Sorry to hear about the crash. I'm glad it was not too serious. These kind of things always teach us respect for the conditions. Was he on a road bike. I can see how one can panic on a road bike more easily since you may not have your fingers on the brake levers when a sudden emergency rears it's head.

I am probably going to build up my sister a road bike out of parts on sale and one thing I struggle with is whether or not to put a mountain type handle bar on it or a drop bar. I guess I fear for inexperienced riders using drop bars if they are going fast and need to make an emergency stop.