Not my tale of ouchiness, but how could I not mention it?
After reading the debate below on cyclists jumping red lights, I was walking to Waterloo station after work yesterday and came to a crossing. Just as the green man popped up, a man in the group of people on our side started crossing the road... and got absolutely SMASHED into by a cyclist going full speed through the red light. It happened in slow motion, but they fully collided and seemed to be suspended in the air before they both collapsed onto the road.

My friend helped the pedestrian up and onto the pavement, and two motorcyclists pulled over to check on him. Whilst we were seeing if he was ok, the cyclist was insisting “I was braking, I tried to stop”… sure you were, which is why your front wheel is completely bent in half from the impact.

The pedestrian sat with his head in his hands, and then after a few minutes said he thought he was ok. But as he stood up he passed out and started shaking so we called an ambulance (and on the motorcyclists’ request, the police). He was conscious again by the time the paramedics arrived so we left our phone numbers and went on our way. Not before hearing the paramedic ask the cyclist how fast he was going, to which he admitted “pretty fast”. (Funny, I could have sworn I heard him say he was slowing down…)

But at least he stuck around I guess, and the pedestrian seemed to be ok- looked like a fookin almighty crack on the head when he fell though…
( awayfromthenumbers, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 9:43, 7 replies)

He was completely unrepresentative of any cyclists on b3ta
Every cyclist that posts here is extremely careful when they break the law and endanger other people's lives and they only do it because they are forced to do so by those evil, polluting, inconsiderate car drivers anyway.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 9:51, closed)

Your automatic assumption seems to be that the cyclist was deliberately being a dick, rather than simply being a shockingly-bad road user; I tend more towards Hanlon's Razor in such cases. I can't imagine any cyclist would want to deliberately crash into anything at speed.

Careless, stupid, and selfish people exist in all forms of transport - and if you're going to be hit by one, it's probably better if he's on a bike, rather than in a car. Red light jumping is, of course, daft - if you really can't wait, dismount and use the pedestrian crossing - but at least in this case, everyone walked away.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 12:51, closed)

Hanlon's Razor is all well and good
But being stupid while in charge of a vehicle means that you necessarily put other people at risk, therefore it's (albeit unintentionally) malicious behaviour
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 15:31, closed)

Was it a poncy
brakeless fixed gear bike ?
( zacherynuk @echo off, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 10:15, closed)

^this

(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 5 Aug 2010, 10:50, closed)

Erm, I'm a non cyclist so I have no clue what that is :-s I only borrow Ma's mountain bike when I'm back in Norfolk- the thought of cycling through London is scary!! It's bad enough being a pedestrian with cyclists alternating between road and pavement without warning, and pelting round pavement corners in the opposite direction- eeep!
( awayfromthenumbers, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 11:02, closed)

Reminds me of the time I saw two cyclists collide in London...
One of them was jumping a red light, the other one was cycling over a pedestrian crossing :D
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Thu 5 Aug 2010, 16:27, closed)