Adrian Boliston said:geepeetee said:As they passed me (going in the same direction) i got hit by an egg
in the face (bloody hurt too).
Ouch! I must admit that I sometimes worry about someone throwing something
at me from an *oncoming* vehicle, but I would have thought that for someone
to chuck something from a "same direction" vehicle there would likely be
telltale warning signs like them trying to match your speed rather than
overtaking or keeping behind, and generally I will tend to automatically
adjust my speed to avoid being alongside a vehicle, as such a vehicle would
present risk to a cyclist even if they were not up to any "tricks".
I have been hit by an egg thrown from an overtaking car, and I can tell
you there is no warning whatsoever. The passenger leans out the window
and lets fly as they overtake you. You feel the impact and hear the
crash of the shell before you realise what's happening or where it's
come from. When an egg hit my backside I initially thought they'd broken
a beer bottle over me. The crash is that loud and the impact that hard.
I very nearly caught up with that car as it got delayed in traffic at
the top of the next hill. If I had got alongside it and the window had
still been open I would have had the rear seat passenger's head out into
the street with or without the rest of him still attached. I would, I
expect, have got myself into trouble with the law. The car was showing a
false number plate incidentally.
Being hit in the face by a missile from an oncoming car could be
extremely serious. You don't need to be a whiz at maths to work out what
the closing speed of an egg and your eyeball could be. And you do not
see the missile coming, especially at night. These days I nearly always
wear tough eye protection while cycling. Much, much, much more important
than a Martlehat in my view.
--
Dave...
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the
future of the human race. - H. G. Wells
