Joined: Oct 03, 2006 Posts: 767 Location: Tuahiwi/Dunedin
Posted: Sat 30th Aug 6:43pm Post subject:
ask him if he would sign a ball for a disabled kid whos sitting in a wheelchair in the back of a van, then slam the doors on him, glue him to teh bike an dpush him out into traffic
Joined: Apr 05, 2007 Posts: 823 Location: Over the hill
Posted: Sat 30th Aug 11:08pm Post subject:
So btw Chchbmxer I am a little confused about your last statement...
Was Steve Gurney in the cycle lane or wasn't he?
If he was, one has to remember, it is illegal for a car to be in the cycle lane. So even if he, as your girlfriend told you (who for all we know may have been mistaken or didn't see the whole accident- it takes more than one eyewitness afterall to piece together the facts...), biked straight into the back of it... Would it still be his fault?
Or is it more likely in rush hour on Ferry Rd for him to be biking along in a daze in the middle of the road?
If the point of impact shows the cyclist was in the cycle lane when he crashed then the driver is in the tihs....
If the point of impact is outside the cycle lane then the cyclist is in the tihs....
Someone has kcoced up here. Either the cyclist not looking ahead and riding into a stationary vehicle sitting in its lane in the line of busy traffic or
the vehicle has for somereason stopped in part of the cyclelane causing the cyclist to hit it from behind.
And to be honest. None of us will probably ever find out....
Doesn’t matter who’s fault it is, does mater that it probably hurt his head, and he’s injured. Hope it’s not too bad get well soon bigboy.
Edit:
I’m not really in the blame game life is too short, but for it to be Steve’s fault is very unlikely. Since he’s won so many Coast To Coasts he’s probably been riding around chch and amongst traffic for a very long time with that sort of riding experience, way beyond mine and many other roadies, I believe its very unlikely to be caused by his own actions. He is not new to riding on the road.
Last edited by OnnoG on Tue 2nd Sep 1:55pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Apr 24, 2006 Posts: 157 Location: In me gumboots
Posted: Tue 2nd Sep 6:45pm Post subject:
On SportzHub Steve Gurney wrote:
Quote:
I had an accident last week. But I'm doing fine now. I was only in hospital for a few hours. But I learned that my mother was always right. (May she rest in peace). She always told me: "make sure you wear clean underpants,...you never know when you'll have an accident!"
...She also told me as a boy, "If you're going to do a job, do it properly" So I did! I "T-boned" that car that drove right across my path! I went through the glass and metal of the back door, almost far enough to put the seat-belt on!
I was biking home from a meeting, in the bike lane (clearly marked as such). Beside me was a queue of stationary cars in the same direction as me, queued for those confounded Ferrymead road-works. Unbeknownst to me the driver of a 4WD SUV in the queue had flashed a car coming from the opposite direction trying to get to the supermarket carpark, to come through the gap they'd left. That's the 2nd thing my mother was right about: "don't trust flashers". I'm usually very observant and aware of such possibilities, but this was a very large 4WD flasher that I couldn't see past. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a small red car shot in front of the flasher, through that queue and across my cycle lane. I had nowhere to go, no time to stop. I hit hard! Years of crashing off my trike, and all of those normal accidents kids used to be allowed to have, and the chiding of my mother as she patched up by grazes, has taught me a thing or 2 about crashing. In the split second before impact, I recall choosing my point of impact with the car. The door would hurt less than the pillar. Out of control on my trike, I'd learned that mum's rosebush hurt less than the fencepost.
Mum taught us kids to remember the emergency phone number, 111, but someone else had done that by the time I came around in the back of an ambulance. The police officer told me he'd take the remains of my bike in his car, to my house.
Wheeled into hospital, Gurney on the Gurney, doctors with furrowed brows checked me out, poked, prodded, x-rayed, and after 5 hours norpounced me unbroken. Unlike the car, it came off second best. I'm grateful that my mother fed me well. I have strong bones.
Not wanting to hang around any longer I asked to please be excused, just like my mother taught me. They insisted I needed someone to keep me company that night because of the concussion. I shot an enquiring glance in the direction of the nurses. There where no offers, so I decided the neighbour's cat would have to do. He regularly does a sleep-over. He'd surely be able to do a "Lassie" should he notice from his perch on the chair that I'd stopped breathing. Cats are smart and intuitive like that aren't they?
With no bike and no money, I had to find a way to get home. It was nearly 10 pm and I didn't want to bother any of my friends to pick me up. ACC clearly hadn't thought this one through. All I needed was $2.50 for a bus, but there were no contingencies for even this. So, donning my smashed helmet for a bit of warmth, I zipped up my bloodied cycling top, bade farewell to those helpful and over-worked medics in the A and E department, and clip-clopped awkwardly in my cycling shoes, out into the night. After half an hour of failed hitch-hiking, I'd only walked one eighth of the way home. I suppose it was little wonder, looking like I did. It would be a late night, and I hoped the neighbour's cat, my guardian-to-be, would still be waiting for me!
Then my luck changed. I ended up making full use of the emergency services that night. Previously, the Police had dropped my bike bits home, the ambulance had whisked me to hospital, and then finally I was picked up late that night by a passing fire engine! It was the Woolston Crew on their way back to base and they kindly offered me a ride home. Driving back past my accident scene, riding high in the colossal cab of this, day-glo-red, formidable fire-fighting beast, I spotted the broken glass of that errant car, scattered on the road. "Ha!" I declared. I defy you to cut across my lane now!
Fortunately, the cat was stoically waiting at my back door. He intuitively knew he was needed, or maybe it was the previous visit of the Policeman or the pile of bits by the door that were once my shining bike that told him. Laying in my bed that night, Oscar the cat contentedly curled on the chair, I reflected on the accident;
A higher power was looking out for me that day, because those motorists certainly weren't looking out for me.
That flasher in the large 4WD in the queue should've looked in their mirror to check the way was clear before flashing the red car through. The driver in the red car should've looked before lurching into my lane.
If it were 2 lanes of cars instead of bikes, the drivers would've treated that inside lane with a whole lot more reverence. And indeed they will need to in future, for with the rising price of fuel, soaring sales of commuter bikes, and Christchurch being an ideal commuter-cycle city those cycle lanes are set to be chokka full this summer.
I don't want those 2 drivers to be charged with dangerous driving. It was an accident. I just want them to spend that energy instead teaching other motorists what we all learned.
I also pondered on my poor mother. She would've been distraught, for I hadn't been wearing my clean undies in that accident. I smiled as I realised I'd finally broken free from the grip of my mother. We cyclists don't wear undies!
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