Exactly one year afterwards, almost to the minute, I rode my ancient Lambretta past the site of the "accident". And amazingly, saw almost exactly the chain of events unfold once again. This time there were no cyclists and no motorbike, but I was only 30 yards further back than 1 year ago when a driver just drove across the flow of traffic. He didn't look, he didn't slow down, he didn't take care.
We have to change the way we penalise bad driving. When two vehicles bump together, scratch paint, dent the metal, it doesn't matter how bones were broken, lives, lost or molecules of paint transferred from one car to another. The driver's error was still of exactly the same magnitude. It was just bad driving. So lose your licence! Lose it every time. Only when you lose your licence for a month for a minor scratch will you change the way you drive so that next time you don't crush a leg. The only reason the leg gets crushed is because it is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
So where is my leg now?
It's walking reasonably well. I still haven't run a single pace for a year, but I look fairly normal and the level of pain is low enough to ignore. Pain has become the normal state. It aches if I work at a desk, and hurts if I step down a little too heavily.
The good leg is approximately twice as strong as the bad one. In physio classes I can lift 12 weights with one and 6 with the other. I stand on one leg with a slightly bent knee on a trampette 10 times for 30 seconds, after which I have to take a quiet walk to ease the muscles. I can balance on the "easy" wobble board without problems, but that's because I surf. I can't do calf raises on one leg. The muscle and tendon pain is probably caused by the rough shape of the fibula and the massive callus. The flexibility still needs a lot of work. The ankle is still badly positioned. The foot is turned outward by a few degrees, and the lower leg is bent slightly so that the right foot is a couple of inches behind the left. That will never change now. It's for life. And boy, is it ugly!
After all, the police have a written statement, so why do you need to turn up in court? If you have no concept of the thousands of pounds an accident victim can have to pay to move from A to B, to get shopping delivered, to buy painkillers and antibiotics, to get their bath cleaned and their bed made, then going to your daily work will always be more important. ...until your child goes under a car, or you find yourself picking up your foot and throwing it back to where it should be at the other end of your leg.
And then you will understand.
