xcapekey

i've been commuting for a few months and have been fortunate enough to have not gotten in any accidents (knock knock)...i was wondering, if an accident were to occur, what's the best way to handle it?

for example, i use to inline skate a lot and i know when i ate it you should try to refrain from landing on your hands as much as possible and try to take the brunt of the fall on your shoulder and tumble...

are there similar tips in bicycling? what are the "outs"? do people leap off their bikes? should u stay with the bike during a fall? etc., i ride with straps are there any particular things that would apply to me?

soyboy

i found the one time i was hit it worked well to not fall off the bike, according to the people who saw it and the police if i fell off the bike i probably would have gone under the woman's tires, so that's my advice

noisebeam

Firstly there are a lot of skills & methods you can aquire to avoid the possibility of accident in the first place. A few weeks on this forum and you will find ways to learn about them.

Second, there are skills you can use to prevent falling if an accident is about to happen, such as the high speed turn.

The best thing I ever did for my handling and crashing skills was riding on single track, off road.

Al

JohnnyCool

Interesting topic...one thing I saw in an article that I hadn't thougt of from a safety perspective is that if you do go down on your bike, don't let go of the handlebar. Instead, try to let them break you fall as much as possible. It's similar to the roller blading scenario, kepp your hands and feet in and roll onto your back.

Oddly enough, I was thinking about some scenarios earlier today. For instance, would you lay down your bike, injuring yourself, in order to avoid extensive damage to your bike?

roadfix

Worst case scenario.....
I guess you can practice getting hit by a 2 ton SUV head-on, being broad-sided, or getting rear ended by slamming into a brick wall and trying different landing senarios....? Evan a helmet may not save your life in this instance.

xcapekey

so how does one execute a highspeed turn?

Eatadonut

When you go down on a bike, you might be going much faster, and you'll definitely catch more air. Using your shoulder is a sure way to break your arm, and probably more.

You'll want to do your best tumble, hopefully rotating so you can take most of the fall on your legs, and slide mostly on your legs (it hurts, yes, but it heals better than hands or face.)

I usually end up using my hands, then my right arm, to absorb the landing, and roll to my back.

froze

You want to try to induce rolling as much as possible, but unfortunately unless you practice this stuff mentioned on a daily basis it becomes almost impossible to actually do it in a real life situation.

I try to stay strapped to the bike since coming unstrapped could result in a broken leg or foot. Once you land the bike usually automatically comes unstrapped for you.

My worst bike accident occured while riding it to work on my way to a interview for a better position within the same company. I called them from the hospital and explained the situation then appeared for the interview later that day with my arm in a sling due to a dislocated shoulder and a ripped pair of pants and shirt because I didn't have time to get home to change my clothes! The odd thing was I got the promotion looking like that!!!! The early 80's just seemed a bit more relaxed then today.

Inoplanetyanin

There are of course a lot more to say about preventing the accident that about what to do during the accident.

It's very helpful to see it coming than to be hit unexpectedly. When your brain realizes there is going to be a crash, or impact, it prepares the body for it. E.g. extra adrenaline is injected in the blood and muscles flex which is more likely to avoid broken bones.

Studies have shown, that auto passengers that saw the accident comming, suffered less severe injuries than those who were in relaxed state during the accident.

tokolosh

could you explain that? it would never have occurred to me; in fact, so far the times i've wiped out i kind of saw it coming and was actually trying to get clear of the bike once i knew it was out of control. i guess my reflexes figured they could handle my body alone a lot better than they could handle me plus some 30 pounds of bike, and the worst i got was bruises and maybe a cracked bone in one wrist. but so far i haven't had a serious fall at serious speeds, so maybe there's something extra i need to know for when/if i do?

it probably is true that it's better never to have an accident in the first place. but if you do, it sure doesn't hurt to know what might minimize the damage of it. in the software development industry this is known as 'risk mitigation planning'

Eggplant Jeff

I think froze's point is if you are moving at 25 mph and try to stop yourself by sticking out your leg, you will not stop, your leg will be twisted back. I almost did that one time, I spun a golf cart on wet grass on a hill, had it on two wheels, stuck my leg out without thinking... had it really gone over on its side, my leg would be broken for sure. No way was I going to be able to stop that thing from flipping, especially at speed. I would have done better to keep my arms and legs inside the vehicle, as amusement park operators would say. Luckily it came back down on all four wheels and all I needed was a change of pants.

[edit] Risk Mitigation Planning: Determining ahead of time who you are going to blame for screwing everything up. You ain't the only software geek in the house.

tokolosh

makes sense. but i never thought of trying to stop the bike or prevent the fall. i thought of getting clear of it - as in 'abandon ship!' if i'm going to fall over, i'd rather not do it with any parts of me mixed up with heavy machinery that's suddenly got a different trajectory and different momentum from mine. now i'm trying to figure out the physics of it to see if that's sensible.

the first time i fell, i just braked hard enough to put myself over the handlebars. where's that blush icon? i'm still glad the bike didn't come with me. i let go as soon as i felt it happen, and put out my hands to save my face/head. i went at a kind of 2 o'clock angle and hit the road on both hands and one knee, and the bike just dropped over sideways behind me in the other direction. mind you, there was a car two or three feet away, and i think i was also trying to avoid going into/under it, so maybe i pushed off with my feet and caused the direction of the bike's fall. in any case, i was damned glad not to have had my feet mixed up with the bike. i got some impressive bruises and a heck of a kneecap for a while, but nothing got sprained or torn. i'd rather break things.

the other one was such a weird mess i'm still not sure what my mental movie tells me. where is that blush icon? basically, i ditched it because i'd already lost control of it, which is probably one of the factors in whatever my mind decided to do. i can't tell if i'm stupid or not, but basically if i'm not sure anymore what my bike's doing, i don't want to be anywhere near it when it does whatever it is.

ah, see. in my murky little poor-bloody-infantry section of it, the purpose of risk mitigation planning is a little different. it's basically laying the groundwork for the day on which we can all break out the t-shirts that say 'don't say we didn't warn you (and now don't try to blame it on us)'. i should go get those printed some day.

Mchaz

I can relate to that. Handling a bike at high speeds on a dirt track often gets finicky. You really learn how to keep the bike under control instead of going down. There have many of times where I have had my back end start to slide out, or come up on me on a steep decent. Since crashes off road can get pretty nasty (trees, rocks, thorn bushes ) you tend to fight the bike like your life depends on it.

MichaelW

You wont be able to do much in a high speed crash but a low speed nudge from a car at a junction will spill you with time to mull over the options.
In my experience, hold onto the bars to protect your hands. Often the bike can take the initial impact of a fall. Take the fall on your shoulder, relax and tuck your head in. You break your shoulder when you stick your arm out. If you take the force on your upper arm/shoulder you may get bruised but thats all.
Consider What Happens Next. Is another car going to hit you? Is there some hard object in your way? Do you have a clear runout?
I left my feet in the straps but keep them lose so extraction is not a problem. It can be tricky removing clipless shoes from pedals if you are horizontal.
When you come to a stop and you are in no danger of further collision, do you need to move quickly? Can you do a quick check for injury? Get to safety, wash any cuts and grazes.
If you are cold, put on any spare clothing.
Get out a notebook and note the layout/position of you/other cars in the road. Get any witnesses and note the number of any cars. ASAP Get any medical treatment you need. Write down an account of the incident in detail for insurance claims (by you or the driver).

gmacrider

My first couple of winters of bike commuting involved MANY wipeouts. Winter wipeouts are much easier to handle because you usually land on a slippery surface. I think the key to a successful wipeout is to recognize the Point of No Return and then to immediately EJECT. Get yourself AWAY from the crashing metal bike and try to land in some type of rolling motion.

Don't fight the wipeout past the point of no return and don't be sticking legs and other appendages in a desperate attempt to stay vertical. Let it go man. You're either in control - or you're not.

For some reason, I ALWAYS bust my cheap rear blinkie when I wipe. Haven't figured out why.