Pedaldog,
You are very welcome to join us on the next CM, if indeed we are able to be there.
Drop me an email nearer to the time:
[delta][juliet][underscore][charlie][alpha][delta][delta][echo][november][at][hotmail][dot][com]
.. there was a collision due to very poorly judged overtake performed by Mr. White Van Man.
full story required I think
The mass was cycling along Wilbraham Road in Manchester towards Chorlton at a steady 10 mph. There was a significant number of us, we were filling the lane and spread over quite some distance.
The road, for those that don't know it, is speed restricted to 30 mph, is fairly wide with a hashed section down the centre of it demarked by a broken white line, frequent pedestrian refuges and the occasional set of traffic lights.
At the time, it was later into the evening, we were out of the city centre and traffic levels had dropped.
This van driver decided to overtake us all, which meant remaining on the wrong side of the carriageway facing any oncoming traffic for a considerable distance/length of time. Although the road was straight, at the point the van driver overtook it gave rise to a summit a few hundred yards ahead that was just high enough just to obscure visibility of the road as it continued beyond. In any case, treating the mass as one long slow moving vehicle, there was not a long enough line of sight to commit to an overtaking manoeuvre.
Sure enough, the van driver met oncoming traffic before completing his overtake. Consequently the driver of the oncoming car performed an emergency stop. As a result of which, the driver of the vehicle behind braked hard, but lost traction and slid into the back of the first oncoming car. Meanwhile, the van driver swerved into the mass and stopped dead just in front of a pedestrian refuge, forcing Maffie among others to take swift evasive action.
Fortunately, no one was hurt. The Van driver tried to make his get away, but I chased him down and held him up at the next set of lights. I informed him politely and assertively that he had caused an accident and as such, should go and give his details. Peacefully, other massers helped make the point and the van driver did eventually turn around, however by the time we reached the scene of the accident, all that remained was shattered headlamp glass as those involved had already left the scene.
I have to say, I think the situation was handled calmly and peacefully by the Critical Mass and it reflected very well on them.
