One less BX on the road...

Anything about BXs
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saintjamesy89
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One less BX on the road...

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Hi everybody.

After a huge emotional ordeal, my BX14 is dead and going to the scrpayard in the sky. I managed to hit a moped on a dual carraigway @ 60 and write my BX and his bike off. Luckily the boy was ok, and just slightly concussed.

Here is what I think happened, I was tootling along at 60 on my way back to uni last night (london), on a straight piece of road at 9pm there are no vehicles in front of me, and I look down to my CD player to change track (I admitted this), look up and there is a moped 2 feet from my bonnet, I swerve and brake, hitting one bike and not the one on front and then stop and call an ambulance and nearly have emotional meltdown but manage to hold it together and see how the guy is, he was moaning about how cold his feet were because he lost his shoes and didnt know where he was. Shit, we were lucky.

And for the BX, I am skint at the moment and refuse to pay £150 to get it towed to a garage 25 miles from my house and then who knows what other charges. The battery has gone flat, the driveshaft on one side is knackered and only one light is working so cant tow/drive etc home (it's dark now). Had to let the insurers take it to a salvage yard, the price they give me has not been decided yet but is thought to be about £350/400.

I will have to attend court and almost certainly face a 'driving without due care and attention' charge, which is 3-9 points and a penalty fee and also possible court costs. And I missed a deadline for an essay I had to hand in at uni today.

All in all, depressing.
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rayfenwick
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Post by rayfenwick »

Not much I can say really, except that it could have been a lot worse, as you've rightly pointed out.

Everyone's ok, and however much we care about out BXs, they're just objects, and not that important in the grand scheme of things I guess.

You'll never do it again...
Ray

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Philip Chidlow
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Re: One less BX on the road...

Post by Philip Chidlow »

saintjamesy89 wrote: we were lucky.
I'd say. I am glad it wasn't more serious.

(Stupid place to put a radio, Mr. Citroën :evil: )
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scarecrow

Post by scarecrow »

Sad indeed - but blessings to be counted that there were no serious injuries. I admire your honesty, and I'm sure this will carry favour when you attend court.

This has reminded me of when I was working for an old lady and her estranged husband on their farm in Normandy. I spoke very little French (although I thought I had a reasonable grasp of it :roll: ). I used to buy the local paper every week and would regularly read about accidents in which 'x' number of people were blessé, which I would comment on by saying that it was "trés bonne". Eventually, after many strange looks, one week someone explained that "blessé" doesn't mean "blessed" or "lucky" but "injured" :oops:

Really this is just an unlucky coming together of the fates - even adjusting the heater can be enough of a distraction to cause an accident, so I wouldn't go beating yourself up too much over it.
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Post by Defender110 »

scarecrow wrote:Sad indeed - but blessings to be counted that there were no serious injuries. I admire your honesty, and I'm sure this will carry favour when you attend court.
Yes here here, well done for not trying to sherk your responsability. A lesson learned in the book of life I hope?
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Post by mat_fenwick »

scarecrow wrote:I admire your honesty
Likewise. It can't be easy potentially leaving yourself open to critisism on a public forum. But we are all human, and all make mistakes. I hope everyone involved recovers both physically and mentally.
saintjamesy89 wrote:And I missed a deadline for an essay I had to hand in at uni today
But you do have one hell of an excuse...
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saintjamesy89
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Re: One less BX on the road...

Post by saintjamesy89 »

Philip Chidlow wrote:
saintjamesy89 wrote: we were lucky.
I'd say. I am glad it wasn't more serious.

(Stupid place to put a radio, Mr. Citroën :evil: )
Quite right /\, back to driving my MK2 astra now, sooo much different, and much smaller. The clutch is very badly worn but it will have to wait until I get paid [-o<

And I WILL have another BX, a mk1 rs/trs in red please! They are too cool and comfortable to not have.

Just got off the phone to the lads mum, lovely lady, he is fine, just grazed knees ands elbows apparently. Phew.
I'm not a Saint, or a James, but a Tom Saint-James!

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Post by MULLEY »

60mph & the fact he's alive is extremely lucky for the both of you. Very honest of you to own up & face the music, fingers crossed it goes well for you. You won't be fiddling with cd players again, a harsh/lucky lesson learnt unfortunately.

Shame about the car, but it is just a car & can be replaced.

Good luck with the Astra for the timebeing, hopefully will keep you mobile for the mo & get that essay in asap :wink:
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Post by richardd1652 »

As i write this im also looking at the picture of the now bent 14TGE on my study wall.Your both ok thats the main thing and lets hope the legal consequences arnt too harsh for you.
Is the car rescuable?It was a fantastic shell?
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Post by docchevron »

MULLEY wrote:60mph & the fact he's alive is extremely lucky for the both of you.
If he's a reasonably experienced rider then I'm sure he'll know that the best way to avoid serious injury is to have your accident seperate from the bike!
Smokes lots, because enough's enough already!

Far too many BX's, a bus, an ambulance a few trucks, not enough time and never enough cash...
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Post by kiwi »

MULLEY wrote:60mph & the fact he's alive is extremely lucky for the both of you.
I would think the fact you were both going the same direction therefore reducing the impact speed had a good roll to play.

OK I will get slammed for saying this but
I was tootling along at 60 on my way back to uni last night (london), on a straight piece of road at 9pm there are no vehicles in front of me, and I look down to my CD player to change track (I admitted this), look up and there is a moped 2 feet from my bonnet
Straight piece of duel carriegeway road at night and no other vehicle on the road? Erm how long did you look down at the CD player for? Obviously long enough to encounter the traffic up ahead.

Admittedly the BX has a nice low slung radio port but your clearly aware now not to take your eyes off the road and it should be a lesson to us all to pay attention to whats going on around us especially at night.

Could have been much worse given what a young lady in NZ who ploughed into a group of cyclists is facing after 3 were killed, she also admitted to taking her eyes off the road.

Whats wrong with you people killing off endangered BXs :roll:


(btw thats a bit of humour)
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Post by Stinkwheel »

Im very glad you and the lad are OK. Its a shame it happened but these things do, its why they are called accident :)

I know i shouldnt ask this, but will you hnot be bothering with the BX at all? Just let the insurance co have it?

Dont wanna pop down and remove the pump bracket do you? (joke)

Remote control for the CD player in car is a good idea in the future :)
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Post by mat_fenwick »

I have to say I'm not a fan of the design of most car CD players of recent years. They used to (in the good old days...) simply have a slot you put the disc into, which you could feel with your fingers and hence load with the minimum of distraction. Now you usually have to fold down the complete front panel, sometimes waiting for a motor to do the job for you :roll: which doubles the time it takes. Progress eh?
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Post by Tim Leech »

Bugger, at least noone was badly hurt, was this lad stationary or just crawling along? we are all guilty of taking our eyes off the road to change the radio or get a CD out of the door bin etc etc you were just unlucky.

Lets hope the police arent too harsh. Was it foggy?
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Post by KevR »

docchevron wrote:
MULLEY wrote:60mph & the fact he's alive is extremely lucky for the both of you.
If he's a reasonably experienced rider then I'm sure he'll know that the best way to avoid serious injury is to have your accident seperate from the bike!
He was on a moped - chances of him being experienced are fairly small. Even if he was experienced, in this case he wouldn't have had time/warning to make a decision about whether to stay with the bike or throw it away. He was just lucky to get away with it, having been unlucky enough in the first place to become the victim of a distracted dimwit... (with all due respect to Saintjamesy for putting his hands up, but he's going to have to get used to this description in coming interviews with the plod). Sorry to be harsh, but after 30 years of motorcycling and 40 of competitive cycling, my sympathies are entirely with the guy on two wheels rather than the guy in the nice warm car who can't be bothered to look where he's going, especially as this happened the same day seven cyclists were killed by a careless driver in Italy, the same day two were killed by a careless driver in Cumbria. I'm glad everyone's ok, but I'm not inclined to be charitable about it.
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