Egan Bernal's recovery from life-threatening horror crash detailed in medical research paper

There are dozens of such cameras available, many with handlebar mounts, that can transmit wirelessly to a mobile phone which could easily be fixed with a quadlock or similar to a Garmin mount. Pretty cheap too. Why they are not used is anybody's guess, I suppose like most people riders aren't very good at admitting to themselves that they need precautions against them making basic errors?

The problem with using a mobile is the image would be quite small and there would be a delay in recognising a hazard. The camera technology needs to be developed to project on a viewing screen that is part of the helmet visor. However, there may still be a slight delay while the brain computes that the hazard is straight ahead and not below. Perception can do funny things in a panic/ alarm situation.

Maybe something like the Garmin Varia then but facing forward with hazard warnings of approaching vehicles?

Possibly, but I think there will still be a time delay between receiving a warning and looking and the brain processing the image.I guess cycling teams & helmet manufacturers are working hard to come up with a solution which will allow their riders to train on open roads in the extreme head down position.

There will be a delay with anything the human brain is asked to process, but the Varia identifies hazards up to 140m away and shows them on the head unit. A front-facing system would work very well for TT bikes I believe, although it would have to be adapted as at present it doesn't give warnings of stationary objects, so it wouldn't have prevented Bernal riding into that bus.

Geoff Ingram wrote:

Seems odd that, these days, you can't have some kind of front mounted camera linked to a mobile mounted on the bars so that you get a clear view of the road even with your eyes looking basically straight down, which would counter those otherwise very reasonable misgivings about tt bikes. 

Or even a suitably placed mirror

I came off my bike just before Christmas and broke my femur. The care was excellent and I'm back on the bike, albeit with more rehab to be done.

Probably equally good or better.

The NHS is still close to top tier for emergency treatment, its the follow ups and continual check up where things can go wrong (but mostly still dont).

Routine care is struggling a bit more.

When I was knocked off my bike I had excellent medical care, including repeated bouts of CPR, doses of high quality pain relief and a flight in a helicopter.
According to my wife - I was out of it due to pain and medication - I had several xrays and other scans, prior to around 6 hours in surgery while the put my left ulna back together and rebuilt my left patella as its supposed to be in one bit and not four.
They couldn't do much for the 11 broken ribs, the 3 fractured vertebrae, the TBI; all they could do with the internal bleeding was watch and see, while keeping me on a mix of respirator and high-flow air for the punctured lung.
4 days after nearly not making it home, and while still in HDU, the physio had me up on a pulpit walking aid ... which was fun as I couldn't put any weight on either my left arm or left leg.
A week later, and I'm scooting around on a single crutch - ok, scooting is maybe the wrong world. I meant crying in frustration from not being able to do anything myself.
I spent 4 months having 2 hours or physio, twice a week.
That was eventually dropped to an hour a week over the next 14 months.
In that time, I also received additional surgery, and physiatrist care.

If you get seriously hurt ... the UK is probably the best place in the world to be.
Routine care ... maybe no so much.

You will not be bankrup if you fall off and have a big one in UK unlike many other places on this planet,  that is allways a big plus point for the NHS as the care you get is not limited by a accountant saying yes or no to what is given at time of need.

Absolutely..
The heloevac followed by the week in HDU would have been horrific... let alone the cost of the surgery, drugs, the closure of a motorway sliproad and the police that that entailed [I got wiped out on a road that runs parallel with a motorway. The driver that hit me was aiming for the slip road].

Everytime I think about the medical treatment I received, I am absolutley glad that I'm in the UK.

Bloody hell... How are you doing now?

Thank you for asking Aidan, much appreciated.

I walk with a stick; I can't walk very far without it as its not as supportive as it should be. The arthritis in the knee can be a killer.
I got left with some damage to some cognitive functions, but luckily it's not as bad as it could be, and I'm still able to function with some small changes to habits and routines.
I tried getting back on a bike as part of my rehab ... 20 miles had me almost in tears due to the pain in my knee. Then I hired an EPAC and never looked back [apart from when turning].
The e-bike gave me my freedom, physical and mental health back.
I ride around 100 miles a week, mainly group but sometimes solo, mix of gravel and road. It can go up to 160 a week when I can be bothered to commute.

Depends how you ride them. The current trend among many pros is to ride in a track style looking down at the front wheel. Ok for racing on closed roads, but not when sharing with traffic, parked cars etc.

Or pedestrians. Chris Froome killed seriously injured a man earlier in his career when he crashed into the man as he crossed the road, when Chris was riding back from to see a race on his TT bike. And then he badly injured himself again crashing a TT bike into a wall.

Paul J wrote:

Or pedestrians. Chris Froome killed a man earlier in his career when he crashed into the man as he crossed the road, when Chris was riding back from a race on his TT bike. And then he badly injured himself again crashing a TT bike into a wall.

His crash into the wall was caused by him taking his hands off the bars to clear his nose when his wheels were caught by a gust of wind, could have happened just as easily on an ordinary bike with deep wheels. He didn't kill a pedestrian, he crashed into a 72-year-old when he was on a solo training ride (not riding back from a race) in Italy, the pedestrian suffering serious but not life-threatening injuries; I'm quite willing to stand corrected but as far as I remember there was no indication that he was on a TT bike, and the lack of any action against him following a police investigation would appear to indicate that fault was not attributed to him.

Rendel Harris wrote:

Paul J wrote:

Or pedestrians. Chris Froome killed a man earlier in his career when he crashed into the man as he crossed the road, when Chris was riding back from a race on his TT bike. And then he badly injured himself again crashing a TT bike into a wall.

His crash into the wall was caused by him taking his hands off the bars to clear his nose when his wheels were caught by a gust of wind, could have happened just as easily on an ordinary bike with deep wheels. He didn't kill a pedestrian, he crashed into a 72-year-old when he was on a solo training ride (not riding back from a race) in Italy, the pedestrian suffering serious but not life-threatening injuries; I'm quite willing to stand corrected but as far as I remember there was no indication that he was on a TT bike, and the lack of any action against him following a police investigation would appear to indicate that fault was not attributed to him.

Rendel is correct 

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome-hits-pedestrian-in-italian-train...

Secret_squirrel wrote:

Rendel is correct 

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome-hits-pedestrian-in-italian-train...

I've quoted Chris' account. Point stands that pedestrians are also a risk if you're in the TT position, with view impinged if not fully head-down (note Chris' words that he thought he'd killed the man "with my helmet" - suggestive of a head down position).

If I am riding in a TT and see a potentially dangerous situation such as an oncoming car overtaking, a pedestrian near a zebra crossing, or a blind bend, I slow and come out of the TT position, so my hands are near the brake levers. Not having my head in the extreme track pursuit position allows me to see the dangerous situation developing in the first place. I imagine most club TT riders do the same.

so my hands are near the brake levers

These benefits are not confined to TT riders. One of the greatest contributions to urban cycling safety is the combination of narrow road bars, 'brifters' and cable disc brakes. Of course, you had permanent rapid access to brakes on MTBs and hybrids, but those wider straight bars with rubber grips are becoming more hazardous on roads- one of these takes your bars and you'll be under a lot of wheels and the lucky recipient of the 'thoughts and prayers' but nothing else from the police

Rendel Harris wrote:

Paul J wrote:

Or pedestrians. Chris Froome killed a man earlier in his career when he crashed into the man as he crossed the road, when Chris was riding back from a race on his TT bike. And then he badly injured himself again crashing a TT bike into a wall.

His crash into the wall was caused by him taking his hands off the bars to clear his nose when his wheels were caught by a gust of wind, could have happened just as easily on an ordinary bike with deep wheels. He didn't kill a pedestrian, he crashed into a 72-year-old when he was on a solo training ride (not riding back from a race) in Italy, the pedestrian suffering serious but not life-threatening injuries; I'm quite willing to stand corrected but as far as I remember there was no indication that he was on a TT bike, and the lack of any action against him following a police investigation would appear to indicate that fault was not attributed to him.

Ok, my memory of the book is off. He was indeed on a training ride, not back from a race - but he was cycling to see the end of the Paris-Nice Time Trial stage. He *was* on his TT bike, in the TT position. He did initially think he had killed the old man. Thankfully, he had not, however the old man was seriously injured, including a fractured skull. And he was fined by the police. Relevant quotes from the book:

"Chris Froome: The Climb" wrote:

On the day Paris–Nice ended, I
went for a long spin with Adam Blythe. Our
plan was to do a long, steady ride but instead
of coming back directly to Monaco, we would
ride on to Nice and I would watch the final
Col d’Eze time trial on the Team Sky bus
while he met up with his BMC teammates.
...
As I occasionally do, I had used my
time-trial bike that day. I needed practice in
the time-trial position.

Adam tucked in behind me and I increased
the effort. We were coming towards the bor-
der and just as I began to ease up, the road
got a little busier. There was a cafe/liquor
store on the right, cars parked along the
road, but nothing dangerous until an older
man suddenly stepped out from behind one
of the cars, directly into our line.

‘Whoooaaaa!’ I screamed.
My brain saw him stopping when he heard
the scream. He was going to stay right there.
I was going to veer left. Everyone was going
to walk away from this unhurt. But he kept
going, quickening his step if anything. He
shifted straight into my line and I smashed
into him, my helmet crashing into his head.
Down he went.
...
Five minutes later someone came back.
‘It’s not good. It’s really not good. There’s
a lot of blood coming from his head. It looks
like he’s dead. Someone felt for a pulse but
there wasn’t one. Just all this blood.’

I sat up again to look. Their voices were
still telling me to lie down, but I had to see. A
blanket or sheet had been put over the man.
From where I was looking, it seemed it was
over his entire body. ‘I have killed this guy,’ I
thought. ‘With my helmet, I have killed him.’
It was the most horrible feeling I’ve ever had
in my life.
...
We were still in Italy though, so it was an
Italian ambulance that arrived. Paramedics
came towards me, then went straight to the
old man. I strained to see. They took off
whatever had been covering him, loaded him
on to a stretcher and into the ambulance.
And I saw him move. He was still alive!
..
The police said they needed a urine sample
to check my alcohol level. Standard proced-
ure. When the nurses came I asked about the
man and was eventually told he’d fractured
his skull. It was serious but he would be
okay. More relief.
...
In the aftermath of the accident I went to
Ventimiglia police station close to ten times,
and actually got to know the guys working
there – two in particular were keen cyclists.
They told me I had to pay a small fine for hit-
ting a pedestrian, explaining that Italian law
considers seniors in the same way it regards
children and I would be held responsible.

Where does he say he was in the TT position? He says he was easing up in heavier traffic so he was most likely not in the aero position on the skis and he says he saw the old man as soon as he stepped in front of him. The sanction from the police is, as explained, due to presumed liability. So, yes you're right about the fact that he was riding a TT bike, you're wrong that he killed someone, you're wrong to say that he was in the TT position and you're wrong to say that the bike he was riding stopped him seeing the pedestrian or that it contributed to the accident. May I suggest a bit more care and research before making such serious statements as accusing a rider of killing someone might be appropriate?

Rendel Harris wrote:

Where does he say he was in the TT position? He says he was easing up in heavier traffic so he was most likely not in the aero position on the skis and he says he saw the old man as soon as he stepped in front of him. The sanction from the police is, as explained, due to presumed liability. So, yes you're right about the fact that he was riding a TT bike, you're wrong that he killed someone, you're wrong to say that he was in the TT position and you're wrong to say that the bike he was riding stopped him seeing the pedestrian or that it contributed to the accident. May I suggest a bit more care and research before making such serious statements as accusing a rider of killing someone might be appropriate?

He says " I needed practice in the time-trial position." and the context is they were busy with an effort, Adam tucked in. I misremembered about him having killed the man - cause his original words were that he thought he had, and I guess that stuck in my brain, apologies Chris - but he DID cause _very serious_ injuries to a pedestrian, while on a TT bike.

I was replying to a comment about the dangers of training on TT bikes on the open road. And Chris Froome's accident surely is a valid data-point to back that argument up. (Never mind the other, later, recon accident into the wall).

Paul J wrote:

He says " I needed practice in the time-trial position." and the context is they were busy with an effort, Adam tucked in.

From the text you quoted: We were coming towards the bor-
der and just as I began to ease up, the road
got a little busier. There was a cafe/liquor
store on the right, cars parked along the
road, but nothing dangerous until an older
man suddenly stepped out from behind one
of the cars, directly into our line.

You say that he caused very serious injuries to the pedestrian, if his account is true the pedestrian caused very serious injuries to himself by stepping straight  into the road from behind a parked car in front of two cyclists. I tend to agree with you that TT training on the open road is undesirable, certainly in urban areas, but there is nothing in the account you've shared nor in any other information I've seen that suggests that the use of a TT bike was a contributory factor.

At least this guy is getting paid and I suppose well enough. Others do it for free.