Postman is hit by truck
Monday 8th June 2009, 2:30PM BST.
Steve Robinson’s badly damaged cycle helmet. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0785360)
A CYCLE helmet saved the life of a postman whose head and arms were crushed beneath the wheels of a lorry.
Steve Robinson was run over by the vehicle at Les Banques on Monday 18 May.
The 52-year-old remembers nothing about the accident. But he is certain he would have died if he had not been wearing the protective head guard.
‘I had tyre marks across my arms, you could even read the make of the tyre,’ said Mr Robinson, who has been a postman on a St Peter Port round for 14 years.
The day of the accident was due to be his day off, but he had agreed to train a new postwoman on the round. Mr Robinson was heading north between the traffic lights at Admiral Park and First Tower Lane just before 9am when the accident happened.
‘I’ve got no recollection of it at all and I hope it stays that way,’ he said.
The outcome was that Mr Robinson became trapped under the lorry’s wheels.
‘My crash helmet saved my life. They look so insignificant you would never think they could protect you from something like that,’ he said.
Mr Robinson had injuries to his left ear, which needed skin grafts, two broken fingers and general cuts and bruises.
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Shame not all postmen and women wear them properly. I have seen them with the helmets not done up or if they are done up the straps are so lose if anything happened it would fly off before they hit the floor Please make sure they are done up properly just shows what can happen on the road and what can save your life
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Maybe somebody could explain to me why, when the picture shows a helmet that was crushed flat, the postie’s head wasn’t in a similiar condition? Could it have been that the helmet fell off and was crushed, but this has convenientlty been glossed over in the politically correct drive to get everybody to wear the things? If the Press is also trying to imply that a flimsy, pretty useless piece of plastic is going to stop what could have been a five ton truck from killing a cyclist under it’s wheels, they need to start smelling some fresh coffee, I suggest!
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This doesn’t come as a shock to me… the standard of some drivers is bad they either panic when see a cyclist or don’t pay any attention to them and cut them up..
Yes there are bad cyclists who have no respect for other road users and they give us a bad name…. but us Cyclists are given little or no respect by a lot of motorists.
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Is it law yet for all children to wear helmets yet? else can we get the schools to not allow parents to send their children to school on bikes without a helmet?
I applaud the posties for setting the example but how many children going to school in the morning by bike do not a helmets on.
One of them will be the added to the statistics and maybe that is what it will take to make parents act more responsibly. Every morning I see them on my way to work…
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Mo,
The majority of Guernsey drivers I would suggest give the same respect to a cyclist as they do to someone riding a horse. Yes there are a few that give motorists a bad name and no one has said who was to blame re the postie but having seen what most children do when they look behind them (swerve) and given a lot of people over here do also ride bikes socially, with the Guernsey roads we all must show increased attention for a cyclist.
Not happy writing this as have to drive home tonight…
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I’m sure car drivers are getting worse, they only seem to think about getting A to B with no conscious thought about what happens in the middle. I’ve seen cyclists take almost as long to cross over the road at the end of the cycle path by Bulver Avenue than it takes to cycle from town
Have you tried crossing the road along by the QE2 Marina (environment committee have been asked for a crossing several times by our office) the cars will not stop even though it is not going to affect their journey as they can only go as far as the car in front so stopping for 5 seconds is not going to inconvenience them. In fact they seem to speed up when they see people trying to cross the road.
I cycle , drive and ride a motorbike which hopefully makes me a little more considerate to pedestrians and cyclists when in a car.
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I actually think that car drivers here are very considerate towards cyclists – with a few inevitable exceptions. Most will wait for a safe overtaking place and many will let you carry on through a filter even if it is not your turn, so that you don’t have to stop and start up again.
But then again I used to cycle in London, so maybe I’m used to psychopathic killers in comparison!
As for compulsory helmets – I would rather we didn’t do anything to discourage kids from riding bikes as a means of transport or to foster the idea that riding a bike is a “dangerous” activity. Better to have helmetless kids (and adults) cycling everywhere than to have them stuck in the back seat of mummy’s 4×4 being ferried everywhere. Encourage helmet use by all means, but don’t make it complusory.
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I believe that cycle helmets are life savers in some instances i.e. direct blows etc but i don’t think that if this postie’s head had actually gone under the wheels of a 5 ton truck it would have made much difference (but i am happy to be proved wrong). I am very pleased that this young man has made such a great recovery considering what could have happened.
I also think that some cyclists take their life in their hands the way they weave in and out of traffic – especially when there are roadworks or traffic jams. Cars are not blameless but neither are cyclists or motor cyclists – however , it is usually the car driver that is held responsible for accidents it seems.
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Is it only me, that seems to get stuck behind posties on pushbikes riding 2,3,and 4 abreast.
Is it only me that has to swerve, when a postie rides out of a driveway without looking or stoping
to check for oncoming traffic.
Is it only me, that sees post vans parked on corners, or on or after brows of hills.
Its not only helmets that promote safety.
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The figures don’t show that bicycle helmets work – helmet laws have stopped a lot of people cycling and have done nothing for head injury rates, see Robinson DL. No clear evidence from countries that have enforced the wearing of helmets. BMJ 2006;332: 722-5. http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7543/722-a. Broken helmets don’t absorb the impact, see the engineers quoted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_helmet; a broken helmet has simply failed, and while the photo isn’t very detailed, it looks as if that is just what has happened to Mr. Robinson’s helmet. The only known connection is that helmets have strangled a few young children who were wearing helmets while playing off their bicycles. As for the lorry running over his head, see the pro-helmet site http://www.helmets.org/smush.htm. If quite a small car goes over your head, I’m sorry to say that you won’t be in any condition to praise your helmet.
I’m very glad that Mr Robinson seems to be on the road to recovery, but we may doubt if his helmet had anything to do with it.
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Guernsey drivers are some of the best drivers in the world. Postie got unlucky and seeing them pull out all over the place the only surprise is that more haven’t been whacked out.
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Richard Keatinge
Nice to see your using a reliable source in wikipedia.
From your comments im guessing you crashed your bike as a youngster with no helmet on…
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“I had tyre marks across my arms, you could even read the make of the tyre,’ said Mr Robinson, who has been a postman on a St Peter Port round for 14 years.”
“Mr Robinson had injuries to his left ear, which needed skin grafts, two broken fingers and general cuts and bruises.”
Something’s not right here… if his “head and arms” really were “crushed beneath the wheels of a lorry” then he would have been far more injured than this.
On the more general subject of motorist vs cyclist, I purposely target bad motorists especially the ones who drive around half asleep with their wing mirrors folded shut. If you get woken up by a whack on your mirrors by a cyclist filtering through traffic, it’s likely to be me.
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MT,
Purposely targetting what you consider bad motorists and hitting their wing mirrors makes you a pretty bad cyclist I’d say. I hope you realise that hitting cars is both illegal and idiotic…as you will hopefully find out when you eventually end up in court for it.
Yes there are many people driing around with their wing mirrors folded up (usually BMW’s), which is dangerous and a pretty good indicator that they are poor drivers, but what gives you the right to act like some kind of vigilante?
I am always careful around cyclists, but I see so many these days who seem to think that they are invulnerable weaving in and out of traffic, speeding on the outside of cars causing oncoming cars to have to brake, hopping on and off of pavements, ignoring traffic lights, filters and one-way streets…I could go on and on.
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donkeys life – No you are not alone!
TL – I hate to tell you this but riding a bike is a “dangerous” activity, the roads are a dangerous place. I think compulsory helmets for kids is a good idea, if a few are put off then so be it. I imagine if you knew a child who sustained serious long term in injuries from a bicycle accident you may think differently.
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George -
How is it illegal? I don’t cause any damage. Unless he drops his mobile phone or she smudges her lipstick out of shock.
Idiotic, well perhaps. But then driving with your wing mirrors folded is pretty idiotic too.
What right do I have? About as much right as I have to air my opinion on this website. As much right as that bloke who removed the fish from the Cobo car park. You would fail your driving test for not doing a proper mirror-signal-manouevre, so driving about with your wing mirrors folded shut is a clear indicator you should not be driving. I have more right to use the road than that person, and seeing as the law can’t/won’t do anything about it, I can and will.
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MT: It is illegal as it could be classed as criminal damage.If you were to ‘whack’ my wing mirrors id be very tempted to ‘whack’ you off your bike with my car. I best start using my old run around as i dont care if it gets dented.
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MT,
Phone the Police station and ask their opinion on what you do, easy way to get an answer.
I agree that driving with wing mirrors folded is idiotic…it should also be against the law, but if it is then, as you say, nothing gets done about it. Then again nothing gets done about people riding cycles as if traffic laws don’t apply to them.
You have no more right to use the roads than anyone else, and you certainly don’t have the right to hit someone’s property.
To say that you have as much right to hit people’s cars as you do to post on a website doesn’t really stand up as much of an argument.
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Dean – as a life long cyclist who has never been injured on the bike, I would dispute that cycling need be dangerous. The health benefits of cycling far outweigh any risks – quite apart from the fact that this island would be a cleaner and more pleasant place if more people used bikes rather than automatically jumping in the car.
Far more people suffer head injuries in a car than on a bike, so why not advocate helmet use in a car if you wish to remove all risk?
The evidence is plain – making helmet use compulsory stops people using bikes. I regard that as more detrimental than the occasional incident where a rider is hurt where a helmet would have made a difference (which is surprisingly few). Kids on bikes are actually the least likely to have an accident where a helmet makes a difference.
By the way, I totally disagree with taking direct action against motorists. Quite apart from anything else, it is likely to have the complete opposite reaction to the one that you are trying to achieve.
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The simple fact is that the island’s roads are for everyone. That includes pedestrians, motorists, cyclists, mothers with prams, horses and their riders, farmers with herds of cows etc.
No single faction has priority and we would all do well to remember that.
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@TL
I have also never had a serious accident on a bicycle, but it is not our diligence on the road that needs to be considered.
“Far more people suffer head injuries in a car than on a bike”
Well I guess more people would considering the ratio or car users to cyclists. Where are you getting you info from BTW?
I am not saying that helmets should be enforced by law on adults, just children. We need to help children understand the importance of road safety before vanity.
Oh and TL, generalised comments suggesting it wouldn’t matter either way if a child was wearing a helmet in an accident are not helpful.
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How are the posties setting a good example???
This guy is lucky he is one of the few postman who wears his helmet.
For some reason they seem to think they look cool by not wearing their helmets and draping them over their handlebars or wearing it with the straps done up over the top.
If it isnt compulsory for them to wear them properly then it should be.
Guernsey motorists by and large are good drivers and its a shame that postmen think it is cool to not wear their helmets properly, where in fact it is cooler to wear them and still be alive.
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Oh dear MT, you really should get your facts right before posting here.
Your offence would be Conduct Likely to Cause a Breach of the Peace and /or Riding Without Due Consideration For Other Road Users.
Also, there is no legal requirement to have door mirrors (door mirrors are fitted to the door and wing mirrors are fitted to the wing so I take it that it is in fact door mirrors that you are referring to) the internal mirror is perfectly adequate as long as the rear window is not obstructed. Thus your assertion that you have “more right to use the road than that person” just because they have their mirrors folded in is total nonsense.
MT you and your attitude are exactly what gives cyclists a bad name.
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I’m amazed at how busy everyone in cars is. They rush here, rush there and beware anything that slows them down. Cars parked on the wrong side of the road, cyclists and tractors are a particular frustration. We live in Guernsey people, relax. You aren’t that important and it wont matter if you are a few minutes late.
Thank you to the considerate drivers who all have one thing in common – patience.
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I think cyclists who don’t wear helmets are idiots and so does the law. It might not be illegal to ride without one, but perhaps it would be a sobering thought to remember that if you succombe to a brain injury as a consequence of a cycling accident, you won’t be entitled to any compensation if you don’t wear a helmet. Even if it was someone else’s fault.
Failure to wear a cycling helmet is now considered contributory negligence in such cases in English and EU law – where Guernsey cases will end up being decided should they get appealed.
So, next time you go out on your bike, just think about this. The average Guernsey driver is incompetent (after all, the result of your driving test largely depends on the length of your skirt over here). However, the incompetent lump who might plough you down next time you leave the house won’t have to pay you or your family a penny in compensation if he squashes your brain under his tyres, if you’re not wearing a helmet.
I know what I’d do.
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“after all, the result of your driving test largely depends on the length of your skirt over here”
Bitter or what? Andrew I am sure you will pass your test one day.
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Andrew
It seems to me that you need to learn a few things about law, as well as the Guernsey legal system.
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Andrew
Very funny, i like a good laugh.
well put Dean.
Try rolling your trousers up next time you take your test, as it worked for me :)
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