Yesterday I had an absurd experience which reminded me just how frail a cyclist is, and that we are at the peril of drivers more often then we think. I wasn’t hurt, nor was my bike, but the situation was more then enough to shake me.
Normally when I think about accidents involving bikes it will include merging traffic, cars screaming through intersections or just not staying on their own lane. Yesterday I had the new experience of a car rolling into me from behind after we’d both been well and truly stopped at an intersection.
After rolling forward a little to get a clear view the car behind me started rolling and basically forgot to stop. The first thing I felt was pressure on my back wheel, the like a ship the bike just tilted to the ground underneath me. By the time I’d turned and shouted a profanity the half the back wheel and my pannier were becoming stuck under the bonnet of the car.
A very strange experience, with no injuries so no harm done I guess.
Still a word of advice to all my fellow cyclists, people really are dumb and accidents can occur in the least expected locations.
Categories: Rants
The Graceful Cyclists 