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Cycling log - random events in the day of a cyclist

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Rain and cold snot dripping off my nose...
on a bend coming past some farms, just after a ‘caution: mud on road’ sign,

It was the horizontal rain that got me, the kind that actually stings your eyeballs when you meet a tiny icicle at a closing speed of 70 mph.

I think that 'mud on the road' is a polite farmer's euphemism for 'cow sh*t on the road' so it's a good job you didn't come off.

I think you're in need of some CBT if you've gone out in this for the sheer 'pleasure' of it. Even Chris Froome must have hung his bike up and he's a Paula Radcliffe level masochist.
 
Ha. That was before Dennis showed up, no freezing rain in the face, warm and mostly dry clothes on, so wasn’t so bad.

Here’s Ewden Bank, known locally as ‘Deliverance’, where I stopped before heading down in semi-darkness as the rain came. I always remember a young Tom Boonen going straight on into the woods at the 20% hairpin at the bottom, so I was crawling. Into a flood.

Coming past those farms last winter, through some slushy brown snow, and my rear derailleur froze, and stayed that way for much of the way home. Me and bike smelled just lovely when I got in.
 
I've been cited to attend Glasgow Sheriff Court in April as a witness against the guy who knocked me off my bike last August: the one where I was cycling along a straight road and some guy drove straight into me for no apparent reason (best guess he totally misjudged our closing speeds and thought he could make the corner before I got there - worst guess, he was a wee bit drunk and/ or on the phone at the time, but I'm afraid I have no idea as he never stopped) when he turned right while there was oncoming traffic (me).

I just contacted Victim Support Scotland (link) as I find the prospect of attending court somewhat intimidating as I'm not used to being in such formal environments and I'm not a very confident public speaker either. I reckon I'll go and have a chat with one of their volunteers at the court so I can learn more about the process that awaits me on the day. I know I'm the victim but I just don't fancy my chances of telling it like it was under cross-examination as it's his defence lawyer's job to make things a tad tricky for me when I'm on the stand, as it were.

Fwiw, there's an independent witness and hopefully, CCTV footage as well (the police officer never got back in touch to confirm whether there was). If there is CCTV footage, I reckon the guy will change his plea before it goes to trial as it's a slam-dunk case of careless driving if ever there was and the footage will prove it to be so.
 
I've been cited to attend Glasgow Sheriff Court in April as a witness against the guy who knocked me off my bike last August: the one where I was cycling along a straight road and some guy drove straight into me for no apparent reason (best guess he totally misjudged our closing speeds and thought he could make the corner before I got there - worst guess, he was a wee bit drunk and/ or on the phone at the time, but I'm afraid I have no idea as he never stopped) when he turned right while there was oncoming traffic (me).

I just contacted Victim Support Scotland (link) as I find the prospect of attending court somewhat intimidating as I'm not used to being in such formal environments and I'm not a very confident public speaker either. I reckon I'll go and have a chat with one of their volunteers at the court so I can learn more about the process that awaits me on the day. I know I'm the victim but I just don't fancy my chances of telling it like it was under cross-examination as it's his defence lawyer's job to make things a tad tricky for me when I'm on the stand, as it were.

Fwiw, there's an independent witness and hopefully, CCTV footage as well (the police officer never got back in touch to confirm whether there was). If there is CCTV footage, I reckon the guy will change his plea before it goes to trial as it's a slam-dunk case of careless driving if ever there was and the footage will prove it to be so.

Good luck Derek, I hope it goes well.
 
If you're a church goer then you could volunteer to do one of the readings. I'd imagine that that's on a par with being a witness.

I remember before my 3rd driving test I was so nervous that when I went to the loo at the exam centre I could only just hang my jacket on the hook behind the door. Old cliches like splashing your face with cold water or giving yourself a light slap on the cheek are worth a try, they give you a little jolt of adrenaline, enough to break the rabbit-in-headlights feeling. And yes I did pass :)

I hope you weren't badly injured, it sounds like a bad one :eek: in fact something of a cyclist's nightmare. You might not realise it but you could even be suffering from PTSD. Go to your GP and don't take happy pills as an answer, there are other therapies if you're getting flash backs.

My big accident was at 17 when I (allegedly) went into the back of a car leaving a big dent in the boot lid and bending the front wheel back past the frame. My mental defence mechanism was to not remember anything about it until I came to in the hospital. One of the nurses said that I'd been mumbling about being sandwiched between 2 other cars but I really can't remember anything after approaching this big roundabout.
 
Good luck from me also. It sounds like a nasty business but maybe your input will help prevent this guy from doing similar or worse to other cyclists
 
Thankfully, it was a low-speed collision. I was about 200m from home so I was only going about 8-10mph (that's not to say I could have been going much faster - Lance Armstrong I ain't), and the speed of the car was appropriate for the manouvre i.e. turning right onto a side street, so apart from some aches and scrapes - and a quick swim in a very wet gutter - there was no real harm done. Well, my front wheel was a bit buckled, but other than that, nothing serious to report.

I decided to make a complaint because there was absolutely no apparent reason for the collision. I didn't suddenly appear into view just as he turned the steering wheel: there were a good 10-15 seconds when we were in plain sight of each other, no if or buts about it. And also because once I hobbled up and dragged my bike off the road, he opened his door slightly ajar and somewhat perfunctorily asked how I was then drove off, leaving me standing there like a drowned rat wondering WTF had just happened.
 
@windhoek My wife & I were witnesses for the prosecution in Crown Court last year. It is stressful and it isn't anything like it is on the TV.
The CPS victim support do a great job. You will be given your witness statement to read before you go in, just to remind you and go over the facts. Your Barrister will take you through this and prepare you.

Tell the truth and stick to what you've written in your statement. Do not flesh out your answers was what I was told.

Its up to the Jury to decide guilt and you've done your bit.

Hope it goes well and try not to stress yourself out. You've done nothing wrong!
 
One of my mates has a strong narcissistic trait and he loves being the centre of attention in professional settings. He knows me well and knows that I'm the complete opposite and so it was he who recommended I contact Victim Support Scotland to get the low-down on what to expect as well as how I ought to conduct myself on the day. What you say about keeping my answers straight to the point and not trying to expand upon anything unnecessarily sounds like the way to go. And I think I'll go ahead and write out a brief summary of what happened so that my mind is crystal clear and solid about events.
 
@windhoek. The defence barrister won't give you an absolute roasting as they're not allowed to but, he will question your answers on your statement and he'll come up with alternatives. When I took the stand the defence barrister tried this on with me by constantly going over the same question. His Lordship, (the judge was a Lord but he wasn't a stickler for being called this) stopped the defence barrister from this questioning and told him off.

Victim support offered my wife, who was the number one witness, a day visit to the crown court to see how it all worked. Our barristers' paralegal took great care of her on trial day. It is daunting when you've never been in a courtroom, just keep telling yourself you're there to right a wrong!
 
Bearing in mind I've never done this before, how's this as a statement? It's worth noting that I've no real interest in financial compensation as the bike wasn't worth much and my ripped shorts only cost £13 or thereabouts.


I was cycling along Holmlea Road towards Clarkston Road on Sunday 11th August 2019 at around 12.40pm, and just as I reached the junction at Cathcart Road on my left-hand side, the driver of a silver Mercedes sports car, registration XXX XXX, that was approaching said junction from the opposite direction, from further along Holmlea Road turned his vehicle into me and knocked me and my bike fully to the ground in an almost square-on collision - despite the fact that I was wearing a hi-vis yellow cycling jacket as well as a hi-vis yellow helmet cover, and also that we had been in clear sight of each other for some 10-15 seconds prior to my being knocked to the ground.

Although the driver attempted to complete the manoeuvre at what seemed like an appropriate speed, and had indicated prior to attempting to do so, his turning the vehicle into me was so sudden, not to mention so unexpected, I had no time to brake and so avoid being knocked to the ground.

When I first attempted to lift myself out of the thoroughly wet gutter, I was unable to do so; I don’t believe I lost consciousness, but there was a brief moment when I was unable to move as I so intended. I got up at the second attempt whereupon I limped to an adjacent road traffic signpost for support. A few seconds later I turned around and hobbled the metre or so back to the front of the vehicle and retrieved my bicycle onto the pavement.

The driver then opened the driver-side door of the vehicle slightly ajar and asked, “Are you okay?” To which I replied, “I don’t know.” Although I was aware that my right knee was grazed and bleeding, and that my left hip and left elbow were sore, too, I suspected my current appreciation of pain and injury was almost certainly inaccurate due to adrenalin.

The driver then asked, “Is there somebody I can phone?” To this, I replied, “I think you might need to phone the police.” I said this as I intuitively felt the collision was so inexplicable and so avoidable from my perspective, I felt I had been wronged such that I needed to know how I came to be knocked off my bike and that if appropriate, the driver he held accountable for his actions.

The driver then closed the door and simply drove off, with me wrongly assuming he was going to park across the road then return to follow matters up.

I was then approached by two people who had witnessed the collision, one of whom provided me with details of her name and phone number should I wish to contact the police; she also suggested that the collision would have been recorded by an adjacent CCTV camera that looked onto the junction: the CCTV camera belonging to Blond hairdressing salon situated on the corner of Holmlea Road and Cathcart Road. Once I felt ready and able, I gingerly made my way to the nearby police station on Aikenhead Road, whereupon I made a complaint.

Apart from suffering a grazed knee and bruising, I also found myself unable to sleep properly for a few nights following the collision as my mind kept on trying to make sense what had happened. As for damage to my property, the cycling shorts I was wearing were torn through completely at the right knee and the front wheel of my bicycle was moderately buckled. The bicycle was still usable but it didn’t ride as well as it ought to following the collision. I eventually bought a wheel-truing device so that I could correct buckled wheels as and where necessary.
 
I would be amazed if the diver didn’t cop a plea, if there is CCTV then he is done. At the absolute minimum he left the scene of an accident, you are perfectly entitled to compensation. You have absolutely nothing to lose whereas the driver could get a ban, content yourself with the fact that he is facing serious consequences whereas you can just get on with your life.
 
I'd write it all out again but in much shorter punchier sentences. You'll quickly run out of breath if you try to say that lot.

Also you've assumed that your audience knows the roads and junctions you name, which probably won't be so. Will there be any photographs or road maps in the court or is it all done by words?

You need to make it clear who had the right of way, who went into whom. Did you ride into the car or did he drive into you? Obviously the defence is going to be the former.

The bit about him indicating isn't clear. Did he indicate to turn and then not turn? Where was he indicating to turn into?

Making the timing of events clear will be crucial to showing who turned into whom. You'll probably be tempted to wave your hands about but that obviously isn't admissible in court because it can't be part of the record. Are visual aids available?

I wonder if you can get away with wearing the same hiviz jacket in court? That'd give some idea of how obviously visible you were.

You've got an internal video of what happened in your head. You need to paint as much of that video as you can into the heads of the jury. What was the weather like, what were the light conditions, was the road wet or dry, narrow or broad, how fast were you and the car going initially, etc.
 
I'd write it all out again but in much shorter punchier sentences. You'll quickly run out of breath if you try to say that lot.

Also you've assumed that your audience knows the roads and junctions you name, which probably won't be so. Will there be any photographs or road maps in the court or is it all done by words?

You need to make it clear who had the right of way, who went into whom. Did you ride into the car or did he drive into you? Obviously the defence is going to be the former.

I wonder if you can get away with wearing the same hiviz jacket in court? That'd give some idea of how obviously visible you were.
Good points.
 
One crucial point - did you have your left arm out to show that you were about to turn into the side road? If not then his defence will be that he didn't expect you to turn, he expected you to go straight on without slowing down and he would then pass behind you. If you turned unexpectedly, thus slowing down, then you're also at fault. You have to show that there could be no doubt in the driver's mind about what you were going to do.

What speed was he doing when he turned? Did he gun the engine and accelerate or turn 'normally'?
 
One crucial point - did you have your left arm out to show that you were about to turn into the side road? If not then his defence will be that he didn't expect you to turn, he expected you to go straight on without slowing down and he would then pass behind you. If you turned unexpectedly, thus slowing down, then you're also at fault. You have to show that there could be no doubt in the driver's mind about what you were going to do.

What speed was he doing when he turned? Did he gun the engine and accelerate or turn 'normally'?
He didn't say he was going to turn into a side road, did he? Or am I missing something?
 
Thanks guys, I'll see if I can refine things so that it's crystal clear and concise... for it seems I've already failed to explain how we came together. We were both travelling along the same main road but coming towards each other from opposite directions: me travelling south and he, north. I was cycling along the main road with no intention of turning off it (I live 200m or so up the road from where we collided): it was he who was turning right onto the side street - a manoeuvre that required him to negotiate oncoming traffic (me) as I had right of way. As you know, he screwed up and drove into me practically square-on. My guess is, he thought he could make a quick dash for it rather than wait a few seconds till I had passed and then make the turn (or he was a wee bit drunk and/or on the phone).
 
He didn't say he was going to turn into a side road, did he? Or am I missing something?

You're right, reading it again he doesn't say that. However, as I am below average intelligence, it does illustrate that his statement isn't adequate for someone as thick as me. He needs to state categorically 'I intended to go straight on'.
 
Thanks guys, I'll see if I can refine things so that it's crystal clear and concise... for it seems I've already failed to explain how we came together. We were both travelling along the same main road but coming towards each other from opposite directions: me travelling south and he, north. I was cycling along the main road with no intention of turning off it (I live 200m or so up the road from where we collided): it was he who was turning right onto the side street - a manoeuvre that required him to negotiate oncoming traffic (me) as I had right of way. As you know, he screwed up and drove into me practically square-on. My guess is, he thought he could make a quick dash for it rather than wait a few seconds till I had passed and then make the turn (or he was a wee bit drunk and/or on the phone).

It's actually been a good idea posting this - you've had a trial run with people (i.e. me) as thick as the jury might be :)

I'd stop at this point though - I can see it turning like Bob Hope in the film Paleface where everyone is giving him advice before the big showdown.
 
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