Self inflicted bicycle accidents

On my morning commute I witnessed an unfortunate accident. A middle aged woman was travelling on the road in the opposite direction on King St, Mascot in front of the fire station (map).

She veered slightly left to go up the driveway and on to the footpath, where she may have intended to stop. Unfortunately the driveway has about a 50mm (2 inch) lip, and she approached it almost parallel. Her tyre couldn't climb the lip, and she went flying. She was not wearing a helmet, and she hit her head on the pavement as she fell to the ground. I skidded to a stop and did a u-turn immediately. As I was coming to a stop, several firemen came out to assist. She could not have picked a better place to have such an accident.

I hung around for a few minutes, before the firemen assured me that they were going to take care of calling an ambulance.

I've seen a few mistakes like this made by inexperienced cyclists, and thought I'd put together a blog post about them. These sorts of mistakes are made by my partner, and can be quite scary.

1. Going up a lip in the road or a driveway at an angle (the accident above). This is where there is a driveway, and you go up the bump almost parallel to it. Another example is when riding on a concrete path, and you ride off it slightly on to the grass, and then try to get back on it, once again, almost parallel to the bump. Fatter tyres increase the margin available for error when attempting this maneuver. They allow you to approach the bump at more of an angle. To be perfectly safe, you should approach at a 90 degree angle to the bump.

2. Striking your pedal against the gutter. If you ride to close to a gutter, your wheels may be just clear, but your pedals can strike the curb.

3. Striking pedal in a turn. Similar to the above point, if you're leaning over too far, and keep pedalling, the inside pedal can strike the ground. This is worse on bikes with lower bottom brackets, such as touring bikes. When cornering, freewheel with your inside pedal up. i.e. if you're turning right, keep your left pedal downwards, close to the road.

4. Getting "doored". Bike paths in Sydney often go alongside parked cars. If you ride too close to the cars, you risk getting hit by a door being opened for a driver to exit their vehicle. You could also avoid the door, but end up getting squashed by passing traffic. You're best to keep 1-1.5 metres away from the "door zone". Remember, some doors can be especially long, particularly in 2 seater vehicles.

5. Metal grates or wooden bridges in the wet or on frosty mornings. These can be very slippery. Old wooden bridges in the frost are notorious for this, and I've been caught out a few times. Try not to turn or brake sharply if you have to cross them.

6. Getting your tyre caught in a metal drain. This is worse with thinner tyres. You can do serious damage to your wheel, and have a nasty fall. Try to cross these metal grates at an angle to the direction of the slits in the grate.