I was “involved” in a road accident the other day.

There are Facts, Statistics, and Damn lies.................... No statistics here but an illustration of how things can get twisted and blown out of proportion, this actually happened in “real” life not on the internet, I was driving my car along a street and a young lad, about 13 years old I’d guess, was riding ahead of me on his pushbike, and in front of him were two other riders. They all kept looking back, the first two bikes crossed to the other side of the road and mounted the footpath, the third bike looked back at me and decided to make a dash for the other side of the road, I had slowed and stayed way back, after watching his two mates I’d anticipated the move and left space. The road was dry but we had had a dusting of snow, some still lay on the footpath. Unfortunately as he went to jump up the kerb onto the footpath he misjudged it and fell off his bike and landed heavily, I of course stopped to see if he was OK. Another car approached and stopped and said to the lad, without addressing me first “did he knock you off?” the lad was a little groggy, not knocked out but a bit dazed he didn’t reply, I phoned an ambulance to be on the safe side as he didn’t seem to know where he was. A few more people arrived, followed several minutes later by a police car, the officers spoke to a few people then came over and spoke to me, asked what speed I was doing when I “collided” with the cyclist, I told them I did not hit him and my ”version” of events. They said that a “witness” has “seen” the “accident” and told them I hit the bike. I explained there was no one else on the road at the time apart from the other two bikes I’d assumed were with the, now more conscious injured bike rider. As I was telling them this the other two bikes appeared looking for there mate. The police officers asked me to wait by their car. The injured lad spoke with the police soon after the ambulance arrived, then an officer came over to me and said they had spoken to him and his mates and “now have a clearer picture” and I was free to go, (I hadn’t until this point realised I wasn’t “free to go”). A little shook up I left, not from seeing the lad take a fall but from the treatment I’d received from the “mob” that gathered after the event, from the first “witnesses” question “did he knock you off?” it turned into I did hit him and was nearly arrested for causing an accident. Hope I’ve got this across in a way ya’ll can understand, now get on the internet and you see the same thing daily, in fact every minute people are reading (or usually not reading) something and putting there twist on it, re-posting it with there twist until eventually it has become something completely different and indeed could be considered in some cases dangerous, Be careful out there, they walk amongst us (and surf), and some tell lies, maybe it’s time to get a dash cam.