I’m fortunate I can try to contemplate why a driver would knock me off my bike: Davide Rebellin didn’t get that chance

Fear of punishment works. Call it archaic, but then again call what you like if it's effective. I lived in the Netherlands for several years and over there if you, as a driver of a vehicle, make contact with a cyclist you're in deep sh!te. Even if they literally fling themselves in front of you. So, as a driver over there (discounting the foreign factor, as natives I drove with did likewise), you slow the hell down and look left. Then right. Then left. Then right. Then proceed realllllly slowly. NL used to be similar in the 70s in terms of car culture to how it is here now. Too many children died (look up stop de kindermoord) and they'd simply had enough.

Wishing you a full and speedy recovery Emma.

Reading the experiences here, I feel lucky to have only been knocked off my bike just the once! It was around 25 years ago and of all things, hit by a car turning into a garage that I was cycling past! The impact broke their windscreen, mangled my bike and saw me off work for the best part of a month with severe bruising and swelling to my lower back. Thankfully nothing broken but I was left with a permanent lump to remind me of the experience! The driver was very shook up. On the plus side, it turned me into a helmet wearer! Made me even more vigilant which along with fast reactions has saved me from a few more collisions.

Emma.
I'm sorry to read that you've been knocked off your bike and injured ... and especially the victim of a coward who werent decent enough to face their responsibility.

Reading your article, you seem to be apportioning blame to yourself and looking for things that you could have done wrong.

For the sake of your own sanity, you need to stop thinking that you caused this, and that you are responsible... you are not.

Speaking as someone who was struck by an 80 year old who decided that turning in front of me would be a great idea, and as someone that has been left with life and mobility changing injuries - who got back on the bike 2 years after the collision - you need to stop living in "what if" as all it will do is screw you up.

What if I hadn't have stopped for a few minutes to send my wife a text ...
Or what if I had have, and the blue-lighting paramedic unit was a minute earlier or a couple of minutes later ...
The answer to that one is I would have died from my injuries and my wife would be a widow and my kids fatherless ...

"What if" never stops ... it just fecks with your brain, and makes you scared and second guess yourself - and out there, on two wheels with no armour - we can't afford to be scared, and we can't afford to doubt ourselves.

I've got cameras now (Fly 12 Sport and Fly 6 Gen 3) and they give me comfort knowing that should something happen in the future, at least the arsehole or their insurance will be made to pay.

"My non-cycling friends are asking the obvious question, obvious to them at least: You’ll be stopping riding now, won’t you? I give the obvious cyclists’ answer." = resilience

Hope the injuries heal well, and you get back on the bike as soon as you are ready. See if the Road CC advertisers can't send you some cameras to test and keep!

Get well soon.

"I didn't see you" or "you came out of nowhere" are always an admission of guilt/fault.

If you do not look, you do not see.

I wrote a rather depressing comment the other day after someone had punted me into a hedge on a country lane and just driven off (no harm done).  I counted the number of times a car driver has hit me.  It's something like this:

Hit and run - following a car through the village, cars parked to the left.  I'm 'next vehicle' distance from the car in front and travelling at the same speed, in primary.  A  Volvo x90 draws level with me and just boots me out of the way.  Blood and snot everywhere, bike mangled.  The car I'm following sees it and slows; the Volvo takes off, but the other driver gets their number.  Long and short of it - he's a villain with an alias.  It goes to court, he dosen't turn up.  Clerk to the magistrates has a wobbly over identity and he walks.  Police livid and assure me that their paths will cross again and they'll get him.

Left hook in London.  Driver has no licence, but car is insured so I'm covered.  They drove over my front wheel and I skinnned my fingers.  Police lose the record and no action taken.

T-bone from right in London.  1 hour lying in the road and 9 hours in A&E - a "miraculous escape".  Bike totalled.  Driver sent a NIP, but none of the witnesses hung around so no further action.  Really, really hurt, but I limped out of A&E under my own steam.  List of suspected ailments included - broken femur, wrist & neck. Internal injuries, inlcuding heart.  Road rash.  I  still have a dogy knee as a result.

Driver half-overtook at traffic lights, then pulled back in when they changed.  Driver stopped.  No further action.  Collected a KOM on the Lincoln crit circuit in the back of the ambulance.  Suspected broken pelvis - actually knocked my rather dodgy spine straight and not had a problem since.

On top of that, I've hit a pothole on a roundabout (hideen by the car in front).  Lots of grazes. Slipped on a newly painted arrow on a mini-roundabout in the rain at night, which wasn't there the evening before.  Grazes.  One operator error on a tightening, descending bend.

Over 45,000 miles.

I was hit by a car back in January while riding in a cycle lane by a motorist who didn't understand what any of the road markings meant, unfortunately I was too in shock to ask if he had a licence.

Although uninjured, aside from some very slight bruises, I haven't felt the same sense of freedom on the road that I used to and now find myself walking instead of cycling.

I'm not sure if it's a case of regaining confidence or accepting the loss of my false sense of security.

Get well soon Emma and hope you are back on the road in timely fashion; don't rush it though, I know from rugby experience that bust ribs can take a long time to heal and rushing back out there (as I have done!) just leads to more problems.

Given the capacities of modern technology and the fact that nearly all of them are already GPS-capable, it is surely time that cars were linked to a national tracking system. Not only would this virtually eliminate speeding and vehicle theft, it would ensure that anyone who chose to drive away from an incident in which they were involved could be swiftly traced and made to face the consequences.

Hope you get well soon Emma. The standard of driving in this country is shocking.

Hi Emma,

Something that I suspect we can pretty much all empathise with from personal experience.

The physical harm is hopefully of the type which fully heals, the psychology is far more difficult. Forgiving someone for their incompetence is one thing, and for the most part, you can believe in a "lessons learned" positive outcome. Even arguing with another road user over interpretation of the Highway Code or your opinion of their driving has some sort of resolution, but if the other party just clears off and you suspect a malicious attack by a stranger, that is far harder not to think about every time another vehicle is driven too close.

My way of dealing with the stress of such an incident has been to use cameras on every ride. An investment for sure and they don't magically repel other vehicles, but they have since more than recouped their cost and brought a hit and run driver to justice. I use the Cycliq Fly6 and 12.

I assume the Pactimo jersey you were testing will be getting a 1 star review?

Hope you are healed up soon, take your time getting back on the bike, ride with some friends. Good luck.

had a very near miss recently, probably as near as you can get without actually being hit, which shook me up, partly because I still have on my mind a local rider who was killed earlier this year and have felt much more vulnerable since on the roads on my bike and youre just left thinking from anything like that or Davide's death, that could have been me next at that moment.

And first thing the driver said to me was "I didnt see you". Ive driven the road since, same time, same traffic conditions just to try and process it myself,and I can only surmise they meant "I didnt look" too.

hope you heal quick & youre back riding your bike soon

Sounds similar to my experience with not being able to believe the driver didn't see or hear the collision, especially with how close I was to him as he swiped me. Yet there was not even a brake light showing. 

I'm sorry but not surprised this has happened. Driving standards took a nose dive after the first lockdown which is when I got myself a camera.

I still get poor driving, not as bad as this, but knowing that I will be submitting the footage, in the hope that some action will be taken to encourage the driver to take more care around cyclists in future, gives me a sense of calm and reduces the need for contemplation. It doesn't matter whether it was maliciousness or sheer incompetence or negligence the result will be the same.

It wouldn't have helped Davide but it may have helped those left behind to see justice done and that would have helped to discourage a recurrence.

Get well soon and get back on the bike: with a camera.

As a final thought, some, including me, feel that drivers are more careful if they know you have a camera so there may be some direct benefit as well.

Did they look? Chances are they believe they did, there are reasons why people don't see.

I was driving when I saw a van driver approaching at speed a roundabout I had already entered - he was on the phone and didn't glance across. I ABS'd and avoided hitting him. In a foul mouthed rant, he made it clear that I must have been driving too fast for him not to have seen me. I suspect he had glanced further back up the road and seen an empty roundabout but not seen the approach road as it was obscured by hedges.

That experience has informed me while cycling, I'm harder to see and drivers aren't actively looking and are often distracted. Probably 80% of drivers don't think that driving is a full time task, and even adjusting heating needs to be done at a planned time when there is a low probability of any incident. A very significant proportion of drivers don't think driving should require any of their valuable time - you see these disengaged drivers a lot.

Anyway, get well soon, and ride like they are all out to kill you, you won't always be wrong.

OMG.  Emma I hope both the physical and mental damage heals soon and this article brings you a form of catharsis.

Chin up and dont let the bastards get you down.

Get better soon.  Ps hope the bike is recoverable too.

'But how's the bike?!!!' Seriously though, hope the ribs are feeling better soon and you're back riding. Too many of us know exactly how you feel and can empathise with the pain and frustration