Ways to Crash on a Bicycle

Summary: A collection of mostly first-person crash stories sent to us illustrating only a few of the many ways to fall.

Boy riding after dark with no headlights riding downhill through a stop sign, directly into the path of a motorist traveling about 35 MPH on a four lane arterial. Fatally injured. I’ve heard conflicting statements about whether the boy was riding on the wrong side of the road as well.
Boy ignores mother’s repeated warnings to not ride a certain bicycle, because it is way too big and has no brakes. Boy ignores warnings, rides the bike with a friend riding double. Loses control and hits his head on the porch steps. Fatal head injury.
Boy running away from home in Cleveland. Riding on the sidewalk when a flatbed truck turned into a driveway. Bicycle hit the gasoline tank on the passenger’s side of the truck. Boy thrown under rear wheels. Fatally injured.
Adult riding home from work at night, early spring. Riding down a short, extremely steep (15% grade) rarely used back street. Gravel was still on the street from winter salt/gravel trucks. At about 5 MPH, riding the brakes, my headlight showed some glass in the gravel ahead. In attempting to steer around it, my front wheel slipped out. I skinned my knee. I think this would not have happened if I’d been off the front brake, but if I had known about the gravel I would have used the street I normally ride (more traffic, so it stays swept clean).
There was this railway track going at an oblique angle across the road. I should have given it a bit more respect I suppose, but I didn’t. So my front wheel dropped into it and I took a fall. Fortunately, I wasn’t going fast at the time, so all I suffered was some bruises on my hands and knees.
I can list all of my accidents since I just had six; the years are approximate:

1: 1965 I was trying to see how fast I could take a turn without falling and found out.

2: 1965 I was riding a child on the top bar, and he put his foot in the spokes.

3: 1968 Riding at night, I hit a deep hole hidden in a shadow.
4: a brick turned my wheel.

5: 1987 Riding behind my son, I did not see a hole and hit another brick.

6: 1988 Riding at night a week after a snow, I hit black ice.
My son and I were approaching an intersection at dusk when suddenly everything got dark around us (the sky was still bright) and swarms of cars leaving work approached on both roads. We crossed half of the four lane but had to wait for an opportunity to proceed. As soon as we began we headed towards the outside lane, and a car approached extremely rapidly on the outside (it had come across the intersection behind us). My son and I both turned violently to avoid getting hit. Unfortunately, I hit his unprotected rear wheel and was launched into the side of the car. I was not hurt, but my front wheel was crumpled. Several mistakes were made here: 1) Because of the unusual light conditions and poor visibility, we should have stopped. 2) Because of the swarm of traffic, we should have stopped. 3) In crossing the main road, we should have stayed on the outside. 4) The car approaching us could not see clearly yet accelerated through the turn anyway. 5) Bicycles without fenders are very dangerous to other bicycles.
I hit some oil in the middle of the turn and my front tire simply flew out from under me.
A year ago on a flat, straight, seemingly safe road with no traffic, a bent bolt grabbed my bike’s front wheel. I was instantly smashed onto the pavement.

For a lot more crash stories, see our Crash Page.

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