LesAshmore
Free Member
Hi all, It has taken me some time to bring myself to post this on a public forum but here goes.
On September 7th Last year after a lengthy tour of Europe we (My wife and I) were on our way back home, we were travelling to Zeebrugge to catch the 1900 hrs Ferry and we had to check in by 1700 hrs, The time was 1230 hrs and we were approx 25 k away from Brugge, we were travelling down a pretty straight road single lane in each direction with a centre reservation which was lined for no overtaking and there were boxed sections for traffic crossing from side streets etc, The speed limit was 70k, There was the usual cycle tracks to the right.
I was travelling at 62 k (39 mph) I use a GPS speedo which displays in either MPH or KPH and when abroad I set it to KPH, approx 500 metres in front was a large vehicle also travelling at the same speed as me, about 300 metres in front to my left was a petrol station and as we were approaching I saw a Moped come out of the petrol station to the central reservation where she stopped and put her foot to the floor, when I was about 30 metre from her she set off directly into my line, to my right was a woman pedal cyclist, I had no chance whatsoever to avoid an accident, I have always prided myself on being calm and collected and in fact in my younger years I used to race cars so I thought I was very knowledgeable about these things, How wrong could I be ?, I totally went to pieces afterwards and had no idea what happened or how or even in fact what to do, Fortunately the lady on the pedal cycle spoke perfect English and she took control telling me what to do etc and she called the Police and Ambulance who I have got to say were there well within 5 minutes.
The police were asking me about the accident but I couldn't stop shaking and I couldn't speak for a good while, The Paramedics and Ambulance men were working on the lady in the middle of the road, after a while I started to calm down, strangely enough my wife was the calming force (I thought she would be the one who panicked) The Police kept wanting to know what had happened as there were no witnesses that actually saw the accident, my wife informed them that we a were on our way to Zeebrugge for the ferry, the Police officer who was in charge told us to cancel as we would not be leaving the country until after everything had been investigated.
At this point we suddenly remembered my Roadhawk system and we told the Police woman, she asked if we could show her the video, we did and right away she saw what had occurred and actually said straight away that the lady had set off without looking, the system showed my speed and the time, From her setting off to the collision was under 2 seconds.
She informed me that under Belgium law we had to wait for a court official translator even though the Police officers spoke perfect English and we also had to await the senior accident investigator, The paramedics were still working on the Lady for 45 minutes on the road and then they transferred her to the ambulance and continued working on her there for another 30 minutes before taking her to hospital, I was informed that she had massive facial and chest injuries and there was massive internal bleeding.
After the court official arrived a very decorated Police officer arrived in uniform and along with him was a gentleman who continued to take photos of everything, then the Police Officer who had seen the video went and spoke to them their demeanors changed right away and they came and asked to view the video which I shown them, Their comments were that I could not avoid the accident and they asked for a copy which I asked them to take, 15 minutes later we were released and continued to Zeebrugge where we managed to catch the Ferry at 1725.
I now have a Roadhawk in both my own car and in my wifes car, If it hadn't been for this system I hate to think what may have happened.
Also on numerous occasions I kept thinking "could I have done this to avoid it" or "could I have done that" I have on each occasion viewed the video again and i now am 1000% convinced that not under any circumstances could I have avoided what happened.
On September 7th Last year after a lengthy tour of Europe we (My wife and I) were on our way back home, we were travelling to Zeebrugge to catch the 1900 hrs Ferry and we had to check in by 1700 hrs, The time was 1230 hrs and we were approx 25 k away from Brugge, we were travelling down a pretty straight road single lane in each direction with a centre reservation which was lined for no overtaking and there were boxed sections for traffic crossing from side streets etc, The speed limit was 70k, There was the usual cycle tracks to the right.
I was travelling at 62 k (39 mph) I use a GPS speedo which displays in either MPH or KPH and when abroad I set it to KPH, approx 500 metres in front was a large vehicle also travelling at the same speed as me, about 300 metres in front to my left was a petrol station and as we were approaching I saw a Moped come out of the petrol station to the central reservation where she stopped and put her foot to the floor, when I was about 30 metre from her she set off directly into my line, to my right was a woman pedal cyclist, I had no chance whatsoever to avoid an accident, I have always prided myself on being calm and collected and in fact in my younger years I used to race cars so I thought I was very knowledgeable about these things, How wrong could I be ?, I totally went to pieces afterwards and had no idea what happened or how or even in fact what to do, Fortunately the lady on the pedal cycle spoke perfect English and she took control telling me what to do etc and she called the Police and Ambulance who I have got to say were there well within 5 minutes.
The police were asking me about the accident but I couldn't stop shaking and I couldn't speak for a good while, The Paramedics and Ambulance men were working on the lady in the middle of the road, after a while I started to calm down, strangely enough my wife was the calming force (I thought she would be the one who panicked) The Police kept wanting to know what had happened as there were no witnesses that actually saw the accident, my wife informed them that we a were on our way to Zeebrugge for the ferry, the Police officer who was in charge told us to cancel as we would not be leaving the country until after everything had been investigated.
At this point we suddenly remembered my Roadhawk system and we told the Police woman, she asked if we could show her the video, we did and right away she saw what had occurred and actually said straight away that the lady had set off without looking, the system showed my speed and the time, From her setting off to the collision was under 2 seconds.
She informed me that under Belgium law we had to wait for a court official translator even though the Police officers spoke perfect English and we also had to await the senior accident investigator, The paramedics were still working on the Lady for 45 minutes on the road and then they transferred her to the ambulance and continued working on her there for another 30 minutes before taking her to hospital, I was informed that she had massive facial and chest injuries and there was massive internal bleeding.
After the court official arrived a very decorated Police officer arrived in uniform and along with him was a gentleman who continued to take photos of everything, then the Police Officer who had seen the video went and spoke to them their demeanors changed right away and they came and asked to view the video which I shown them, Their comments were that I could not avoid the accident and they asked for a copy which I asked them to take, 15 minutes later we were released and continued to Zeebrugge where we managed to catch the Ferry at 1725.
I now have a Roadhawk in both my own car and in my wifes car, If it hadn't been for this system I hate to think what may have happened.
Also on numerous occasions I kept thinking "could I have done this to avoid it" or "could I have done that" I have on each occasion viewed the video again and i now am 1000% convinced that not under any circumstances could I have avoided what happened.
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