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Romford crash cyclejack YouTube stillVideo: Ninja skills cyclist lands on feet in miracle escape after being hit by car that cuts across him
A cyclist who decided to swap the train for his bike for his commute into London to get fit escaped with nothing more than bruises after a spectacular crash caused by a motorist turning across him, with the episode filmed by his helmet camera.
The incident happened on London Road in Romford, on only the second occasion the rider, who posted the video to YouTube under the user name Cyclejack, decided to ride to work.
The impact sent both the rider and his bike flying – if you’re at work, you may wish to turn the volume down before watching the video with the rider swearing as he realises he can’t avoid hitting the car.
In the video’s description on YouTube, he says: “I was travelling around 22mph through Romford. Drizzly conditions so I was being cautious around bends and roundabouts. I didn't expect this!
“I just about got my hands to the brakes (it can just be seen on the frame before impact) but I had no chance of stopping.
“I'm not quite sure how I wasn't seen. I'm over 6ft and was wearing a bright blue jacket. If I was seen then it's a very bad judgement in my speed.
“After a very uncomfortable trip to the hospital in a neck brace and spinal board and various x-rays I escaped with just bruising. So I consider myself lucky.
“At the time the driver was apologetic and was informed by the police that I was recording my ride and seemed to admit fault. But when it came to my insurance claim against her she disputed it. Safe to say the video has saved me a lot of hassle and 3 weeks later the cheque has already arrived from the insurance company.
“My 4 week old Giant bike was written off but thanks to the guys at Cycle Store they put me one of the two they had left aside and I'm looking forward to getting back out there.”
He adds: “I will say the condition of the cycle lanes are a disgrace along that road, along with many I come across. With the usual obstacles of parked cars, drivers edging out of junctions, pot holes, glass, drains – why would you cycle in a cycle lane?”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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76 comments
Lucky to escape without breaking anything there. I love how in the moment of realisation that there's nothing that can be done, he comes out with some classic Anglo Saxon language.
Hope he got back on the bike soon
A very lucky escape. Also, in the 20 seconds of video before the "accident" I counted 5 vehicles either parked in or encroaching into the cycle lane!
A few encroaching, but none parked. Those are parking bays, you can thank the genius council for another great piece of legacy cycling infrastructure.
Seriously, I'm going to have to stop looking at Road CC news as I am starting to get anxious about riding my bike. I get near misses on virtually every ride I do, but incidents like this scare me witless
Dear road.cc
Please post a youtube video of someone have a really nice, peaceful, relaxing ride in some beautiful countryside.
Ideally, it should contain friends and cake.
Best wishes,
Your readers.
Same here, at least on any decent ride on proper roads. Around town is usually OK, typical numties but usually not too hairy.
Absolutely nailed the landing though, must have done some gymnastics at some stage.
Here you go, my most recent... http://youtu.be/9qmJc1tLCUs
Seconded! (and don't forget a light tail-wind, too).
"you may wish to turn the volume down". lol, understatement! Pretty hushed in the parish office today, most of the nuns are in, quietly working away. Might just see what this video is all about, I thought..
http://lvis.org.uk/lvis-audax-2014-part-2/
Agreed - Roadcc, you're sending out totally the wrong message by focussing on these stories. We ride bikes because we enjoy it and seeing repeated stories about collisions suggests cycling is dangerous rather than enjoyable. c 120 cyclist died in the UK last year, and 50,000 died of heart disease so sitting at home on the sofa is actually far more dangerous.
If it helps, I'm starting to avoid using roadcc because of the focus on the negativity. You may want to let your advertisers know that!
There's plenty of campaigning groups fighting hard for our rights and our protection so if you show fewer of the negative stories I'm sure we won't lose out
Wow, lucky to get away with no serious injuries from that! It's amazing really that the driver tried to contest being at fault, given she knew it was on video. It was a very poor piece of driving.
I can't believe the driver tried to dispute the claim... or was it the insurance company doing that on the drivers behalf?
The poor cyclists didn't see that car until the last minute did they?
I'm loving the videos, you're drowning out another scary story with a feel good vibe that makes me want to go explore somewhere I've never been.
Though I'll probably discover another sodding hill
Take note editors.
The Wen to Wen promises bucolic rewards, betwixt the Wens.
O M G ! I can only concur riding on the roads with any traffic around you is dangerous. Period. Thousands of cyclists are crashed into every year and they sustain minor to serious injuries sadly a small proportion are killed simply for riding their bikes. This needs to be addressed. Not showing footage such as this where it exists does cyclists and cycling a massive disservice as in many instances on the roads we are still seen as a nuisance or inconvenience to be pushed or shoved out the way.
In this instance although the woman appears to have admitted she was at fault to the police, it is not clear whether she has been prosecuted which she SHOULD BE for such awful driving, but the bitch then allegedly denied it was her fault when the cyclist claimed against her insurers.
Unfortunately head cams have become a necessary piece of recording equipment when cycling. Without one you risk getting absolutely no justice as you are not taken seriously. If you have one and a well positioned one with a good picture you at least stand a chance of getting pathetic justice. As has been seen in many many previous instances where cyclists have been knocked down drivers lie through their teeth to try avoid blame and prosecution for their dangerous and terrible driving. A head cam might not save your life but it might prevent the driver from getting away with what they have done to you by telling a pack of lies as your head cam will hopefully show what actually happened.
How about this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPO_tUfAgzY
The four of us were doing a recce ride for a later group ride. A cracking few days in France with every car we saw automatically giving way to us even when we were being idiots.
It will help scare some drivers into realising their driving has consequences other will now believe if they bat into a cyclists who's travelling at a reasonable speed they just swear a lot and walk off fine...
Lucky boy to escape that without serious injury and what utterly s***e driving!
I must be very lucky (and I am tempting fate here horribly) - 20 years commuting and this sort of thing has never happened to me. If I see a driver ahead waiting to make a right turn I assume they will not see me and slow down just in case. Does make me think a helmet cam is worth getting though.
Is it the Netherlands where there is a presumption of car driver fault in any accident with a bike?
+lots!
The admission of guilt on the Police statement should surely have made the video evidence secondary in the insurance claim?
Glad he made such a graceful landing and was relatively unhurt.
It's every European country with the exception of UK, Ireland, Romania, Malta, and Cyprus.
WOW!!!!!!!!! 6 numbers for Friday Night plz.
For you're own sanity don't read the YouTube comments on the video. Several mouth-breathing trolls wittering on about him going too fast or suggesting he is in it for the compensation money
I presume the (lying) driver is facing a charge of driving without due care and attention, or is that wishful thinking?
To the people complaining about accident videos on road cc, they are trying to raise awareness of the issue, if enough people stamp their feet something more might be done to improve safety for cyclists. When councils put in proper cycling infrastructure, when drivers are better educated, when idiots realise they face more than a slap on the wrist for dangerous driving, these videos will be far less common.
I'm so glad I don't live in London, I have to deal with idiots but they're nowhere near as bad as this, creeping out of junctions into the road, cycle lanes disappearing under cars. Fair play to the rider for wanting to get back on the bike, that could easily have scared him off from ever riding to work again.
Campaigners don't preach to the choir!
A lot of the mouth breathers are accounts created by campaigners from the "Drivers Union", who regularly troll any cyclist video on Youtube. All the regular cyclist channels have blocked them, but when a video gets a bit of media coverage they dive in.
A lot of people believe that the "JollySelfRighteous" account is an alias created by Keith Peat, due to the similarities in prose and often bizarre arguments.
I am in Holland at the moment. What a revelation, the array of cycling of all ages. The segregated cycle paths all over the place. Cars have to stop for cyclist crossing junctions. My son and I have just cycled 20 miles on dedicated tracks from one town to another without hardly touching a road. Why why can't Britain adopt some of these fantastic ideas?
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