Another Accident

[Stovepipes]

Was travelling along in the bus lane on the Old Kent Road when someone pulled into it and I slammed into the side of them.

What really annoys me is that I had my helmet cam on and wasn't recording and they're disputing that it's their fault. I mean if he saw me like he claimed then why pull out and if he had completed the maneuver then why did I hit the side of his vehicle and not the rear?

Thankfully I'm not injured and the bike appears to have a few superficial scratches.

Then on the way home you wouldn't believe the number of near misses I had riding in the rain at night. Has shaken me up a bit but I'm not giving up on biking just yet.

Need a new camera though and I want one hardwired with loop recording as that's the main reason I don't always have my helmet cam on.

 

[Stovepipes]

I used to wear a hi-vis one but yeah mine is a black Hein Gericke now, still the chap says that he saw me so I'm not sure it would have helped in this case assuming his judgement is that poor.

Gonna get one of those hi-vis think bike vests now like neighbour has.

 

[Stovepipes]

Nope I'm getting the Polite vest and painting my helmet white.

Honestly I think I'll use some hi-viz Plasti Dip for my helmet and a H-belt.

 

[Stovepipes]

just don't stop riding/dont take a break and you'll be fine!

I had a 2 hour ride home through central London in heavy rain so my courage returned & I'm not completely put off yet, what bothered me is that I don't have a camera now to capture the next incident, which based on some of the driving I encountered on the way home is inevitable.

The other thing that I really wanted the footage for was to see what mistakes I may have made, I know I wasn't speeding given the location and packed road on my right I would't have but was I fully aware of surroundings, should I have been able to spot what he was doing earlier? and I think because my last 2 bikes didn't have ABS I'm not sure I was braking hard enough.

 

[Stovepipes]

abs wouldn't have saved you either imo,just too little too late,ALWAYS try to anticipate what drivers are likely to do or any open gaps in traffic slow down for

it all comes with experience tbh,and even then you can get caught out from time to time,its a real shame your camera wasn't roling,id have been looking/getting witnesses names/addresses if there were any

I didn't even consider witnesses as I thought the cam was on and as I ride that route several times a week and know someone will inevitably duck into the bus lane on weekends so I kept my speed down which probably why I wasn't hurt and my bike looks OK. I never go hard on the brakes because I kinda worry about locking them up which shouldn't worry me too much with ABS, why wouldn't it save me?

Anyway I'm convinced the chap just pulled out on me at the last minute but without the video can't be 100% sure and will just have to wait to see what happens with the insurance when they finally get back to me.

 

[Stovepipes]

Glad to hear you've okay and the damage sounds minimal - did the bike just slide down the road? Probably a good idea to get it checked for any strtuctural damage.

Also, Innovv C3 camera (and probably others in the range) does rolling footage.

Slammed into the side of the car the fell on my leg, which probably cushioned it lol.

My new Top box is now scuffed and the exhaust doesn't look great plus the rear brake lever has chunk missing from underneath it but otherwise it looks ok.

 

[Stovepipes]

It was on the Old kent road and if you're not gonna take advantage of using the wide open bus lanes you might as well drive, it's really congested there. You always expect someone to change lane if there's traffic on the right and there are roads on the left so I wasn't going fast but he did it so suddenly I couldn't stop. Had I been going faster I'd have been badly injured.
While I'm guilty of speeding quite a bit, I know that route too well not to take it easy.