On the 2 January 2018, I was riding to work at 7 am on a three-lane A road. It was busy rush hour traffic.
I was riding in the middle lane and had just left a stretch of road that was 50 mph limited (average speed cameras) and was accelerating up to the national speed limit.
Unfortunately, there was a car on the outside (fast) lane that I hadn’t noticed tailgating the car in front of him. Normally I would have spotted this but didn’t. I later found out the driver had been driving very erratically up to this point; speeding, undertaking, and tailgating other cars.
He then decided he wasn’t making fast enough progress because of the slower car in front, and made another, but this time fateful, undertake manouvre and hit me. According to witness statements, I flew through the air, hit the ground hard (70-80 mph) and slid across two lanes of traffic.
I do not remember the impact particularly, just images of broken plastic and glass flying in the air, but I do remember sliding along the ground for what it seemed was a lifetime. When I finally came to a halt, I then waited to die under the wheels of another vehicle. Luckily, this did not happen. Indeed, the other cars and vans on the road parked up and formed a cordon around me for protection.
I can’t thank these people enough, whoever they are. My injuries were a badly bruised and scarred left knee (gore-tex trousers ground down to my skin in the slide), a broken pelvis and a severe bleed at the base of my spine amongst other slightly less severe injuries. My clothing was from Rev’ It, stuff I really liked and was bloody expensive which served me very well in the accident. At the time of the collision, I was wearing a Helite Air Vest.
It was this single piece of equipment that saved my life. Without it, I would have sustained catastrophic internal injuries and would not be here today. The ambulance crew told my wife that, because they always get a heads-up on the road about what they are attending, that they expected to be picking up a body, due to the forces involved.
It is my opinion that, like helmets, these vests should be made compulsory. There is no question it saved my life. I know these vests are expensive, but what cost is this against your life?
