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The Dangers of the Road

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The Dangers of the Road

Unfortunately cycling can be dangerous, Dan and Andrea share their experience.

As cyclists we all know you’ve got to be careful on the roads, traffic, pot holes, pedestrians, random farm animals wandering in the road. All make the experience of getting from A to B a challenge.

But sometimes no amount of careful preparation, experience, road positioning and appropriate clothing can save you from the inevitable. Sometimes the actions or inactions of others will lead to an accident or collision.

Such an event happened to Dan three weeks ago when a delivery driver overtook us both in the middle of a junction and immediately turned left into our path. The collision was inevitable, Dan didn’t stand a chance, he had no time to react and the van left him no room to manoeuvre. The result was the van hitting Dan, Dan hitting the deck and the Van driver speeding off into the distance.   Dan was relatively lucky he didn’t hit his head and his precious bike was surprisingly undamaged but he did sustain two fractures to his pelvis, broken ribs, cuts and bruises. These injuries required hospital treatment, the assistance of three wonderful volunteer paramedics and a very patient road traffic officer. They have also left Dan requiring the use of a Zimmer frame for the next few weeks until the fractures heal, an inability to work and most importantly of course the inability to ride his beloved bike for the foreseeable. The incident could also have a catastrophic effect on the driver, who was quickly identified by the police, a shame for something that was so avoidable but for their inattention.

 

It would be so easy to get enraged by the incident and bemoan the state of UK driving, the general disregard for cyclists and the lack of proper infrastructure for cycling (and believe me we have moaned). But we have also decided to be a bit more philosophical about the whole incident.

 

Dan has been riding seriously for years and has clocked up tens of thousands of miles. He has ridden in all weather conditions including ice, snow and high winds, he has ridden both night and day across England and France and this is the first time he has even had a collision with a car. So we can only conclude that these events are thankfully rare, (avoidable perhaps but still rare). The benefits of cycling far outweigh the risks and moreover cycling makes us happy and healthy, so ‘Vive le Velo’!

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