If you've been checked over and otherwise ok, you might leave it till she'd expect to see you anyway (or possibly a little earlier, to warn her about your appearance. When I was knocked off early on a 200, I didn't tell my wife until I arrived home that night in an ambulance. She wasn't expecting me till late, so there seemed no sense in worrying her while I was patched up. She was fine with that, though I think she would have been fine either way.That's more-or-less what worked for me. I was commuting home, but arrival time varies by about 2 hours. So once I was in A&E - and I was _fairly_ confident I wasn't dying - I phoned N shortly before she might start wondering where I was.
I'm guessing that DrM doesn't have paper-n-pen with him currently :)
I was riding to work, through Headingley in the cycle lane with traffic. At the cross roads, I filtered with traffic, riding on the nearside. Beside me was moving traffic. As i crossed the junction, going from north to south, a grey uber taxi turned in front of me (Skoda kn61 oup) through a gap in the traffic, hitting me and sending me over the bonnet. I recall the initial impact, but then a brief gap in my memory until a gentleman had me sat on the pavement and was asking if I was okay. I was sat on the kerb bleeding heavily from my mouth. Someone gathered Various details. I took many photos as I could before the pain became too much. Various concerned members of the public gathered around me. A paramedic, ambulance and police car attended. I was taken by ambulance to LGI. I have minor injuries to my hands, feet, knees, shoulders and neck. I have significant injuries to my face, with two teeth missing and more damaged beyond repair. Pain was 7/8 out of 10 initially, reducing to 5 on morphine.
I had an exceptionally bright front light on continuous + flashing mode (exposure six pack). I was wearing a high visibility chartreuse gillet with contrast banding, and a high visibility jersey (green and chartreuse, with contrast banding).
As well as the exposure front light, I had an exposure red eye and a high end Bontrager rear light.
Join CyclingUK (CTC), IIRC you can use their free service to do with bike injuries retrospectively. Slater & Gordon ime have been superb with the two incidents that I had in getting my claim settled.
No, you will have to have been a member of CTC at the time of the accident to use the free service.Is that a new thing? I used the service and was asked to join after the crash, and lots of others have in the past. Though I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between the CTC free thing and a no-win-no-fee deal.
If the police find the motorist liable and once you have the notification of final outcome from criminal justice there's nothing for the insurers to do except pay out.
Morphine has worn off. Lord, everything hurts.Oh f*ck!
Just out of surgery to stitch up face and mouth, and pick out the shattered bits of teeth. Splint in. Two front are gone. They don't think they'll save the next two, but maybe the two after that.
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Bike will be a write off.
No, you will have to have been a member of CTC at the time of the accident to use the free service.Is that a new thing? I used the service and was asked to join after the crash, and lots of others have in the past. Though I'm not entirely sure what the difference is between the CTC free thing and a no-win-no-fee deal.QuoteIf the police find the motorist liable and once you have the notification of final outcome from criminal justice there's nothing for the insurers to do except pay out.
One might hope so, but unfortunately you are mistaken on several levels.
...Did you have to pay up-front for any of these specialists?
My own case was watertight as far as blame was concerned but the bone of contention was the level of compensation plus removing the element of 'contributory negligence'.
The CTC's bods were very good at sorting out independent specialists who assessed my injuries and provided what must have been very expensive reports.
...
...
My own case was watertight as far as blame was concerned but the bone of contention was the level of compensation plus removing the element of 'contributory negligence'.
The CTC's bods were very good at sorting out independent specialists who assessed my injuries and provided what must have been very expensive reports.
...
Did you have to pay up-front for any of these specialists?
I'm being asked to pay a medical expert's fees, then hope to claim them back as part of my compensation. :-\
Shit, that doesn't look pretty. Tell your wife before she finds out through other means (postings on YACF for example).
Yikes ... :'(
get well soon mate ....
that's my worst nightmare ... I commute over 300km per week in heavy traffic and have had a few close calls with reckless drivers... last week, I took out the Wiggle Elite bike insurance ... I insured 2 of my bikes (a Specialized S-Works Transition E5 which I use as my daily commuter, and my Giant TCR) ...
I insured the Specialized for £1250 (it's an older model with Campy Chorus Groupset, and my Giant TCR for £1000) .... the Elite package covers theft, vandalism, accident, 1 million 3rd party, £300 towards dental/physio, free legal aid, taxi fare if you have a breakdown, etc etc etc
costs me £17 and a few pennies per month
hopefully, I won't need to use it, but it's worth considering if you commute in heavy traffic
£17 per month is £200 per year. This doesn't impress me but I'm a cynic
Yikes ... :'(
get well soon mate ....
that's my worst nightmare ... I commute over 300km per week in heavy traffic and have had a few close calls with reckless drivers... last week, I took out the Wiggle Elite bike insurance ... I insured 2 of my bikes (a Specialized S-Works Transition E5 which I use as my daily commuter, and my Giant TCR) ...
I insured the Specialized for £1250 (it's an older model with Campy Chorus Groupset, and my Giant TCR for £1000) .... the Elite package covers theft, vandalism, accident, 1 million 3rd party, £300 towards dental/physio, free legal aid, taxi fare if you have a breakdown, etc etc etc
costs me £17 and a few pennies per month
hopefully, I won't need to use it, but it's worth considering if you commute in heavy traffic
£300 for dental?!?!
That is NOTHING!!! (I'd guess DrM's dental bill will be £4K-£10K)
£17 per month is £200 per year. This doesn't impress me but I'm a cynic
Somewhat amazed that you're thinking about the turbo already.
You might want to consider something like Huel or other meal replacement drinks.
Yes, £5-£10k dental costs have been mentioned. A couple of weeks back, I was CoI on a big grant with dentists. First thing I did on arrival was email colleagues and ask for help. A consultant came up to check what was being done, and I'm being put in touch with an adult reconstructive surgeon. No idea what he'll do different than usual implants.
However, that's all a way off. They want to try to stabilise the remaining teeth first, and the surgeon was concerned that the upper jaw was fractured. I will have the splint for a month. In good news...
1) tracked down bike and mate retrieved. It's a write off, but it's nice to know it's safe.
2) got OIC name and badge, plus incident number. Neighbour is a PC, and is helping me stay on top of that - hoping for driving without due care and attention.
3) emailed Slater Gordon
4) got 200 tablets of codeine from GP
5) arranged physio to look me over.
6) bought nutribullet < can't eat solids
Not bad for someone who's not left his bed. Trying not to think about how long it's all going to take to fix my teeth. Focused on getting my costs all sorted and thinking about quite how nice a replacement bike I might get.
Ankles, hands and neck are all too tweaked to zwift yet. To be honest, the hardest bit is seeing my wife and kids reacting to the state of my face. It scares my boys, and it's made my wife nearly faint twice. I've asked her to write all this down.
Yes, £5-£10k dental costs have been mentioned. A couple of weeks back, I was CoI on a big grant with dentists. First thing I did on arrival was email colleagues and ask for help. A consultant came up to check what was being done, and I'm being put in touch with an adult reconstructive surgeon. No idea what he'll do different than usual implants.
However, that's all a way off. They want to try to stabilise the remaining teeth first, and the surgeon was concerned that the upper jaw was fractured. I will have the splint for a month. In good news...
1) tracked down bike and mate retrieved. It's a write off, but it's nice to know it's safe.
2) got OIC name and badge, plus incident number. Neighbour is a PC, and is helping me stay on top of that - hoping for driving without due care and attention.
3) emailed Slater Gordon
4) got 200 tablets of codeine from GP
5) arranged physio to look me over.
6) bought nutribullet < can't eat solids
Not bad for someone who's not left his bed. Trying not to think about how long it's all going to take to fix my teeth. Focused on getting my costs all sorted and thinking about quite how nice a replacement bike I might get.
Ankles, hands and neck are all too tweaked to zwift yet. To be honest, the hardest bit is seeing my wife and kids reacting to the state of my face. It scares my boys, and it's made my wife nearly faint twice. I've asked her to write all this down.
They made a concoction of nuts, ice cream and bakewell tart for themselves last night.
That's nasty DrM.
There's been lots of tears. My eldest is going through the process of autism diagnostic testing at the mo, and as you can imagine, he's really struggling to cope. He refuse to come home yesterday, and told my wife that he can't cope with seeing me and is staying away from me so he doesn't have to think about it.
I listened in on a teleconference earlier, but by the end, I was shivering and shaking and collapsed in to bed and slept for two hours.
Early days
There's been lots of tears. My eldest is going through the process of autism diagnostic testing at the mo, and as you can imagine, he's really struggling to cope. He refuse to come home yesterday, and told my wife that he can't cope with seeing me and is staying away from me so he doesn't have to think about it.
I listened in on a teleconference earlier, but by the end, I was shivering and shaking and collapsed in to bed and slept for two hours.
Early days
This is hard to handle. I had the same when I had chickenpox so bad that I turned into some nightmareish freakshow (face swollen beyond recognition, both eyes closed like I'd been punched, pus everywhere - you get the picture) and my young'uns wouldn't/couldn't go anywhere near me; even in the same house. It's a temporary thing, and kids (even autistic ones) are robust.
Man up Doc - your kids'll be fine - look after yourself.
Some can't cope. My daughter doesn't know the details of the operation on my arm. She knows it was moderately major, and she knows she can't cope with the idea of bones being sawn, etc. If she'd seen the xray of my arm with the displaced and shattered bones she would have probably been physically sick.
In DrMekon's case, it's not an injury that can be hidden away under a cast, it is literally in their faces and connected with how they identify their father/partner. That's a very hard thing to deal with.
Coffee would be ace.
I have to say, I feel very lucky to have collaborators in dentistry. Felt really looked after yesterday. However, the news wasn't great. Fracture right across my midface (consultant to student - "look, you can see the whole of it is mobile by the way the teeth wobble all together), which has lead to my sinuses filling with blood. Also, fracture to the upper jaw, and tooth socket broken. Upshot of that was that they did't want to remove the splint until the end of November. Howvever, they've since relented, and it's been moved forward to the end of October. However, the good news is that the teeth that got bashed have a 70% chance of survival. The only other bad news was that I might need a bone graft for the planned implants - "not the legs doctor, anywhere but the legs"
Coffee would be ace.
I have to say, I feel very lucky to have collaborators in dentistry. Felt really looked after yesterday. However, the news wasn't great. Fracture right across my midface (consultant to student - "look, you can see the whole of it is mobile by the way the teeth wobble all together), which has lead to my sinuses filling with blood. Also, fracture to the upper jaw, and tooth socket broken. Upshot of that was that they did't want to remove the splint until the end of November. Howvever, they've since relented, and it's been moved forward to the end of October. However, the good news is that the teeth that got bashed have a 70% chance of survival. The only other bad news was that I might need a bone graft for the planned implants - "not the legs doctor, anywhere but the legs"
The face is a state anyways.
I can see dental being a four figure sum.
Claim.
The iliac crest is hardly 'legs' as it's only just below the waist, though the sartorius muscle originates on the anterior superior iliac spine...
The cosmetic improvements will hopefully help a lot with things at home.Yes - exactly. I've never seen my eldest (the one being tested for autism) as happy as when I smiled with my denture. He went scarlet with happiness. The molars work okay. I'm introducing quorn, mushrooms and sweetcorn.
I can imagine your frustration with eating. Are you able to now use molars to chew?
So, yesterday saw the metal splint that had been taking lumps out of my cheeks hacked off, and got the "best guess" denture they fashioned from the mould they managed to take while I had the splint in and my face was all wobbly.
The prospect of lecturing over the next year isn't something I'm relishing, given current reactions to my speech, but maybe it'll improve. If not, I'm going to have to see how my teaching load can be managed.
I think 'donor' bone graft sites are chosen to cause minimal disruption.
This seems to have been successful for the two posters.
Sorry to hear you're still having ongoing problems with the teeth. That's a bit shit.No, haven't got the heart for it. Plus loads of changes to my circumstances. Am running and going on Zwift to stay in shape - but I'm doing more like 7hrs a week rather than 20hrs. Will probably do an SR this year, and am targeting the Dark Peak trail Ultra this time next year. Still fearful around junctions, taking about the crash makes me anxious.
How is the mental state these days? Are you back to cycle commuting?
No, haven't got the heart for it.
Sadly, the anxiety never goes entirely, but it can become manageable.
Sadly, the anxiety never goes entirely, but it can become manageable.
TBAGO
Great news, DrMekon :thumbsup:
Excellent! And glad to hear that EMDR worked well.
It's almost 3 years since those first, horrible posts. I'm so glad you're so recovered.Dr Shash Bhakta. He's a consultant restorative dentistry a Leeds Dental Institute. He did all my surgery after the initial surgery on the day of the accident.
Who's the guy in the photo with you?
Is there no requirement that if you are crossing 2 lanes of traffic you need to be sure they are both clear rather than just the lane nearest to you?????
...
The judge said it was 80% my fault. The circumstance was that I was travelling with traffic from an ASL towards a cycle lane through a crossroad when the car next to me braked, and apparently flashed the driver attempting to turn, which then hit me at the side of my front wheel as I rode through the junction. The judge said it would be a "counsel of perfection" to expect the driver turning across the path of traffic to take account of the likelihood of unsighted cyclists and motorcyclists emerging (even at the speed I was travelling which was accepted as between 7 and 13mph). I should have perceived the car slowing beside me as a warning to expect danger and adjusted accordingly.
....
I'm appalled and angry on your behalf, DrM, but not entirely surprised. Yet another case of a judge needing to be introduced to the clue bat.Is there no requirement that if you are crossing 2 lanes of traffic you need to be sure they are both clear rather than just the lane nearest to you?????
Exactly this.
The onus is surely on the turning driver to ensure the way ahead is clear, not just take it on trust that it's clear because another driver has flashed him through? I'm sure that's what I was taught when learning to drive - you don't pull out just because someone else has flashed you.
If you accept what the judge says as true, the driver doing the flashing then becomes culpable for indicating the road was clear when it wasn't - the flashing driver should have been aware of your presence.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/road-users-requiring-extra-care-204-to-225 (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/road-users-requiring-extra-care-204-to-225)
It is often difficult to see motorcyclists and cyclists, especially when they are coming up from behind, coming out of junctions, at roundabouts, overtaking you or filtering through traffic. Always look out for them before you emerge from a junction; they could be approaching faster than you think. When turning right across a line of slow-moving or stationary traffic, look out for cyclists or motorcyclists on the inside of the traffic you are crossing. Be especially careful when turning, and when changing direction or lane. Be sure to check mirrors and blind spots carefully.
Would it be worth contacting the CDF (Cyclists' Defence Fund) ?That is my thought.
This is atrocious, and a complete mis-reading of the law and the HC.
Judge is a nincompoop.
Hypothetical question:
If a driver is waiting at a junction and then pulls out in front of a car which is indicating left to take that junction, but isn't actually turning as they have left their indicator on, is it the fault of the driver who is incorrectly indicating, or the driver who has pulled out into moving traffic based on a signal from a flashing light? (I never pull out until the vehicle has started turning, even if that compromises my ability to take the gap and pull out.)
to both responders to my hypothetical question, you are correct and hence why I stated that I'd wait. However in context of how I understand the thread the opposite occurred here in that the OP was going straight ahead, another driver "flashed/indicated" and a turning driver pulled across a moving traffic lane.
The Cyclists’ Defence Fund helps fight significant legal cases involving cyclists and cycling, especially those which could set important precedents for the future and could affect the safety of all cyclists. Over time, its remit has expended to cover all aspects of cycling and the law. It is funded through donations.
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