Cycling UK Forum

looks terrible mick...photos made me cringe!!!

hope your back on the bike soon

Sorry Mick F to hear about your accident..it came on the very date that they announced in the telegraph that more than a million road potholes are being filled by councils every year, but it will take more than 11 years to clear the backlog

The £74 million spent filling the holes is adding to already stretched road maintenance budgets, said a report from the Asphalt Industry Alliance.

The maintenance backlog for local authority roads in England is estimated to take 11.1 years to clear, while the figure for Wales is 12.9 years, the report said.

Each English local authority, excluding London, has an average road maintenance budget shortfall of £7.4 million, while in Wales the average shortfall is £4.1 million.

The survey said that in the past 12 months authorities in England and Wales, outside the capital, filled in 944,000 potholes at a cost of around £56 million.

London spent about £18 million on filling 258,000 potholes, an average of 7,807 per local authority. The average cost to fill one pothole in London was calculated at £72, while the national average was £56.

London's local authority engineers said that even if they were given all the necessary funds now it would still take 11.5 years to clear the road maintenance backlog - up from 7.5 years in 2005.

Local authorities are responsible for 95 per cent of Britain's roads. Motorways and major trunk roads in England are the responsibility of the Highways Agency.

Jim Crick, the chairman of AIA, said the level of "patch-and-mend" work was an inefficient use of resources. "Left unchecked, this leads to the creation of potholes. The next level of deterioration would be structural damage and, ultimately, failure of the road.''

The Local Government Association blamed a freeze in government spending, which had put pressure on council budgets, for the growing maintenance backlog.

Cornish roads may be getting worst as it is reported a saving of 17m must be find with the new cornish authority which is being formed! At least the Council had the sense to fill the pot hole when they became aware of it!

Take care of yourself

Best wishes for a fast recovery. While it's cold comfort in your pain, this spectacular 'off' should be a catalyst for actually getting something done about the terrible state of the roads today.

Let's be careful out there.

Hi Mick

So sorry to hear of your spill.

It's always good to read of your trips around my old haunts (although substantially further in your case!) so I hope you and Mercian are back on the road again soon.

All the best to you Mick.

David

Poor Mick took to his bed early and in pain. The whole incident has, of course left a nasty taste in our mouths. Mick, bless him, is also deeply unhappy about Bike, but at least he wasn't seriously injured, nor Bike written off. We'll see what we can do about recompense with Cornwall County Council, and I'll see what I can get for mental cruelty. Mick F is NOT a good patient!!!! Mind you, I'm not a born nurse! Thanks to all for your good wishes.

Oh, Mick .... poor you!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Sorry to hear about that Mick. You ride the length of the country and come a cropper in your own back yard.
Our local roads are equally poor, too bumpy for brakes to work on the descents, it's all you can do to keep your hands on the bars. Get the bike thoroughly checked over, Cornwall Highways may be down to the tune of one Mercian (every cloud... ).

Hi again Guys.

Thank SO MUCH for the kind words.

Not long been back from Tavistock Minor Injuries Unit and my dressings changed. I spent an un-peaceful night's sleep, the whole of my left hand side is very sore indeed. My left thigh is bandaged from knee to groin, and my left elbow has deep cuts with gravel still in. It really needs stitches, but with care, it should heal from the inside out, lifting the gravel as it goes. I have bandages on my left hand too and also my right elbow. I ache all over.

I haven't looked very closely at Bike yet, maybe in the next day or two. Both wheels have had it, and I wouldn't want to re-use any spokes as they'll all be over-stretched if not broken.

The rear mudguard has had it too, and the left pedal is damaged, although mechanically sound. I haven't yet checked the left crank, but I'm optimistic that it's ok. Had me and Bike dropped to the right, chainset, transmission and rear derailleur would be shot too.

The frame appears unscathed (more than can be said about me!) thank goodness. I don't want a new Mercian. I want MY Mercian. At a rough calculation, rims plus spokes, mudguards and pedals comes to about £200. Then also, I've written off a pair of shorts and a Campagnolo SS jersey - thats another £60 to £70.

My shoes are ok, and so are my mitts and helmet. Everyone has asked if I was wearing a helmet as there was blood in my hair. I took my helmet off with blood all over my hands!

However, I get into a cold sweat when I think I could have done a header ........

I've studied my Garmin traces, and played around with the format. I'll enclose the trace, so you can see it happen. Look at my speed (green) and my heart-rate (red). Hopefully it's clear enough.






Speed was in excess of 30mph, and heart-rate shot up to 180bpm from 110bpm. The trace after the crash is me being driven away - I didn't switch the Garmin off.

PS,

Been in touch with the Police, but they haven't logged the incident with an Incident Number. They say, however, to get in touch with Highways on Monday, because the bobby who picked me up would have told them about the hole.

More research needed yet. I was in no fit state yesterday to do anything, and Burscough Girl (Mrs Mick F) was in quite a state too!

Either way, in the next few days, I'll be seeking compensation.

I'll get in touch with CTC legal eagles on Monday.

Mick F wrote:


Speed was in excess of 30mph, and heart-rate shot up to 180bpm from 110bpm. The trace after the crash is me being driven away - I didn't switch the Garmin off.

Hi Mick,

Fantastic 'telemetry' of an 'off' - you're a hero to technology...

Hope you're improving, and that the healing is rapid.... , and good luck with the claim..

sorry to hear of Micks unfortunate accident. On the compensation issue, by putting in a claim one is taking money out of the road maintenance budget, hence putting further cyclists and other road users at risk. Most of us here are comfortably off so I suggest be a bit public spirited, if you have a pothole crash take it on the chin and let tax payers money be spent where it is needed ie schools, policing, the NHS and the social services etc.

Lawrie9 wrote:On the compensation issue, by putting in a claim one is taking money out of the road maintenance budget, hence putting further cyclists and other road users at risk.

Actually, taking money from the Council's insurers.

Lawrie9 wrote:Most of us here are comfortably off

A sweeping generalisation, and one which you have no right to make as far as I can see.

Lawrie9 wrote:so I suggest be a bit public spirited, if you have a pothole crash take it on the chin and let tax payers money be spent where it is needed ie schools, policing, the NHS and the social services etc.

Actually, it's council tax payers money and it should already have been spent in filling in the pothole.

Lawrie9 wrote:sorry to hear of Micks unfortunate accident. On the compensation issue, by putting in a claim one is taking money out of the road maintenance budget, hence putting further cyclists and other road users at risk. Most of us here are comfortably off so I suggest be a bit public spirited, if you have a pothole crash take it on the chin and let tax payers money be spent where it is needed ie schools, policing, the NHS and the social services etc.

Sorry, but I've rarely read such rubbish. If I'd broken my neck and/or trashed my £2k bike on Mick's pot-hole (qute possible by the sounds of it) because of the council's negligence in maintaining their roads I would sue for all I could get. It's probably the most effective way of driving up standards - "it's the only language they understand".

Have to say I also disagree with Lawrie on this one. Think of it as money out of some council chief exec's bonus, or hotel costs for a wretched team building exercise, or business class flight for a twinning exercise with a foreign town with a nice climate. Anyway as Cranky says, it'll be the council's insurers who cough up.
If burglers can get compo for mistreatment by householders Mick should certainly not be out of pocket for 50yds of gravel rash and a broken bike caused by half-hearted maintenance.

Yes, don't complain about your 'collision with pothole' (can't say 'accident' that would mean it was someone's fault, that's un P.C - I was once told this by a policeman after I was hit by a car)
Just get a bike with super wide wheels x 4, suspension, disc brakes, metal cage for protection. Wear leather padded trousers, full face crash helmet, arm pads, gloves.....etc. 6mph speed limit on all cycles! :p



But anyway, do you think your cycle helmet saved you head from damage?

Hope you heal up soon and they do the decent thing and replace your broken bits. I was going to suggest looking on fillthathole to see if anyone had already reported it, like someone already said, might help your case.