2008-07-24 - Rider Down, Essex Road

A rider came off her bike today just outside the sainsburys towards the balls pond end of Essex road.

She was traveling towards Angel and a car was traveling in the opposite direction, who turned right straight into her path down a side road.
The cyclist jammed on the front brake, hit the rails and flipped over. Otherwise she would have gone straight over the bonnet. Looks like a broken hand and a nasty swollen face. The cyclist seemed to be more worried about the state of her bike, which luckily is all ok, being a brand new freshly powdercoated Surly frame set.

Hopefully it was all caught on cctv. It is obvious who is at fault..... however...

Turns out the car that should be at fault was being driven by a policeman. Anybody have any experience with accidents involving the police?
The traffic sergeant that came to the scene was obviously trying not to put the driver at fault to cover the polices own ass, but in this situation it is hardly going to be the cyclists fault.

Oh yeh..... The cycling girl involved is Mary, my girlfriend, trixie chick and supplier of vegan breakfast. I made it to the scene about 15min after it happened.

It was only about a month ago that she had a van do the same thing to her which resulted in her writing off "Georgina", her dawes conversion.

Im just about to head up to UCH to see her, i think she is in for a few x-rays etc.

Be Safe out there

that shit is Fucked Up.

Hope mary's OK.

Grrrrr

oh no!!!! Not again!!

Poor Mary..get well soon dudette.

FWIW I had to ask the police to come and see me in the ambulance after my wrap, they told the ambulance people they didn't really need to see me.

They were completely unforthcoming about it. You need to read Roxy's thread on procedure, it's really useful.

The police will close ranks and fuck all will happen. Guaranteed

that's terrible, get well soon Mary. Make sure the scaphoid's checked out, the most likely bone to break when landing on your hand and due to it's blood supply can cause complications if a break is not noticed. Broke mine before last christmas, didn't realise for 3 weeks, was told by a number of doctor friends I was lucky it didn't go bad.

I hope he gets pulled across the board for this, clearly his fault. I hope he's not a police driver, wouldn't want someone likely to do that to be in control of something with blues and twos.

I would go get a copy of the CCTV STAT dude. Otherwise it will go missing... seriously. Make a coppy as well becuase you'll be required to hand it over to the police investigations team (who will lose it). Take the car driver to court.

Oh yeah, Mary get better soon hun! ;)

The police will close ranks and fuck all will happen. Guaranteed

Not true, they are just as answerable to wrong-doing as the public, actually even more so due to their duty of care to the public on or off duty.

hope your ok Mary

MARY!
Hope you are alright. Get well and sue the bastard!

Dude that fucking sux. Hope Mary is ok.

holy shit, is she ok? I'm gonna text her now.

Yeah make sure she is careful about the hand. When I broke two fingers after getting knocked off my bike the casualty took xrays and told my I just had a sprained wrist. Then a doctor told me two days later I actually had a broken finger. Week later I was told they missed another broken finger as well.

If its sore and still sore after a few days it needs to be checked.

best wishes to Mary. heal fast!

I had a very similar experience on Monday except in my case the offending driver was travelling the same direction as me, overtook me and took a sharp left into the side street. Front brake, over bars, knocked out momentarily. driver didn't stop but a kindly motorist behind me did and called an ambulance. no chance to get a reg number or anything.
bike seemed ok at the time but it turns out my front rim is damaged beyond repair :(

shit, again?!? :(

KILL! Anger in my eyes... Lets get on a rampage cycling vigilante thingy... and bust some bonnets!

mary get well soon.

"Yeah make sure she is careful about the hand. When I broke two fingers after getting knocked off my bike the casualty took xrays and told my I just had a sprained wrist. Then a doctor told me two days later I actually had a broken finger. Week later I was told they missed another broken finger as well.

If its sore and still sore after a few days it needs to be checked."

definitely, my scaphoid didn't seem sore enough to be broken, it was just the fact it wasn't getting any less painful over a period of time that made me check it out. Good luck, I hope it isn't too bad (although anything at all's already bad).

Man, thats rubbish...I hope mary (and the surly) are ok.

Essex Road is a nightmare, really freaks me out. The amount of shocking driving and cycling, redlight jumping and ped craziness down there is unbelievable. I was riding along during rush hour a couple of fridays ago, when was absolutely chucking it down, and some young pramface sees fit to push her kid out right in front of me. And not even at a crossing I may hasten to add! When, after jamming on the brakes and swerving to avoid her, I express my concern at her course of action she tells me in no uncertain terms what I can do...nice.

The traffic sergeant that came to the scene was obviously trying not to put the driver at fault to cover the polices own ass, but in this situation it is hardly going to be the cyclists fault.

I wouldn't way that for definite, there's always a lot of politics when investigating someone from another division. Also, similar to a driver admitting fault at an accident, an officer of the same organisation also should not admit fault for a whole raft of insurance and legal reasons.

However, in case of any possible collusion, sit on them on this one. Make sure you track and log every single move. Also, get your precedents in order and get them to the police. You don't want them swerving the investigation under a presumption of rider illegality.

Get straight onto the Local Authority about the CCTV. They should provide you with full details of all council, city, police and private systems in the area that might provide even a shred of coverage. If get stalled even once then start citing Data Protection and Freedom of Information.

All the best to Mary of course.

https://www.londonfgss.com/thread4213.html

Best wishes to Mary, heal up quick!

shite, heal up well mary :( say hi from vic and me, matt.

Matt, you don't mention if Mary had any witnesses? What did the police note? Did anyone take photos? Presumably you have the driver's details? Was he apologetic?

Best wishes to Mary.

Damn, hope you heal quickly and cleanly.

Shitty shit! Hope you're doing okay Mary, and heal up fast!

hope it's nothing serious mary, heel quickly little one.

sorry matt, no experience of dealing with the police in this situation. you will need that CCTV footage though.