This sounds like we were very lucky not to be reading about yet another fatality on the A24 this morning... repost from Nina. There have been so many posts on her recently of collisions involving cyclists and cars, mainly around the A24 and mostly lots of angry comments about drivers going too fast etc. So I thought I would share my contrasting story to show there are two sides, and its not always the driver in the wrong, the same as it is not always the cyclist in the wrong. Im only sharing so that everyone, cyclists and drivers can both be more vigilant. Especially at night! Yesterday evening around 5:20pm (it was dark by this time) my Mums partner was driving home along the A24, just past Buck Barn lights heading Northbound towards Southwater. He saw a cyclist with no high-vis on just before the small Copsale turn-off on the right. He moved into the right lane to overtake and as he did so the cyclist also moved straight over to the right to take the Copsale turning. He swerved hard and fast to the left to avoid hitting the cyclist, but caught the back wheel of the mans bike, tossing him off but not hitting him at all somehow!! This man narrowly escaped rolling up the windscreen, which would have been an impact of around 50-55mph. My Mums partner stopped in shear shock and to see if the man was okay. He was of course extremely shaken, having most likely just avoided death. He thanked my Mums partner a lot for not killing him and proceeded immediately off down the lane on foot with his broken bike. I cant tell you how happy I am that this guy did not get hurt, or anything worse. He is extremely lucky. However the car (and his bike!) has some nasty damage. Being my car as well Im not too happy, because in the shock of the situation no details were exchanged. It has a large dent in the wing from the back wheel of the bike, a considerable amount of scrapes down the side and the wind mirror has been ripped clean off and broken into a lot of pieces, exposing all the wires as it was electric and heated. This just goes to show really just how lucky this man was. I have no idea how you would even claim for such a thing! It has been reported to the police and they are taking a statement but nothing else we can do I dont think... I think this should be read and thought about but all drivers and cyclists, because this man did not have good cycling gear on to cycle in the dark and did not seem very aware. He somehow didnt know there was a car approaching him, yet was cycling down the duel-carriageway, where cars could have been overtaking him at around 70mph! I really dont want any more incidents like this to happen, it is truly terrifying how easy it is to end up in this sort of situation, and being a keen cyclist myself it hits hard. Please, please, please with everyone cycling be more aware aware of their surroundings, especially on extremely busy roads. In my opinion, you should avoid duel-carriageways in the dark and in rush hour. Its not worth this possibly happening to you. Thanks for reading! Please share with Horsham
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 12:51:01 +0000
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