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Jesus I am still in shock hearing that DJ! hope they throw the book at her.
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Holy shit that's terrifying. I often don't bother filtering past the last couple of cars before the ASL. Might rethink that strategy in light of this.
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DJ - really glad to hear you are ok and hope that the adrenalin levels out soon. Do your best to note down every detail that led to you believing she may have been drunk. Smell of alcohol on her breath? Slurred speech? Unsteady on her feet? Apparent inability to focus vision? Apparent attempts to conceal alcohol on her breath (drinking the coke/water)? ANYTHING. It may not actually stick as real evidence but the police only need "reasonable grounds to suspect" that someone has committed an offence to arrest for it. Added to the leaving the scene of an RTC, she's fucked. Did anyone else see her drive off? I imagine the ambo's will be able to state that either she wasn't there when they arrived or that they saw her drive off before police arrived. If you speak to the cabbie, see if he got their details too.
State clearly that her friends got out of the car and physically confronted you first, this would take away the defense of feeling intimidated as a reason for driving off. Your verbal stream can easily be explained by your shock at nearly being crushed by tons of steel.
They will also be looking into conditions, how dark was it? were there street lights? were your lights on? were the traffic lights working? was it misty or raining? All might seem ridiculous but good defense solicitors don't need much ammo to find a hair line crack of doubt and fucking crow bar it open.
Anyway, probably preaching to the choir here so I'll shut up.
What to do in case of an accident thread etc etc
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Christ that sounds intense, glad you're alright. Hope they catch her. Did you get her reg etc? You'd hope the cops paid a visit to her house shortly after, if they've got her details.
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Glad to hear you're OK DJ. Sounds like the actions of some toffs who are above stopping for accidents such as this. Incredulous that they drove off before Plod got there (if they did at all). Knightsbridge is CCTV heaven, they must have footage of it.
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Just spoke with the cabbie from last night. The police turned up not long after I left, the driver lives locally, but not surprisingly she did not return home last night. As such she will get off without a drink driving charge.
There is full CCTV of the incident from a couple of local establishments, it shows her crashing, the lights being red, and her driving off. So fairly much caught bang to rights.
In all her protestations of innocence last night she never once asked the cab driver if he was ok, or if she could help. By not leaving her details at the scene she is very likely to be prosecuted for leaving the scene of the accident, especially as the driver was hurt and being checked out by the ambulance driver.
A cab driver was on the other side of the road and saw the entire thing, there is the CCTV footage and my account which all sound like they corroborate the same story. The damage to the back of the cab indicates she was doing in excess of 30 mph when the impact occurred, it has already been inspected by a garage.
I hope the police do contact me for a statement. I will be very clear as to what happened and her subsequent behaviour including slurring of words, drinking fluids and eating mints like they were going out of fashion. The cabbie and myself agreed given where she lives, the car she drives etc, that she will be able to afford any increase in insurance premiums, and that sadly the incident will unlikely have any significant impact on her future driving habits.
I feel frustrated with losing my rag with her last night. But given her lack of sincere apology, blatant denials of responsibility, lies about the lights being green, the cab stopping suddenly and me not having any lights on I am clear that she is an utterly dangerous cunt who regrettably is likely to carry on driving because she can pay her way out of the problems that would stop anyone else.
I have spent a lot of the day feeling quite shocked and questioning what I did. I don't think there was anything wrong with my cycling, positioning or filtering strategy, the lucky things were that I filtered and did not remain behind the cab and I did not move in front of the cab when I entered the ASL. Either of which would have been quite usual things to do. As the cabbie said, we would not be having any conversation today if I had waited behind him and things could have been pretty bad if I had been in front of the cab.
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You got lucky there, James. Don't question your reaction in the heat of the moment.
Was this at Sloane Street/Knightsbridge?
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Yes, I had just come through the underpass and was heading west.
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I would be very shaken if this happened to me. In fact, I like others above, feel shaken to even read about what could have happened just by doing this or not doing that on your bike. The sheer lottery of it would (has) really shake me up. And I know how you feel, going back and thinking did I do right? Was it my mistake?
One way of looking at it is that statistically speaking, that was your accident, and you walked away from it. So you should be done for the next few years.
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I would be very shaken if this happened to me. In fact, I like others above, feel shaken to even read about what could have happened just by doing this or not doing that on your bike.
This. Also can't help thinking that if this cretin driver had actually killed you then basically fuck all would have been done about it. Outrageous that she's probably going to get away with driving about with her mates in the care while all shitfaced on Breezers.
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Decides to take damaged frame out for one last spin, riding road pedals and shoes for the first time.
Oh that's flexing a lot, I'll just unclip my right foot then come to stop...
unclips and places foot on pedal
Fuck this is slippery, fuck fuck
Luckily managed to come to a stop with just one foot in.Multiple lessons learned.
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Yep, that would have got your heart pumping and blood boiling, James. Glad you're OK and just took a fright.
Had my own "Oh Shit" moment this morning. It reminded me why I always avoid schools in the morning! Mercedes A Class overtook me down a little road, then pulled left into side road (fortunately, far enough ahead to avoid being annoying / dangerous). However, as I started to come past the side road, he decides that's a good time to exit said side road, pulling straight into my path. A long "Aaaaaaah, whoooooooaaaaa" later and I'd managed to take enough speed off and steer round the front of his car. Somehow, I managed to avoid a huge, fuck off swear - being outside a primary school is not the best place to practice your vernacular! But, all I got was a half-hearted, slightly sheepish "sorry". Ah, well, I suppose I'm alive - what more could I want!
I was kinda desperate to avoid the accident, as just before Christmas I found out what it was like to have an actual accident. Tootling along on the way home, I stopped at a set of traffic lights next to Epsom station, waited until they were nice and green before setting off. About halfway across said lights, my progress was blocked by a cab turning right right across in front of me. All I could manage was the lightest of swerves before I hit the front of his cab and was tossed like some sort of human pancake over the front of the cab and onto my face!
This taught me a few things:
- Cars are hard and they hurt when you hit them
- The road is hard and it hurts when you hit it
- Brakes are a much more comfortable option than your face in the trying to stop forward motion side of things
- Helmets stop me being more hurt than I would have been
- Accidents are a surprise
Fortunately, I got away without major injury. Although, two months later, I still have a stiff neck and my right thumb aches like a bastard after a ride. But, hey, once again, I'm still alive.
- Cars are hard and they hurt when you hit them
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About
"Oh Shit" moments...
Posted by
@Sparky
Wow, I feel pretty shook up just reading that.
The police really don't like people leaving the scene, especially if they think it's to hide something like drink driving, so hopefully they will get on it fast. They'll probably try and excuse it with some bullshit about feeling intimidated by your angry reaction, but if they got out and argued back I can't see that washing. That area has got to be full of cctv cameras, can't see how they couldn't get a result if they want.