Be careful out there . . .

Woke up this morning to the sickening sound of a crash on the road outside.

A DHL van had pulled out into the path of a guy on a Bandit sending him across the opposing traffic and into the curb. Mercifully he did not hit any of the oncoming cars but he was pretty banged up and it reminded me how vulnerable we all are (as I put on my bike gear for the day).

Being a bit of a photographer I couldn’t help but reach for my camera . . .

Posting pics here to remind us all how fragile we are . . . and how great the ambulance service is.

Take it easy out there all . . . .

Where his slide ended (the guy in yellow is the DHL guy who hit him):

It seems his leg took out a piece of the van as it pulled out:

The ambulance arrived in 5 mins and got to work, obviously they were worried about head/neck injuries and got him into a collar etc:

. . and onto a board:

. . . before stabilising his head:

. . and onto a gurney - giving the (nervously smoking) DHL guy a moment to say ‘Sorry’ (or ‘Please don’t sue me!’):

He later managed a smile as he went into the ambulance so I hope it all works out OK for him.

Doug

Hope the guy is ok - could of (and has been) any of us.

Worst bike related incident I ever saw was driving back from the tyre shop in a cage one sunny saturday morning after picking up a couple of new bike tyres - just before the turning to my street there was a car stopped in the middle of the road at a crossroads and a bike on it’s side further down the road - then I noticed people gathered in a bunch at the opposite side of the road - at their feet was the body of the rider - obviously dead.

Horrible sight which I will never forget.

I know the feeling. This is not the first such accident I have seen outside my front door, there have been many - often cyclists. The worse was one late on a Saturday night when a guy on a motorbike was killed and there was blood everywhere. It was only later that I found out the helmet I had noticed some distance from the body in the road (all carefully marked up by the police) still had his head in it!

I guess what really made me post these pics this morning was how many bikers were filtering like lunatics through the traffic jam (caused by the accident) at times only inches from blind gaps, people walking in the road etc …

Doug

The third pic makes me cringe!! you can quite clearly see the paramedic cutting the guys jacket off:w00t: when i smashed my legs back in the 80’s i begged them not cut my leathers lol i loved my leathers and they cost me so much dosh back then 200 notes was a lot!:doze: anyway hope the guy is ok:)

Blimey, well he doesn’t look too mangled up so hopefully he’ll be ok.

Worse one I saw was about 2000, outside Pizza Chalet on Brixton Hill. Young Polish guy, about 18, tried stealing a delivery bike (Honda C90) and immediately rode off on the wrong side of the road and hit another bike head on. He had no helmet, protective gear, nothing. He died right there. I was in a state of shock after that, took a few days to get over it. Very sad to see a young life pass away like that. I think the biker he hit got a broken arm.

Hope the fella is ok.

Everyday is a rat race. I saw a police car hit a Yam R6 Last week