supposedly despite all the evidence the insurance firm still sided with the cyclist...

Did you really need to post that in this thread?

Or are we just going to descend into cyclist bashing again?

 

[VincentHanna]

Saw a car take out a cyclist once. Cyclist was 100% in the wrong as the car was already starting to park in a spot and the cyclist was on the wrong side of the road and just tried to undertake the car. Basically moron.

Supposedly despite all the evidence the insurance firm still sided with the cyclist...

My insurance basically said they pretty much always side with pedestrians and cyclists because there isn't another insurance company to claim off...crazy.

 

[VincentHanna]

Did you really need to post that in this thread?

Or are we just going to descend into cyclist bashing again?

Its more bashing the system and the insurance companies

I am both a motorist and a cyclist.

 

[Uther]

One of the (many) reasons I don't ride a motorbike any more, the amount of morons that just pull out is incredible. As people still seem to do it even when I'm in a huge 7 seater people carrier I can only assume the standard of modern driving is appalling.

 

[Haggisman]

What an odd thing to say if he genuinely hadn't seen her. He's made an obvious mistake and is shaken by it, shock can kill someone.

However driving a van into someone/someone's path is a lot more likely to.

If he "genuinely hadn't seen her" then he should have looked properly, particularly if, as the OP says, she was wearing a hi viz waistcoat. Thankfully the woman was ok, but his moment of carelessness/inattention/impatience could easily have killed her.

One of the (many) reasons I don't ride a motorbike any more, the amount of morons that just pull out is incredible. As people still seem to do it even when I'm in a huge 7 seater people carrier I can only assume the standard of modern driving is appalling.

Couldn't agree more, I would never ride my bike on the road these days, too many morons on their phone, in too much of a rush, or just think their journey is more important than other people's lives.

 

[LOAM]

Hardest thing was having to call her boyfriend and tell him what was going on and where we were...”hi, complete stranger here, calling to let you know your gf has just been taken out by an idiot....”

Mate you held her hand, it's hardly taking her out. I'm surprised you even told her other half.

To soon?

 

[jpaul]

Do the police automatically breathalyze, test eye sight, (other ?) when they attend ?

 

[Kaeo]

Mate you held her hand, it's hardly taking her out. I'm surprised you even told her other half.

To soon?

I laughed more than I should have. Well done OP, faith in humanity restored.

They will breathalyse of course. Any rtc they attend.

 

[ShiWarrior]

Do the police automatically breathalyze, test eye sight, (other ?) when they attend ?

they would probably breathalyse the Van driver, just to eliminate the possibility of being drunk in control of a vehicle


OP, you did the right thing

i cycled to work 20 years ago, and i had an accident

woman pulled out in-front of me and all i remember was hitting her door (it was red) , next thing i knew i was on the ground and i spat out some blood, then the next thing i knew i was in hospital, and i couldn't remember my name, where i was or anything, then i must have blacked out again, and work up again, and then slowly i started to remember who i was etc

 

[FBi7]

.....I don't ride a motorbike any more, the amount of morons that just pull out is incredible.......I can only assume the standard of modern driving is appalling.

As a current motorcyclist and blue light driver, I can confirm your assumption is 100% correct. Sadly.

 

[Amp34]

So just a point on this: Whilst it's correct that if there's no need to take off a helmet, then you shouldn't, it's also important to highlight when you should take of a helmet. If, like you said, someone is lying in a position where it's putting them in immediate danger they need to be moved or if someone isn't breathing and the helmet obstructs CPR, it must come off. They are techniques for both taking of helmets safely and moving people (log rolls). It's also worth noting that if someone is vomiting, then you need to make sure you're keeping the airway clear, which may require removing a helmet. You don't want someone to die because these subtleties are missed.

To add to this there are also methods and processes to assess the likelihood of a spinal injury and how safe it is to move them - patient assessment, age, mechanism of injury, alertness of the patient and their willingness to move their neck etc. However if you’re not trained or you have doubt its best not to move them if they are in a safe position.

What an odd thing to say if he genuinely hadn't seen her. He's made an obvious mistake and is shaken by it, shock can kill someone.

It’s called triage. The van driver is at worst a “green” (lowest priority) so your priority should be with the patient with more serious injuries. That’s not to say just ignore the other person completely in case their condition deteriorated, but just an occasional eye is likely to be fine.

And well done the OP, too many people just move on by in an incident so good on you for stopping. If you haven’t already perhaps consider doing a first aid course, the more advanced the better. It’s always worth having the skills and knowledge to be able to help in situations like this.

 

[saitrix]

Well done for what you did there. I have actually gone through a very similar situation but as the cyclist and I am eternally grateful for the people who stopped with me to make sure I was ok and warm (someone went into their house to put a blanket on me!). In the end it took 45 minutes for the ambulance to turn up, I went away on a spinal board. As it turned out good thing too, I had a fractured L1 vertebrae and required spinal fusion to bypass that vertebrae. It might not seem like too much but having those people whilst waiting really helped, they were able to get my mobile and call my parents.

On the note of moving people I got lucky and a nurse was one of the people who stopped. I started vomiting so they turned me gently to ensure my airways were clear. After that I didn't move until I was rolled onto my back to go onto the spinal board.

So yes big thumbs up from me.

 

[ethan]

Good on you OP for doing the right thing.

 

[helpimcrap]

Good job not moving her until the ambulance has arrived. Keep them awake, calm and stem bleeding is normally most you can normally do.

 

[Slam]

Glad she's relatively okay and well done for being decent and helping for so long.

 

[AHarvey]

It’s called triage. The van driver is at worst a “green” (lowest priority) so your priority should be with the patient with more serious injuries. That’s not to say just ignore the other person completely in case their condition deteriorated, but just an occasional eye is likely to be fine.

I'm fully aware of the process involved, my comment was aimed more at the "giving a stuff" as it came across as "screw him it's all his fault!" however the OP clarified this further down.

However driving a van into someone/someone's path is a lot more likely to.

If he "genuinely hadn't seen her" then he should have looked properly, particularly if, as the OP says, she was wearing a hi viz waistcoat. Thankfully the woman was ok, but his moment of carelessness/inattention/impatience could easily have killed her.

Couldn't agree more, I would never ride my bike on the road these days, too many morons on their phone, in too much of a rush, or just think their journey is more important than other people's lives.

Having been hit twice one a bike, once on a motorbike and once as a pedestrian while grabbing a kid out of the road and never suffered a serious injury. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but they are generally low-speed incidents with serious injuries happening when it's larger heavier vehicles involved. I've also seen the effects shock can have on people with other health issues.

As for "he should have looked properly" i believe the correct response to that is "no **** Sherlock!" but then, if everyone did that humans would be perfect and no accidents would ever take place. Without footage, we'll never know all the circumstances of the accident and even the OP's account will be inaccurate and incomplete. Was the sun in the driver's eyes? was the cyclist going to fast? Was the drivers focus on another hazard? we don't know.

 

[Dis86]

Having been hit twice one a bike, once on a motorbike and once as a pedestrian while grabbing a kid out of the road and never suffered a serious injury. .

Um you might want to think that serious injury thing...