Ride buddies knocked off!

[Shuttle Cock]

I couldn't go riding yesterday as I had promised to do something with my children, my two goods friends who went out yesterday as usual.

In the evening I got a message from one of our club members telling me my friends had both been wiped out by the same car in Bodiam. Apparently the drivers shot out of the drive without looking and swerved onto their side of the riots which they were descending on, hit one rider, and carried on into the next one, and only stopped because a bike was stuck under her car. Thankfully the only injuries are cuts, bruises and a muscle tear (4-6 weeks off the bike), after visiting a&be. Many thanks to the first people at the scene who were of duty firefighters out for the day, apparently they knew their stuff. Both bikes look like they are scrap. Police etc progressing.

I'm going round to see one of them later, as he is a self employed gardener, to see if he is ok, and offer assistance if he needs it for work for the next week or so.

What I can't get out of my head, is the 'that could have been me a well' syndrome, as it's a fairly regular route for us. My wife was also saying the same thing when I showed her the message, that could be you.

Whilst I don't want to give up riding, it had made me think a bit, any advice would greatfully recieved.

Stay safe out there

Thanks,
Graham

[GarryDK]

Near misses and what ifs will all ways shake you up, its only human, a few weeks back I was out on a group ride with friends, we were on a pretty fast road (national) all single file. I pulled out of the middle of the pack to move to the front, as I pass the rider in front of me a van pulls out on to our side of the road to over take, doing around 70 - 80mph. misssed me by milimetres. All the riders behind were in shock I wasnt hit. That road scares the crap out of me thinking about it. I have only ridden it once since. Trying to think dont let bad drivers ruin what you enjoy is hard sometimes but it is the state to be in. If we thought about every near miss none of us would be on the road.

Stay as safe, ride safe.

[ALawson]

Could have been a lot worse, I was making my way over to the 10m TT at Bentley last nigh H10/8 when I was stopped at the approach roundabout by BiB.

At the time the road was shut due to a RTA involving a cyclist with the air ambulance on their way, I made my way back home to Fleet and saw the helicopter approach and land.

A tweet last night gave me some hope for the cyclist compared to the policeman's take on it, unfortunately I have just seen this.

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/a31-cr...

Be careful out there.

Edited by ALawson on Thursday 13th August 16:16

[PorkRind]

Massive generalization, but all of my 'close ones' have been old fuddy dudders| young women in c1's or white van drivers...

[tuffer]

I am probably going to get flamed for this but here goes:

Just to be clear I am a cyclist but also a complete petrol head and have been since the age of 5. I am not sure that running TT's on main roads is a good idea, yes as a cyclist you have every right to ride on a road but I just think it's literally an accident waiting to happen. They used to run them along the A303 near me, christ it's bad enough driving along there. The combination of two lane traffic at high speed and on/off ramps etc is just a bad mix. I try and keep to quieter back roads where possible and even that is bad enough so tend to go off road more often than not. I would never consider riding down a dual carriageway.

Thoughts and condolences with the deceased family.

[S10GTA]

I do agree with the above. You cant completely remove the risk, but you can mitigate it.

[shouldbworking]

Not pleasant is it.

My closest call was when I joined a groups of friends doing lejog for a day.

Navigating a roundabout, I don't know if this hgv didn't see me or if he was just a dick, but he got close enough to me that I could feel the heat coming off the radiator on my back, and my friends who were following were white as a sheet when I pulled in afterwards...

[ALawson]

I think they use marshals when running official times, I am sure Okgo can confirm seeing he is KOM for that TT course.

The chap in question above I don't think was even cycling down the road just approaching from a junction.

But yes, I generally stick to the country lanes, but then if you do meet a car on a bend there isn't much place to go. The A31 does have 1 m space between the verge and white line so they is a separation between cycles and well driven cars.

[richardxjr]

Sorry to hear about that Graham - Sussex too. Mate of mine got nearly killed last year, it's taken the shine off road riding just a bit!

I got more into my mtb and CX-ing, trails and bridleways. Accidents still happen but it's more likely down to you (or that tree that jumped out at you )

[Shuttle Cock]

Some very good words on here, thanks, and apparently the driver has not yet be caught, still a hit and run!

[Get Karter]

Shuttle Cock said:

apparently the driver has not yet be caught, still a hit and run!

Thought you said the driver shot out their drive?

[Kermit power]

tuffer said:

I am probably going to get flamed for this but here goes:

Just to be clear I am a cyclist but also a complete petrol head and have been since the age of 5. I am not sure that running TT's on main roads is a good idea, yes as a cyclist you have every right to ride on a road but I just think it's literally an accident waiting to happen. They used to run them along the A303 near me, christ it's bad enough driving along there. The combination of two lane traffic at high speed and on/off ramps etc is just a bad mix. I try and keep to quieter back roads where possible and even that is bad enough so tend to go off road more often than not. I would never consider riding down a dual carriageway.

Thoughts and condolences with the deceased family.

I fully agree. I wouldn't go near the A31 on a bike!

It's one thing to find yourself on a road like that inadvertently though. It's quite another, in my mind, to arrange to send 40 cyclists down it a minute apart from each other in a TT. Even if they're caning it and riding at 30mph, that's still a 40mph differential with traffic coming up behind them, and whilst motorists might well wait and give plenty of space to the first they come across, it's a safe bet that the next one, or the one after that or the one after that is going to just cause increasingly high levels of frustration, translating into increasingly close passes. Yes, they've got the right to cycle there, but arranging to do so strikes me as grossly irresponsible.

[anonymous-user]

driver has been arrested in connection with the A31 fatality

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/va...

[Shuttle Cock]

Get Karter said:

Thought you said the driver shot out their drive?

I thought this was the case, more info as it comes.

[LarryLamb]

I'm new to road cycling, but feel lucky I can cycle 30+ miles round the local streets on dual carriageways with proper bike lanes. And not just skinny lanes either, nice wide cycle lanes. But that's the advantage of living somewhere like California. I don't think I'd want to do it back in the UK now.

[anonymous-user]

tuffer said:

I am probably going to get flamed for this but here goes:

Just to be clear I am a cyclist but also a complete petrol head and have been since the age of 5. I am not sure that running TT's on main roads is a good idea, yes as a cyclist you have every right to ride on a road but I just think it's literally an accident waiting to happen. They used to run them along the A303 near me, christ it's bad enough driving along there. The combination of two lane traffic at high speed and on/off ramps etc is just a bad mix. I try and keep to quieter back roads where possible and even that is bad enough so tend to go off road more often than not. I would never consider riding down a dual carriageway.

Thoughts and condolences with the deceased family.

I'm not taking issue with you personally but being a "massive petrol head" has nothing to do with this issue. It is amusing when people say "I am a massive petrolhead" and then go on to say that TTs on public roads are dangerous. Having an interest in performance cars, or even being a performance car owner, does not make you a better driver. If its bad enough driving along the A303 - I have no experience of the road btw - without cyclists, what does that tell you about the drivers?

Given a TT rider will largely stay on the same trajectory and at a steady pace, it shouldnt be beyond the realms of most competent drivers to avoid one... I get the point about entry/exit points and fast two lane traffic but it really is all down to hazard perception and awareness of the driver.

[Mr Will]

Kermit power said:

It's one thing to find yourself on a road like that inadvertently though. It's quite another, in my mind, to arrange to send 40 cyclists down it a minute apart from each other in a TT. Even if they're caning it and riding at 30mph, that's still a 40mph differential with traffic coming up behind them, and whilst motorists might well wait and give plenty of space to the first they come across, it's a safe bet that the next one, or the one after that or the one after that is going to just cause increasingly high levels of frustration, translating into increasingly close passes. Yes, they've got the right to cycle there, but arranging to do so strikes me as grossly irresponsible.

The theory is that holding a TT on a dual carriage way as a quiet time of day gives the drivers plenty of visibility of the riders and a whole free lane to use when passing them. It should reduce the likelihood of an incident sufficiently that the potential greater severity becomes a non-issue.

Sadly I don't think it works like that any more. The number of incompetent drivers is just too high.

[tuffer]

pablo said:

tuffer said:

I am probably going to get flamed for this but here goes:

Just to be clear I am a cyclist but also a complete petrol head and have been since the age of 5. I am not sure that running TT's on main roads is a good idea, yes as a cyclist you have every right to ride on a road but I just think it's literally an accident waiting to happen. They used to run them along the A303 near me, christ it's bad enough driving along there. The combination of two lane traffic at high speed and on/off ramps etc is just a bad mix. I try and keep to quieter back roads where possible and even that is bad enough so tend to go off road more often than not. I would never consider riding down a dual carriageway.

Thoughts and condolences with the deceased family.

I'm not taking issue with you personally but being a "massive petrol head" has nothing to do with this issue. It is amusing when people say "I am a massive petrolhead" and then go on to say that TTs on public roads are dangerous. Having an interest in performance cars, or even being a performance car owner, does not make you a better driver. If its bad enough driving along the A303 - I have no experience of the road btw - without cyclists, what does that tell you about the drivers?

Given a TT rider will largely stay on the same trajectory and at a steady pace, it shouldnt be beyond the realms of most competent drivers to avoid one... I get the point about entry/exit points and fast two lane traffic but it really is all down to hazard perception and awareness of the driver.

By "Massive Petrolhead" I was just trying to point out that I was not some lefty, Cabbage eating car hater.

[ALawson]

The A31 does seem to have a 1m width of tarmac to the left of the solid white line, which is a lot better than other roads. However, it does come down to the drive assuming the cyclist remains within this zone. This even extends to gaps through some of the hatching so that cyclist aren't forced to go into the first/left hand lane.

Anyway it sounds like this chap was entering from a side road.

[jshell]

Gave up road-biking years ago due to the risk from traffic. Rather cycle paths, towpaths, forests, trail centres etc.