Riding north on the A1 just after the Bishops Avenue, saw a white van attempt a u-turn into a 600 Bandit. 'kin hell.
The rider spilled across the highway in front of me. I stopped, obviously, to help out. The biker (Paul) was walking wounded - a bit shaken and he’ll feel it tomorrow, I bet - but otherwise fine I think. Who knows what longer-term will hurt and play up. Anyway - got his bike up and on to the side of the road.
I called an ambulance for him (just to check him - better safe than sorry) whilst he swapped details with the van driver. While we waited for the ambulance, the driver of the van said that swapping details was enough and then he drove off!
In some little fairness to the van driver, Paul looked OK, but I don’t think I could have just driven off knowing an ambulance was on it’s way to see to a biker I had just knocked off at 40 mph!
The police turned up too - very nice guys (and gals) and whilst Paul was being looked at in the back of the ambulance, I rode the Bandit down the road and up on to the pavement and back to where the bobbies were standing, just to clear the A1 again. Then I was thanked for my time and was sent on my way, expecting to hear from insurance companies and the police.
Paul’s got my number - I hope he calls to let me know he’s alright as he said he would from the back of the ambulance before I left.
As for the bike: it was rideable, but needs new indicators and fairings. All pegs and handles were fine.
The lessons learned from this little (and very much abridged) story are these:
Always wear proper gear. His gear saved him from a lot worse.
If you see the same thing happen to someone else, you better stop for them. Just knowing someone actually cares if you’re alright or not is probably priceless in situations like these.
If you see me come off - stop and help me. I’ll be shaking like a leaf and will probably need a cup of tea and big hug!
FBOS - when is the next course please? I’m going on it.
Nice one for helping. He should have the bike looked over fully as 40mph is quite a crash. He’ll want to check for chasis damage, wheel and fork alignment etc.
Well done for helping out, so many people don’t bother and it annoys the hell out of me. So much harder to sort a claim out without witnesses!!! Glad the guy was kind of ok
Well done mate, it still amazes me how many of these people will just drive away without conscience once theyve swapped details (if they stop at all!)…
I think all accidents are avoidable, but not necessarily by anything the biker could do - a quick life saver by the van driver would probably have prevented all of this.
i had an off 2 weeks ago on a roundabout on a43 covered in diesel. partly my own fault as it was lashin down so should have taken more care.but anyway i managad to follow bike on my arse, praying not to hit anything which i didnt. 2nd good point wear the gear; saved my arse , but bike written orf.
anyway back to people stopping , at least 5 cars stopped to see a, if i was ok b,if they could call anyone , and c, if i needed a lift.
fair play to them all, not everyone on 4 wheels is a tosser.
after standing bike up, kicking the nearest thing to hand, the kerb ouch! i wobbled to the services to use my mobile to phone recovery. would you believe that whilst slidin round the ring on my backside in the rain, my mobile manages to getwaterlogged and wont work, so i ask in the services if theres a pay phone. no. whats all that about?
so i asked some young lads to borrow their phones to put my sim in as all info stored there or so i thought.
lesson 1 . allways sstore numbers to sim
lesson 2. always keep things like rac memership written in wallet or sim.
good of ya to help, bet it turns out the van in uninsured or summat, or disqualified driver.
ya not spose to leave scene of crime so i hope the cops look into it etc. is there cctv? could be a case of undue care and attention on the van drivers side.
It’s an offence to leave the scene of an accident where people have been injured. You have to wait for the Police to attend. I’m sure our boys in blue can clarify this. Someone who leaves the scene obviously has something to hide. Not good at all.
