Ever been knocked over? [Archive] - SV650.org

missyburd

10-02-09, 10:59 PM

I was on the way home after a late lecture with friends this evening, turned a corner and a lass was lying in the middle of the road with a huge jeep warrior thing parked behind her. She was lying a few foot away from the bumper of the jeep. She had a few people around her and an ambulance had been called so we went to walk past then I heard her voice and realized it belonged to a lass who'd just been in the same lecture! I'd seen her just a couple of minutes before putting her earphones in to walk down the hill.

Poor lass seemed to be in pain but was talking so from what I gathered it was her leg that was giving her grief. The driver - in full farmer overalls - looked really shocked and was waving traffic on in a zombie-like fashion, not surprised. Knocking a dog over is a traumatising enough matter but a person... :(

I reckon she either wasn't concentrating when crossing due to having her music in and that junction being badly lit and her wearing dark clothing. Then again he mightn't have had his lights on but that's unlikely.

We didn't stay as there were enough people crowding as it was :rolleyes: Hope she's alright though.

Anyway it got me thinking, has anyone been involved in a collision like this? You don't hear of it often and it's such an awful thing to deal with for both parties involved...

Luckypants

10-02-09, 11:03 PM

I'd seen her just a couple of minutes before putting her earphones in to walk down the hill.

connected you think?

I hope your colleague is not badly hurt and is soon on the mend. At least she was handy for the hospital.

In answer to the question, I have never been involved in running down a pedestrian, but have seen my share of trauma and death. It stays with you..

missyburd

10-02-09, 11:03 PM

connected you think?

See updated post, had just edited it :)

It's never a nice thing to witness or see the aftermath, am just glad I didn't see it happen :-(

Paws

10-02-09, 11:10 PM

been rear ended on bike by a car, thats close and scary enough

ophic

10-02-09, 11:12 PM

almost hit some %&^* student as he almost stepped out in front of my car from between parked cars, yes, wearing earphones. He saw me and stopped at the very very last split second. I couldn't do owt - he would have literally walked into the front wing. He looked somewhat shocked.

People with a tendency to have their heads in the clouds shoudn't be allowed to wear earphones in public. Not suggesting that that is what happened to that girl. Hope shes ok.

lily

10-02-09, 11:13 PM

I got knocked of my push bike on the day I had just learnt to ride without stablishers(?) I was alright the bloke was moaning about a mark on his door panel from my bike rather than the fact I was under it!!!! Pfffft

The only other time I was close to it was walking back from Uni to the train station in Birmingham, a van was driving the wrong way down a one way street I had my earphones in and only looked the way I thought the trafficc would come from. Pffft. I shouted at him a bit at he stopped about a foot from me and kicked his van! (I'd had a bad day)

Hope the girl is ok, and wish her a speedy recovery!

missyburd

10-02-09, 11:15 PM

At least she was handy for the hospital.

Indeed, good thing it didn't take too long, would have been worried about the service if they couldn't get one out for just up the road!
been rear ended on bike by a car, thats close and scary enough

Indeed, any sorta collision is scary, takes a lot of courage to get back on the road after one, always admire people for that.

10-02-09, 11:15 PM

missyburd

10-02-09, 11:16 PM

cheers for the well wishes guys, I'll mentally pass 'em on!

dizzyblonde

10-02-09, 11:16 PM

me dad once got run over at the crossing where the HBOS main office is, before they changed the crossing system there. Thing is, he'd just had a major op, a few weeks before! Apparently he went flying up in the air as he bounced off the bonnet. He rolled off the floor and brushed himself off.......one lucky sod if you ask me. Must have really **** the driver up. My dad just said he was fine and went on his way!
Hes had his fair share of his nine lives like that too.

madness

10-02-09, 11:17 PM

I had a kid run across into the road and into the side of my car! If he had been a second earlier he would have been in front of the car and over the bonnet. Luckily I was not going very fast and he was unhurt.

missyburd

10-02-09, 11:18 PM

It was horrible:(
Flippin' sounds it! Oh dear I didn't really mean for this to be a depressing thread, guess it is bound to be :rolleyes:

fizzwheel

10-02-09, 11:18 PM

I knocked over a pedestrian on my pushbike a while ago. He walked straight out in front of me and left me rolling about in the road. Unfortunately for him he caught my flat bars and took a bit of a beating in the ribs. He came off worse than I did.

I've nearly walked out in front of a lot of vehicles always whilst wearing headphones, each time it would have been my fault if I'd got knocked over. If I'm about to cross a road, I take them off now or I knock the volume right down.

I once saw a young lad go through the windscreen of a car when he ran out between two parked cars and didnt look, it scared the sh*te out of me. It was horrible, not only for him but also for the driver of the car and the passenger in it.

missyburd

10-02-09, 11:21 PM

A lot of mention of headphones! I admit I have had a few close shaves - too close for comfort - but I'm just a bit dotty sometimes :rolleyes:

I'm better than I was though when I have headphones in, always make the effort of looking both ways instead of relying on my ears (when the volume's down), even on the one way streets.

Jester666

10-02-09, 11:27 PM

I've never been knocked over but I've collected 2 pedestrians when I was a courier.

One on Holloway road was picked up comedy style on the full fairing of my BMW R80RT and one on Grosvenor Street was taken out by the headlight crash bars on my CB500. Neither of them had bothered to look before stepping out into the road.

jamesterror

10-02-09, 11:40 PM

On a push bike I've been knocked off side on & rear ended by some tit showing off.

First time was partially my fault, was a bit of a blind crossing on the path, I didn't slow down at all just went across it at about 15/20mph on my push bike, ironically I'd just slipped off on very loose gravel and was going to get my hands which were coated in tomato sauce cleaned up. Car hit me at about 10mph but I managed to pull right leg up so didn't get crushed. Blokes bumper was worse off than me, but he was ten times more shaken than me, I was pretty fine just a bit confused.

Second time was just some **** who pulled out of the local college incredibly fast without looking, hit me at about 20mph managed to stay on the bike though, just back wheel was nakered and felt like my seat had penetrated my ****. Knew it was about to happen some how as could hear the car revving high and noticed him pull up to the T-junction quite fast so expected worst.

I think it was just bad judgement on her behalf, with 1 sense hindered by music its difficult to hear, I have my ear phones up full everywhere I go but I'm always aware of whos around me as my mate got hit by a swerving car onto the path.

missyburd

10-02-09, 11:45 PM

I have my ear phones up full everywhere I go but I'm always aware of whos around me as my mate got hit by a swerving car onto the path.

Yeah you certainly learn to appreciate that being just that little bit more aware of your surroundings is all that's necessary. However, that's easily overlooked at the time...

I don't have my volume on full, I like to have it just loud enough for me to bop along to and just quiet enough to hear the cars go past on the road.

flymo

10-02-09, 11:56 PM

my brother was knocked over by an Ice Cream van when we were younger. The damn thing was covered in 'Mind that child' signs too!

He lived to fight another day though luckily.

gettin2dizzy

11-02-09, 01:14 AM

Students are fair game. They never bother to look.

missyburd

11-02-09, 01:17 AM

Students are fair game. They never bother to look.
I believe that's YC's theory too, despite him being one :rolleyes: :-D

pencil shavings

11-02-09, 01:22 AM

my mate got run over when we ran accross a duel carrageway to get to a bus when we were about 12, was the funniest thing that happened that week! my mate just bounced off the car, flew into the air, fell down, and the got up again and carried on running towards the bus. we got the bus too.

and he hurt alot the next day! :)

kids.....

SoulKiss

11-02-09, 01:40 AM

hob

11-02-09, 02:44 AM

See, its "headphones right up" thats the problem.

Certainly most of the muppets that try to get me to REALLY test the ABS on the Zed are wearing them.

I wear headphones and listen to music when I am riding the Zed, but generally speaking you would not know.

I can pull up at lights alongside someone and still have a conversation - thats over 2 bike engines and whatever is going around, without adjusting the volume on the player.

So I would put it that headphones are NOT the problem, its iDiots (see what I did there) with their volume up too loud.

+1

I'm amazed at the volume you would need to drown out *everything*, I can hear everything I would hear with a helmet on.

Sometimes you can hear other peoples music over the music you are listening to in a helmet lol.

Crazy and will do there ears no good at all.

Ping

11-02-09, 03:14 AM

I totally disagree on the volume thing. If my headphones are up loud for one reason or another... get this...

I USE MY EYES. Check and double check all directions to make sure it's clear.

Anyone remember the 'stop, look and listen' thing?

Don't EVER discount the other senses just because one is effectively 'out of order'. Besides, if you can't hear a car, doesn't mean that there's not a high speed pushbike coming along. They're pretty much silent but I'd expect pretty painful when they hit.

However, I have noticed that people are likely to be ditzy and not pay attention no matter what. So, I guess we've always got to try and defend ourselves as road users from them as best we can.

Edit: Oh, one thing i missed. I won't listen to music on earphones when i'm on the bike either. Way too risky. That one key noise you could've heard if only your favourite band hadn't been in the middle of your favourite drum solo...

11-02-09, 07:48 AM

Edit: Oh, one thing i missed. I won't listen to music on earphones when i'm on the bike either. Way too risky. That one key noise you could've heard if only your favourite band hadn't been in the middle of your favourite drum solo...

Totally agree. One or two posters here say that they can hear everything. I find that extraordinary.

Dave20046

11-02-09, 08:28 AM

Stundents are like rabbits, headlights seem to dazzle them and they just can't resist stepping out infront of cars.

missyburd

11-02-09, 10:29 AM

Stundents are like rabbits.
:( I'm very sensitive about my ears....

;)

ArtyLady

11-02-09, 10:35 AM

connected you think?

I hope your colleague is not badly hurt and is soon on the mend. At least she was handy for the hospital.

..

I hope she is alright too.

Possibly connected to not being able to hear - my daughter is profoundly deaf and has terrible trouble crossing roads using sight alone - and thats when she is concentrating! It'a amazing how much we actually do use our sight and hearing for what we take to be a relatively everyday action.

Dave20046

11-02-09, 10:43 AM

:( I'm very sensitive about my ears....

;)
I'll try not to stare at them too much lol

Dave20046

11-02-09, 10:45 AM

Edit: Oh, one thing i missed. I won't listen to music on earphones when i'm on the bike either. Way too risky. That one key noise you could've heard if only your favourite band hadn't been in the middle of your favourite drum solo...
I can't hear traffic noises or owt over my exhaust anyway but I wouldn't wear them as one if a good song came on I'd be inclined to go dangerously fast, two in a crash situation I wouldn't like them lodged in my ears amongst other problems.

pmapp

11-02-09, 11:22 AM

Knocked off the pushbike twice when I was younger - both car drivers not looking.

1 - Main road with me tootling along and there was a car park either side of the road. The car driver was sarting from car park to car park, set off, looked at me then carried on - hit me square on. Bike came off pretty bad (me bro's expensive GT summing or other). She paid out just short of a grand for repairs - only for it to get nicked not long after, lol.

2 - Quite amusing now. I'm going around a roundabout. Signaling as I always did (quite a fast road rider). A car sets off from the road I was just ready to pass, this was not the problem - the problem was he was towing another car. The car being towed saw me and slammed on his brakes making the slack line become like a tight rope. TWANG - and I was flying. lol. Somehow the idiot towing thought it were my fault?

Bah

Speedy Claire

11-02-09, 12:29 PM

I was knocked off my pushbike by a car door.... driver hadn`t even looked. Wasn`t a nice experience but even worse I knocked over a young boy some years ago. Despite the fact it was entirely his fault cos he ran out between 2 parked cars it shook me up so much I felt at the time that I never wanted to drive again.

Hope your friend isn`t too badly hurt and recovers quickly.

Sosha

11-02-09, 12:49 PM

Got "knocked off" a push bike by a bloke fixing his tyre when I was a small kid. He yanked the valve out just as as I was going past and I jumped and fell off. He was mortified - way more upset than me. (At least until I got home and the dettol came out)

Sorry - just thought I'd lighten the tone....

Once almost ran over a toddler that blithely wandered out across the slopes when I was on a tobogan. I Slammed on the anchors (Addidas) And my bro who was sat in front of me reached forward, picked it up and sat it on his lap while we continued to the bottom of the slope.

The mother was just starting to look around when we trudged up to return him/her.

Silly cow.

Toddler seemed to enjoy the ride....

Magnum

11-02-09, 01:00 PM

No but I saw an elderly lady knocked over. It was on the A449 just outside Wolverhampton, a car came off a roundabout and she didn't see it - walked straight out in front of it. She was tossed into the air like a rag doll, and landed head first on the kerb. I was out running with a mate - I used to work nearby - and ran to her help. She had a depressed fracture of the skull - that was very obvious - and was barely conscious. The ambo took forever and a day to arrive. The car driver, a woman with two young children, was in terrible shock and the children were hysterical.

It was horrible:(

That does sound particularly bad, i wouldn't want to see it.

I havn't ever seen anything dramatic. I saw a woman get knocked off a push bike round a mini roundabout, but she was doing less than 10mph and got straight up and rode off.

As for the person mention in the first post, the mp3 player must have been related. Someone nearly got plowed down outside my college not looking with headphones in. Even with headphones in, i always check both ways and be careful. Besides, it's good practice for the bike.

Quiff Wichard

11-02-09, 01:29 PM

captainsmelly

11-02-09, 02:18 PM

Been knocked off push bikes many times (about 8 afaik), run over by a police car, fallen out of a routemaster, and been pushed over on the sv.
I have also been run over by a fat man. Literally.

Paul the 6th

11-02-09, 02:35 PM

a woman once walked across the front of my car as I was pulling out of a narrow one way street. You know the ones where there's about 6 inch of pavement so the building is more or less right up to the edge of the road. She'd gestured (with wave of her hand and a smile) to me that it was ok for me to edge out and look to see what traffic was coming. I edged out, looked right up the road and started to roll forward to pull out... oh hang on a minute, she's on my bonnet.

Why she decided to walk across the front of the car (in the road) after she'd waved to say "after you", I'll never know.

Hope the headphones lady is ok! :)

pmapp

11-02-09, 02:40 PM

reminds me of when I was a shop manager in the 80's and my saturday staff lad had his driving test on the friday ..

when he came in to work sat we asked him how his test went..

"really well, was all good.... until I knocked an old lady over on the zebra crossing- well just nudged her "

all were Ok apparently the examiner made Chris get out and the examiner drove from there onwards..

Forgot that one - one my car test I clipped the **** of a chap who was bent over talking to the driver of a parked car. Just as I was passing he bent over, sticking his bum out.

I failed ;)

Ceri JC

11-02-09, 02:42 PM

Anyway it got me thinking, has anyone been involved in a collision like this? You don't hear of it often and it's such an awful thing to deal with for both parties involved...

I've experienced both sides, neither were in any way my fault:
I've been knocked down as a ped, when someone stopped at the give way lines, waved me across the road and then drove into me when I was in front of their camper van.

I've also hit a kid who literally sprinted out in front of my car from behind a bus without looking. Fortunately lots of witnesses in my favour, the kid and his parents were decent sorts who were suitably apologetic, rather than cyncially trying to make money out of it.

philbut

11-02-09, 04:20 PM

I actually got run over by my old man in a landrover - I hopped out of the cab to open the gate into a field and he drove forward, not noticing I'd fallen over and my leg went under the wheels - fortunatly it was on a muddy field and I just got up and carried on.

yorkie_chris

11-02-09, 05:19 PM

I believe that's YC's theory too, despite him being one :rolleyes: :-D

No dear, my theory is they are lemmings.

Usually when they are in the way it's rev limiter then dump the clutch time. I figure less damage to the bike if the front wheel is at about waist height. They always move.

jamesterror

11-02-09, 05:25 PM

No dear, my theory is they are lemmings.

Usually when they are in the way it's rev limiter then dump the clutch time. I figure less damage to the bike if the front wheel is at about waist height. They always move.

I'm a student but I'm not THAT bad, I do take quite a lot of care when out & about, seen a fair few people get knocked off 2 wheels, and a fair few silly car accidents because people weren't looking where they were going.

On way to town once this woman decided not to stop at a junction and just plowed into a ped (side on), got out and started blaming him when she blatently had just flattened the poor kid because she failed to stop..

yorkie_chris

11-02-09, 05:35 PM

Try it in leeds they cross over for the sake of it and then a crowd of them follow along... regardless of if the lights have just changed green and you are sat ready to nail it off the line.

hob

11-02-09, 05:40 PM

Totally agree. One or two posters here say that they can hear everything. I find that extraordinary.

Not really, if it is loud enough to penetrate a visor down helmet I can hear it, if not I wouldn't anyway.

~60mph wind speed and I can't hear the music, tis on very quiet and only drowns out the voices in the helmet.

hob

11-02-09, 05:41 PM

I totally disagree on the volume thing. If my headphones are up loud for one reason or another... get this...

I USE MY EYES. Check and double check all directions to make sure it's clear.

Anyone remember the 'stop, look and listen' thing?.

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo.

Edit: Oh, one thing i missed. I won't listen to music on earphones when i'm on the bike either. Way too risky. That one key noise you could've heard if only your favourite band hadn't been in the middle of your favourite drum solo...

Such as? you would probably hear the higher frequency stuff a lot better if you listen to music quietly, all the high volume earphone punishment = NIHL.

You have said:- As a pedestrian its ok I can listen to loud music because I have eyes but on a bike I will not as I may miss a key noise..... seriously, one or tut other.

A pedestrian will make more from the "noises" than someone with a helmet on a bike (with loud can?), one thing would be a filtering bike with a loud can :).

yorkie_chris

11-02-09, 05:43 PM

You listen to $hit music though. You need to listen to something that promotes a calm, relaxed riding style. Like thrash metal.

Dave20046

11-02-09, 06:15 PM

You listen to $hit music though. You need to listen to something that promotes a calm, relaxed riding style. Like thrash metal.
or viking metal

Mr Speirs

11-02-09, 06:38 PM

As a wee bairn on my roller blades I once flew at very high speed between a gap in the hedge straight onto a road and into the path of a bendy bus, thankfully I was traveling fast enough and the bus missed me by a few inches. There was a wee island inbetween the two lanes which I couldn't stop on so carried on and straight into the path of a biege car which again missed me by inches.
Never felt so stupid/lucky in my life.

Dave20046

11-02-09, 06:41 PM

When I was about 7 I had to pail off a push bike at about 20mphish cause the brakes wouldn't work and I was coming to a road. Jumped in a very *****ly bush lol

the_lone_wolf

11-02-09, 06:49 PM

i walked into a stationary car once, was crossing the exit of a one way street and the car at the give way line started to move as i began walking, then for no reason (no traffic coming etc) he stopped and i walked into the rear panel, made an almighty thump...

i was so embarrassed i just put my head down and walked away:mrgreen:

Mr Speirs

11-02-09, 07:13 PM