It’s amazing how the principles of defensive driving and Advanced Riding become second nature after a while. I suppose the two key elements that improve our safety is a vast improvement in our observation skills and better planning to deal with any perceived hazards.

However, no matter how prepared you are things can still, sometimes, go wrong.

Earlier in the summer I was chatting with a fellow IAM member at the Bury Hill café. It was a gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon. I recall that a part of our discussions focussed on the difference between passing the IAM test and gaining a Gold Award with RoSPA. My interlocutor was planning to go for gold!

As we both live near Southampton, I offered to lead the pair of us back via some twisty country roads, across Goodwood, and then cross country to the Southampton area.

No problems. I noted that the other rider was rarely closer to me than 20 yards or so, and frequently further back than that. In short, he was maintaining prudent gap that enabled him to react to anything he saw me do, as well as being able to react to any oncoming traffic.

All was progressing very smoothly. As we came across the Goodwood estate I became ware that I’d overlooked that it was the ‘Festival of Speed’ weekend and that the roads were fairly busy - it being around 17:00 or so. We were approaching a crossroads (yes, I’d seen the advance warning sign) and there were a large number of policemen in day glow jackets hanging about. It transpired that they were directing traffic across the crossroads to ensure a decent flow. We were travelling on the ‘main road’ and some 29 yards beyond the crossroads was a sharp, blind 45 degree bend to the left. Obviously, this was why the police were involved.

So, we’d wound our speed off from 60 mph to around 30 mph, slowing slightly further as we approached the crossroads itself. We were waved through the junction. I gave a little wave of thanks to the nice policeman, looked up, took the 45 degree bend to find ....... AAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGG GGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

I’d been waved through the police controlled area, only to find that immediately round the bend (there was police van with blue flashing lights on the verge by the bend) there as a 38-ton red articulated lorry completely filling the road.To be fair, he’d had to move out from the left to avoid the parked police van.

Now, as you might imagine, this was an extreme sphincter-clenching moment.Applying full brakes I came rapidly to a stop some 10 feet or so from the red lorry which had also come to an abrupt stop. Just as I was about to put my feet on the road I was aware of an enormous bang and I found myself lying on the road with my bike on top of me. Yes. You’ve guess it. My riding companion had followed me through he crossroads and into the bend. Only he didn’t have much time to even grab his brake lever and so used my bike to stop against. He fell off to his right.

Now, I lay on the road/verge slowly trying to move all my extremities and also trying to work out what had happened. During this process I didn’t move at all. That’s when I became aware of some very panicked policemen, my riding companion and the lorry driver all yelling at me, asking if I was alright. I took my time completing my little self check and establishing that nothing was hurting very much so I guessed I hadn’t broken anything. I reached up to open my visor, and begged the assembled crowd to ‘get the F***ing bike off me’. This they did, and I started to get to my feet.

My riding companion had fallen off his bike to his right, but had been thrown clear of his machine. Anyway, the people about helped us to get the bikes upright and moved off the road so that traffic flow could continue. The policemen seemed very pleased that I didn’t require an ambulance.They took no details of any driver/rider.

The two of us took some 15 or 30 minutes to ‘decompress’, and discovering nothing major wrong with the bikes set off for home.

A number of issues arose from this accident. Firstly I discovered that my bike was more damaged than I thought, requiring a new rear sub frame, a new rear diff unit and they replaced that fuel tank that had been dented and scratched. The total cost of the repairs exceeded £3700, and I believe that my companion’s bike cost around £1500 to put right. That’s before the cost of replacing my crash helmet and spectacles that had been damaged. And before the physiotherapy I’ve needed since to try to resolve the problem of sciatica that has arisen since the crash.

Could the accident have been avoided? Possibly. But we had been waved through by policemen who were controlling traffic flow. It was reasonable to assume that the road was clear (I’ll think twice next time!!). My riding companion had always maintained a decent distance between us, although he had closed up when we got to the crossroads. He was still not right on my tail, as it were.

Some wags at the RoSPA group I belong to asked if I’d checked in my mirror or done a shoulder check) before I applied my brakes. Ha ha!!! My mind was rather fixed on the very large red lorry that was blocking my path.

I’ve put the crash down to sheer bad luck (and some helpful incompetence from the police). I guess that old maxim that it’s always safer to follow a rider whose skills you don’t know has some merit. But, and this is important, I do NOT blame my riding companion. Sometimes, as the Americans say, sh*t happens. I understand that the insurance company are looking at making some claim against Sussex police on the grounds of their negligence - it seems that they didn’t even report the accident had happened!

But if I have one message to give my riding companion about trying to gain a Gold RoSPA pass, it’s that he needs to improve his observation and braking skills!!!!!!!!!!!! And for all the rest of you, the message is to maintain a decent gap and try to be ready for the unexpected. I’m certainly more cautious about both blind bends and following instructions by policemen than I used to be.