Originally Posted by
john m flores
I did not mean to turn this into a pissing contest of who knows more. I was genuinely wanted to know if you had any expertise that led to your assertions.
Fair enough. Such a question in A&S is virtually always a challenge. I am happy to see yours is not.
Originally Posted by
john m flores
Did you work as a safety officer include training or analysis of accidents such as this?
Yes, a special course in it.
Originally Posted by
john m flores
I have no expertise in accident analysis but I do have a degree in structural engineering and thus know a little bit about physics. Imagine someone riding alongside a fence at 10mph when the downtube-headtube weld catastrophically fails. This causes said rider to veer directly towards the fence at approximately 10mph, perhaps a bit less. This happens so suddenly and unexpectedly that he's still trying to figure out what is happening and is thus still holding on the handlebars. Unable to take evasive action, he runs right into the fence. Let's assume he's 150 lbs and that his face - specifically his nose - is the first point of contact, striking the fence at about 10mph. F=ma and all of that jazz minus whatever give (if any) in the fence - we don't know if it is chain link or something more substantial and unforgiving - and that sounds like a fair amount of force to apply to a nose that wasn't designed for that kind of stuff. Enough to nearly rip his nose off? Enough to push his neck and spine I don't know, but I don't think you have to be traveling at an excessive speed to cause significant damage when colliding with a fence.
The video showed a steel fence that had as near zero give as a material can get. The fence had portions with cross slats which likely gave the guy the nose damage.
The bicycle tubing looks most like a brittle fracture - a closer inspection than the photo would be needed to confirm. So the bicycle manufacturer is at fault for that, but such failures are also associated with a shock to the metal. So, I do not believe the "I was just riding along" claim. I might have believed him if he had said that he had just come off a wheelie or had bumped into a curb trying to ride up onto a sidewalk. But the video does not show a sidewalk next to the fence. I could also see a deep pot hole causing the shock resulting in the failure.
Now, if he was riding parallel to the fence and the bicycle suddenly veered left or right with the failure, the riders conservation of momentum would have thrown him off the bicycle mostly parallel to the fence. His injuries are not a glancing blow with the fence and he admits to going face first into the fence.
And Ronnie claims he is lucky the fence was there to catch his fall. Mountain bikers that do crazy stuff and 30 year combat veterans generally know how to fall on the ground in a manner that minimizes injury.
Without knowing the real story of what Ronnie was doing with the bicycle, I would be reluctant to award him more than 50% of proven damages.