So what would you do? You’re riding home to see your 4 month old son and your lovely wife, in traffic and doing all the right things - obeying all the rules.

The car next to you cuts hard across you, no indication, turning into a side street without being in a turning lane.

You touch the side of the car and glance off at pace trying your best to correct and turn away from any obstacles, hit the curb and go flying over your bike as it lands on you while you skid and scrape your way along the hard footpath…

Sort of like sliding along a cheesegrater at speed. You bounce hard but you’re OK and you stand up quickly to assess the damage - you’re OK - this is amazing.

Then the guy driving the car jumps out, and says, “I’m sorry, I made a late decision, didn’t check, didn’t indicate and this is all my fault - can I do anything to help?”.

A motorcyclist comes running over after seeing everything and exclaims, “That was a serious hit mate are you OK? Do we need to call an ambulance?”. I’m still standing, shaken and stirred and bleeding but … I’ve had worse falls and thankfully all is well.

My reaction was not one of anger - this person openly apologises and claims responsibility for his actions, as opposed to the many others on the roads who would probably have just driven away.

I almost felt awkward asking the guy to pay for damage to my gear, and my bike.

Not the best thing to happen to me - I’m sore and I can’t sleep well because one side of my body is pretty banged up but I will heal, and he is genuinely sorry for this.

I’m thankful for his approach, and I call him when I get home (I insisted on riding home) and let him know that things are fine. I’m so glad to see my family.

He will most certainly pay more attention, and I will ride more defensively given what is at stake.

I’ll probably make a friend after this is all done.