Be Realistic Ask the Impossible: On a Scale of 1 to 10.... How Much Does it Hurt Now?

Very vividly written. Especially the bit where you are a spectator for yourself - all the passers by, looking in - while you are just lying there...

Really wish you the best of luck and to all other people in this thread who had problems.

Personally this is a good wake up call for anyone who reads it. It's just that you see the cars everyday etc, but don't really think about what can happen. Whenever there is an option to be right or to be on your bike, always go for the latter as cars are pretty hard it turns out.

Be careful guys!

Hi

Well expressed - I had similar experience in 09 - trauma replaced with determination to battle through the endless aggravation that follows as you seek to prove how the collision consequences impact your body, mind, career and pocket. Speedy recovery.

Glad you're ok Greg and don't stop chasing justice. It's a war out there. Most of them don't even know why they're in a rush they just know you're in their way. That's the commercial cult of the individual for you. As for the Etape? I wouldn't worry. Miss the Cal if you have to. Unless it hits 80F it isn't going to be like France anyway. just try to maintain your weight and get back on the bike as soon as you can. It's about finishing not logging a record time and it sounds as if you'll be fine.

Good luck - claim for absolutely everything you can. the more claims you win, the higher the driver's insurance premium will be. Given how insurance companies load up costs, this will remind the driver to be more careful in future and perhaps more effectively than any fine.

I had a similar incident a few years back and can offer some advice:
1. Keep all of your clothing as is and collate a list of the cost to replace any that is damaged. Make sure you use the RRP.
2. Get a good LBS to provide a written cost of the repair of your bike, again using RRP for any parts and to include their labour for doing the repair.
3. Photograph your injuries - road rash, etc
4. If you are a member of British Cycling go through their appointed solicitors for the civil claim. They are very good.
5. Sit back and wait for the approximate 2 years to get all of the compensations resolved.

Gregoire, this is an excellent account of your accident. really vivid. I'd agree that it should be compulsory reading, when learning to drive.

Hope the police get their act together.

AFAIK (from that nice Cycling Silk's blog) there's a timescale they need to do certain things in, for a court case to happen. That's their responsibility, and if they fail, then your assailant could get off scot-free.

Maybe remind them of this, or at least that they need to take your views into account? It sounds like there are witnesses, so they need to start doing their job.

Have only ever been hit by one car; that was enough. Two cars travelling at high speed the first narrowly missed me the second hit me. I was able to get to the pavement with my bike before being finished off. Injured and bleeding I called the Police hoping that one of the many witnesses would contact them.... Nobody stopped....A Police officer did arrive with a young looking colleague and told me that I had not been hit; I had simply been startled by the car and fallen off! They drove off leaving me bleeding and injured by the side of the road; with a big black mark on my handlebars where the car had hit me. This happened 25 years ago it seems not much has changed. All I can say is I got straight back on the bike ASAP and have covered 10's of thousands of miles since without major incident! Cycling is a safe activity I have lost a few friends to car/motorbike accidents but none to cycling accidents. Long may it continue. I have always thought that if the first car had hit me the second would have killed me......Best wishes for a speedy recovery; and get back on the bike ASAP! F**k them all! They can take my bike from my cold dead hand.

Hey Greg.

Very glad to hear your OK - great account, hope you're back up and about soon.

James (we met at Dulwich in Feb)

Been to the fracture clinic too recently, broken hand, thanks to idiot driver, I avoid busy roads as much as possible now.
Drivers think we shouldn't be there.

Ugghh. This freshens already fresh memories. I got wiped out by a 21 year old girl who cut across the cycle lane on my commute home two months ago. I had the initial few weeks of getting over my separated shoulder and have just had to go through the whole level of pain, discomfort and complete cocking arseup of my life again having just undergone surgery to rejoin my shoulder last week. What annoys me most is that the girl hasn't responded to the documents served on her by my insurance company and the police have needed constant chasing to make sure she gets called in for the warning/paying for a drivers' awareness course that she deserves as an absolute minimum; which still hasn't happened. It makes me want to give up road riding and accept the much safer heckling from ramblers I get on my mountainbike. Since the accident I have been sitting at home being miserable, not doing any exercise and getting fat from drinking lots of ale.
All idiot road users deserve to be banned from breathing. [hate] etc [rant] [blergh].

I was in a time trial on Saturday, and ended up having to leave a roundabout on an exit earlier than I expected, taking me off-course. I did so because a car was going there, with or without me. I had to shadow it's movements to stay upright. I could so easily have ended up in A&E too. Get well soon!

I'd certainly recommend that you take the badge number of any police/police staff you speak to along with the date and time - makes it a lot easier further down the line.

I spoke to a specialist legal company and they did get me a replacement bike and an insurance settlement - my advice on that front would be not to accept a final settlement too early. I was advised to do just that, meaning that any treatment for my back is probably not going to be covered and thus will have to be at the NHS' convenience (I plan to speak to them about it after the easter b/h shenanigans though, just to check).

It's worth keeping a diary of your symptoms as otherwise it all tends to blur. I also started taking my wife with me to consultations as I was so high on drugs I didn't know which way was up and was in no shape to deliver a coherent statement of my symptoms or remember what they'd said to me.

Now I'm off the diazepam I don't need to do that but I still do 'cos it helps me remember that I'm not being paranoid or unreasonable about what I'm asking for (which is to get fixed).

And finally, don't give up hope! Get well soon.

A vivid account and I hope you recover soon, keep the faith it can be a long journey:

I was hit in Nov 09 by a driver turning right across oncoming traffic who "didn't see" my two static and one flashing white LEDs. There was no chance to stop, I hit the rear pasenger door of his car and went over the roof ending up on my back on the road under my bike.

The elderly driver later failed a police eye test 'miserably' (quote from the PC who told me the outcome) but the still recommended I "chalked it up to experience" as they wouldn't prosecute.

15 months later I have constant severe back pain which until recently the NHS refused to believe was anything other than sciatica - I was sent away with increasingly strong painkillers and told to 'get on'.

The fifth GP I saw decided to look into it further. Due to side effects I was forced off painkillers and decided finally to have a private MRI, diagnosis: a burst disc between L5/S1 vertebrae which is putting pressure on my spinal column.

So now I face spinal surgery with a published success rate of 60-90% which looks a lot more scary when you have to make the decision!

The flip side of the decision is that at present on good days I walk like I'm trying not to sh** myself, on bad days I can't stand or dress myself, I certainly can't ride a bike (and haven't been able to since the accident).

But the worst of it is that I can't lift (let alone play with) my 2 year old son.

My advice would be to get tenacious with the NHS - don't let them fob you off and if you have any concerns and can afford it then seek help elsewhere (privately). I saw a chiropractor who diagnosed me correctly within 15 minutes of consultation 6 months ago. If I'd followed his advice to get a scan there/then I'd probably already have had the surgery and be on the road to recovery.

Good luck.

Oh and to answer your question it hurts a lot. But I'm confident for the first time in a while that it will, now, get better.

Agree that this is a very well written account of what sounds very nasty. Hope you recover quickly, Greg.

As for the significance of the driver being charged, it certainly can't hurt. The standard of proof for a civil claim (which is what your solicitor is for - you generally wouldn't be represented in a criminal case until after a verdict, as the state is responsible for a criminal prosecution) is much lower than criminal. That means that if there is enough evidence to charge him with a criminal offence, there is a good chance of a successful civil claim if the criminal prosecution does not proceed. Anyway, a good solicitor will deal with all of this for you.

And again, get well soon.

An uncomfortably graphic account of what is, sadly, an all too commmon occurrence.

Relieved you escaped with relatively minor scuffs and scrapes. Get well soon Greg.

Hope you have a speedy recovery. Your account is really well written, would be good if people had to read it as part of driver training.
Best wishes

Wow what a vivid account. It's very sobering to reflect on how often cyclists who are involved in accidents have no idea what happened. We all like to think we could avert danger if we had to but sometimes there's just no way. I hope you, the bike and your confidence all recover quickly.

Maybe a shooting "pour encourager les autres" would be appropriate for a couple of these!

That was a very powerful account Greg, I'm lost for words, and that doesn't happen very often, but TheHatter's speaks for us all, hope you are back on the bike soon, and I'm really, really glad it wasn't worse and really, really hope you get justice and that the driver responsible for doing this to you faces the full force of the law.