Omega Owners Forum

Chat Area => General Discussion Area => Topic started by: Andy H on 06 December 2013, 20:27:32

Title: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 06 December 2013, 20:27:32
Driving home from work along a Cornish A road in the dark this evening.

100 yards ahead of me, near the crest of a hill & next to a turning it all got a bit weird. Two cars drove off the road and onto the grass. I stopped behind a transit. Oncoming cars had all stopped, some drivers got out and ran across to something I couldn't see.

After about 10 minutes the transit driver did a 3 point turn and left leaving me looking at a bike lying in the road. No sign of the rider so I assumed he was sat at the side of the road with all the people who had got out of their cars.

After about 20 minutes an ambulance approached from behind and parked in front of me and more blue lights came from the other direction. The crew spent about 15 minutes in front of the ambulance where I couldn't see them before they brought the stretcher back again with someone on it wrapped head to toe in a blanket. :(

Road is closed to all traffic now....
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: 05omegav6 on 06 December 2013, 20:30:21
Did you get the Transits number plate? Driver would have had a pretty good view... :-\
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 06 December 2013, 20:58:25
I can't imagine them taking statements this evening. Traffic was queued for a mile in either direction when I finally gave up waiting and did my own 3 point turn. There will be an "appeal for witnesses" sign with a phone number on it in a few days time (maybe)
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 06 December 2013, 22:40:20
Just re-read my original post, I don't think the van was a part of what happened. It just happened to arrive at the scene before I did.
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: 05omegav6 on 06 December 2013, 22:49:14
I wasn't suggesting it was :y merely that the driver would have likely had a decent view...
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Kevin Wood on 07 December 2013, 00:12:12
Likely a fatality if they closed the road. :(
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Vamps on 07 December 2013, 01:06:04
Likely a fatality if they closed the road. :(

Sadly yes.......... :(
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: tunnie on 07 December 2013, 08:55:11
Reading stuff like this, really puts me off riding the bike  :(
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: 05omegav6 on 07 December 2013, 09:40:12
Reading stuff like this, really puts me off riding the bike  :(
That's because most of your brain is still connected :y motorbicyclists here aboots have an attrition rate of over one a week in the summer months... fairly sure most are self inflicted :-\
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: tunnie on 07 December 2013, 09:45:05
Reading stuff like this, really puts me off riding the bike  :(
That's because most of your brain is still connected :y motorbicyclists here aboots have an attrition rate of over one a week in the summer months... fairly sure most are self inflicted :-\

That's what I tell myself, as often pointed out here, the bike I have is not exactly fast. But still any accident is going to hurt, badly. I keep over-taking to when I know 100% it's clear and safe, but still......  :'(
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 07 December 2013, 10:00:10
Reading stuff like this, really puts me off riding the bike  :(
I feel exactly the same. 20 years ago I was riding 12,000 miles a year in and around central London and was perfectly happy to go anywhere anytime on it.

Since I moved to Cornwall I have ridden about 200 miles. Last time I rode it was 3 years ago. On that occasion I was forced into the gutter by an old bat in a Micra moving in to my lane to squeeze past a car turning right at a no-right-turn sign  >:(
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 07 December 2013, 10:17:52
Local news is now reporting 'life changing but not life threatening injuries' so not as bad as I assumed.

Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: 05omegav6 on 07 December 2013, 11:17:03
Local news is now reporting 'life changing but not life threatening injuries' so not as bad as I assumed.


On balance I would prefer to be dead than a quadraplegic... but if it is someone elses fault any little detail, however minute is the difference between life changing being bearable or not :-\ which is what would have made anything the van driver might have seen so important :-\

Too busy to be taking statements is a nonsense, as the Police prefer the details fresh... tend to be much more accurate than after a few days :y
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 07 December 2013, 11:50:50
In the time I was sat there I didn't see any police (but I assume the blue lights that came from the other direction must have been because 1. that is where the nearest police station is and 2. I believe that the dispatchers would have called for police to any RTA that needs an ambulance)

Life is subtly different here in Cornwall to how it is upcountry. I used to live in Dunstable and an incident like this would have had an obvious uniformed response in minutes. Moving down here was is like stepping back in time about 30 years. Sometimes it is wonderful, other times scary.
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Webby the Bear on 07 December 2013, 12:57:51
A real shame. It always scares me when I hear stuff like this...

Any accident of any kind can range from really bad to dead. VERY scary
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Marks DTM Calib on 07 December 2013, 13:14:58
Its a riders risk, even if not your fault there is nothing to protect the fragile human body
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Kate on 07 December 2013, 17:39:34
My friend had a bike accident last year. Now he's having a double hip replacement.

He told me that his bike was one of the fastest you could buy. He showed me a picture of it after the accident and it was in loads of different pieces. :o

 
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 10 December 2013, 22:27:41
Driving home in the dark this evening along a Cornish A road.

Oncoming cars started flashing me furiously... once they had passed & I could see again I accelerated up the hill, round the corner and stopped (quickly).

Cars stopped on both sides of the road, at least one car that I could see nose down in the trees at the side of the road. Amateur traffic manager standing in the middle of the road waving me through so it seemed best to do as directed.........

I'm not sure if there are a higher proportion of crap drivers in Cornwall than there were where I used to live or whether there is less traffic which allows everyone to travel faster on roads that are less forgiving but I am definitely seeing more serious accidents :(
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Sir Tigger KC on 10 December 2013, 22:30:05
All they grockles I spek.  :-X
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 10 December 2013, 22:36:04
They grockles do drive slowly my luvver.

Tis the commuters and boy racers (at 2 in the morning) making holes in the Cornish hedges.
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: YZ250 on 10 December 2013, 22:36:47
Driving home in the dark this evening along a Cornish A road.

Oncoming cars started flashing me furiously... once they had passed & I could see again I accelerated up the hill, round the corner and stopped (quickly).

Cars stopped on both sides of the road, at least one car that I could see nose down in the trees at the side of the road. Amateur traffic manager standing in the middle of the road waving me through so it seemed best to do as directed.........

I'm not sure if there are a higher proportion of crap drivers in Cornwall than there were where I used to live or whether there is less traffic which allows everyone to travel faster on roads that are less forgiving but I am definitely seeing more serious accidents :(
I tend to travel slowly in Cornwall, to avoid all of the stone walls that they hide in hedges.  :)
Title: Re: Car vs Bike
Post by: Andy H on 11 December 2013, 17:42:26
Driving home in the dark this evening along a Cornish A road.

Oncoming cars started flashing me furiously... once they had passed & I could see again I accelerated up the hill, round the corner and stopped (quickly).

Cars stopped on both sides of the road, at least one car that I could see nose down in the trees at the side of the road. Amateur traffic manager standing in the middle of the road waving me through so it seemed best to do as directed.........

I'm not sure if there are a higher proportion of crap drivers in Cornwall than there were where I used to live or whether there is less traffic which allows everyone to travel faster on roads that are less forgiving but I am definitely seeing more serious accidents :(
I tend to travel slowly in Cornwall, to avoid all of the stone walls that they hide in hedges.  :)

This might help How to build a Cornish hedge (http://www.ehow.com/how_8613256_build-cornish-hedge.html) ;D