THE CRASH.
In 2023, I’ve got involved in an accident which had a big impact on my life. Here’s the story.
BOOM!
• How:
As I was returning home from a weekly group ride around Paris, in the blink of an eye, BOOM! I was like unplugged from life. According to the police, I crossed a junction without checking for oncoming traffic, when I should have stopped to let a car go by. So I was apparently the one at fault. But I don’t remember any of this at all, so all I can say is “okay”, shrug my shoulders and deal with it.
• The outcome:
I lost consciousness on impact, got a few broken bones, a severe brain injury despite my helmet, and I remained in a coma for over three weeks. The medical staff couldn’t tell if I was going to make it. They also told me that without a helmet, I would have been dead.
• After:
After waking up, I stayed glued to bed at hospital for a few months. I couldn’t walk anymore, or even simply stand up on my own. Taking a shower consisted in getting washed by someone else…
• Today - June 2025, as I write this:
I attended a rehab hospital several times a week for over a year. I learned how to walk again, how to ride bikes too. I still have a few after-effects from that: I have very annoying speech difficulties for neurological reasons, and my right eye is no longer aligned with the other one, which is forcing me to mask it to avoid double vision. But that’s OK, at least I’m not sitting in a wheelchair, or laying underground in a wooden box.
THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.
I’m not anti-car, but drivers are really trying hard to make me hate them.
Between my return home and today (about a year and a half after the initial accident), I’ve got involved in 4 more incidents with cars (edit: it’s 5 now). For all of them, I wasn’t at fault. I got cut-off twice when I had the right of way, and I got rammed into (twice) while waiting at a traffic light (I wasn’t even moving).
How hard is it to pay attention to your surroundings, and push a pedal to brake?
But I’m just a cyclist, I’m not important.
Because of all this, I’m starting to hate cycling (as an activity). Casual cycling is supposed to be fun and relaxing.
But to me, it’s more like “I hope I can avoid getting hit by a car today”.
I don’t like riding bikes anymore…
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