wobbly
Well-Known Member
Had quite an unpleasant accident this morning.
Dropped a friend off in town, then carried on to pick up some 4x4 Response paperwork from a fellow member.
Driving in to town, its busy, roadworks, and a cycle lane on left. I'm a Police Class 1 driver (or was) and proceeded very cautiously.
Stopped at lights, there is a cycle box at the front of the lane, so this filled up with bikes (no issue with this).
Lights change, off we go. Unfortunately, cyclist in front shoots off but pulls across front of a fellow cyclist who is to my nearside, he brakes, causing following cyclist to try and pull round him into gap between him and me (maybe 2ft), she then loses balance and hits my nearside at about the pillar between front and rear door, then falls down, fortunately not under truck, but lands very heavily on road behind.
I stopped immediately, completely stopping traffic, always best option initially.
I was shocked to be honest, it sounded awful and looked worse in my mirror. I helped the cyclist, as did a parking attendant, and was as helpful as possible, but the cyclist was very anti-entirely blamed me for incident, they had some injuries so I offered a lift home or to work, but not wanted.
Came home very down about it, couldnt work out how I had knocked them off - several passers by were all saying it was my fault.
I then watched the incident as I have an onboard video camera - its been broken but I fixed it yesterday !
Showed me pulling off straight ahead and actually slightly to the right, then it shows a cone in the cycle lane !!! One cyclist is stopped by it, and 'my' cyclist pulls out to avoid the back of them, into the side of my truck. They clearly werent watching ahead and didnt brake, which was the sensible option.
What a god send the camera is. It proves that my only involvement was being there, and my driving wasnt contributory, if anything it shows the cyclist not concentrating.
Its doesnt make me feel any better because I still feel bad about the accident and someone getting hurt, but at least I no longer feel guilty !
Pete
Dropped a friend off in town, then carried on to pick up some 4x4 Response paperwork from a fellow member.
Driving in to town, its busy, roadworks, and a cycle lane on left. I'm a Police Class 1 driver (or was) and proceeded very cautiously.
Stopped at lights, there is a cycle box at the front of the lane, so this filled up with bikes (no issue with this).
Lights change, off we go. Unfortunately, cyclist in front shoots off but pulls across front of a fellow cyclist who is to my nearside, he brakes, causing following cyclist to try and pull round him into gap between him and me (maybe 2ft), she then loses balance and hits my nearside at about the pillar between front and rear door, then falls down, fortunately not under truck, but lands very heavily on road behind.
I stopped immediately, completely stopping traffic, always best option initially.
I was shocked to be honest, it sounded awful and looked worse in my mirror. I helped the cyclist, as did a parking attendant, and was as helpful as possible, but the cyclist was very anti-entirely blamed me for incident, they had some injuries so I offered a lift home or to work, but not wanted.
Came home very down about it, couldnt work out how I had knocked them off - several passers by were all saying it was my fault.
I then watched the incident as I have an onboard video camera - its been broken but I fixed it yesterday !
Showed me pulling off straight ahead and actually slightly to the right, then it shows a cone in the cycle lane !!! One cyclist is stopped by it, and 'my' cyclist pulls out to avoid the back of them, into the side of my truck. They clearly werent watching ahead and didnt brake, which was the sensible option.
What a god send the camera is. It proves that my only involvement was being there, and my driving wasnt contributory, if anything it shows the cyclist not concentrating.
Its doesnt make me feel any better because I still feel bad about the accident and someone getting hurt, but at least I no longer feel guilty !
Pete