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One night in the 90's I was working night shift in Newcastle on Westgate Road.
Was employed looking after the showroom garages and forecourt cars of a main dealer. The dealership was adjacent to a large popular public house.
Closing time and the bar emptied on to the pavement, very close to the cars.
I was wary some damage would come to the cars. I heard a loud bang.
I headed to the corner of the forecourt. The crowd outside the pub were silent.
There had been a very serious accident. Some one had come out of the bar and
walked straight into the road. A car struck him, dead.
Across the road from the forecourt is a Fire brigade station and close to it a Police station. Further down is a Hospital. As one the Police, an ambulance and a Fire engine converged on the scene. The Police closed the road on both sides of the accident and a nearby road. The Fire Brigade inflated a bag under the car raising it off the man. Complete silence. The ambulance that had arrived at the scene in a hurry took the dead man to the hospital. No rush, no blue lights. The dead man had been decapitated by the collision. I've never such a team of professionals work
together in silence. The crowd dispersed without a word.
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How terrible, but the poor victim was obviously treated with respect and care. It must have been dreadful for everyone involved.
I wouldn't want a job in the services for all the tea in China.
Lizx
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Thank you for your response Purple. The incident still has a profound effect on me.
It had to be 1995. The reason I say this is because I'd returned to work after an
absence of months following a RTA. I was hit by a car while cycling over a roundabout.
I sustained 4 pelvic fractures and leg injuries. The impact dumped me in the path of
other vehicles. I could have been killed by a bus or a lorry. This fact was brought
home to me at the fatal accident on Westgate Road. Showed me how fragile we are.
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Some years ago, my partner was hit side on by a car coming straight out of a junction without stopping, saying he hadn't spotted o.h. even tho he had lights, high vis jacket, and reflective things on the spokes etc etc. He was lucky there wasn't much traffic at the time so no broken bones but he damaged his thumb at the joint with his hand and we had to cancel our holiday the following week as he was all strapped up and still bruised.
Today on tv they were talking about the Westminster Bridge massacre. One poor woman was hit by the car and thrown into the path of a bus which couldn't stop in time, had the bus stopped she might still be alive even if injured. A moment in time which can alter lives forever.
So sad
Lizx
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I spent nearly 20 years motorcycling commuting from Chelmsford to the west end of London.
Not the safest way to travel and I had a handful of spills over the quarter of a million miles I travelled, but no serious injuries.
The one that sticks in my mind is where I was, quite legitimately, starting to overtake two slow-moving cars when the second in line pulled out without looking and clipped me. I didn't come off and the culprit carried on without stopping but left a bit of bumper trim laying in the road so he must have known he had hit me.
But the only flashbacks I get are from the Shoreham air display a couple of years back where the Hawker Hunter crashed. I saw a plume of smoke but no parachute and my initial thoughts were that the pilot must have had it. Only later did it transpire that he was OK but eleven civilians had lost their lives.
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The RTA I was involved in 1994 was avoidable, I could have used the underpass. But,
on reaching the roundabout I stopped, there was no traffic entering from the right and
at the next exit that was on my left a woman had stopped acknowledging my right of
way. I cycled across and as I was approaching the stationary car I noticed a car
approaching the roundabout at speed, approaching a stationary car. As I was about
to pass stationary car I though of the other car in a flash, it's not going to stop, it
cannot stop, bang !! it didn't stop. I landed very heavily on my backside in the path
of traffic. Instantly immobile, but conscious. Ambulance took me to Newcastle
General Hospital. Four waiting, communication, they lifted me on to a table and
removed my clothes with scissors. They examined me in the back for internal
injuries then I was on to a trolley and taken to to X ray. Four pelvic fractures. Pubic
rami left and right, anterior and posterior, and other injuries. Very serious injury, but
I'm lucky to be alive. I was very damaged, my bicycle was knacked. Must of done
some damage to her car.
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And what about that poor woman who was deliberately pushed in to the road on London Bridge by a jogger? If it wasn't for the quick thinking of the bus driver she would have ended up under the wheels. The culprit hasn't been caught. I hope he is proud of himself.
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Afraid I missed that Bob, surely it's caught on CCTV ?
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Yes David, it was.
There was extensive coverage in the SE including airing the CCTV. Although one man was arrested, he was (at that time) released without charge. It was a case of mistaken identity. As far as I'm aware, the culprit has yet to be found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuuHrVhykD4
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Thank you for that link Det. That's dreadful, certainly looked deliberate :-| :-|
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