iamtim

Today *should* have been a good day. Got my new wheels (Shimano Tiagra hubs/Mavic CXP23 rims), my new FD (a Tiagra), and put the new wheels on the bike. Took off to go to work (half-day) and I'm cruising off to the right of a WOL. Because of a new shopping center it turns into a huge, long right-hand turn lane into the shopping center about 200 yards before an intersection, so I looked over my shoulder to find no traffic, signalled that I was going to merge left, and took the center of the right-most lane coasting to a stop behind one car at the red light.

Shortly after I stop, I hear a car pull up behind me, so I do what I always do when I'm stopped in the center of the lane -- I looked back to make eye contact with the driver behind me.

With hatred in her eyes, she says, "You aren't a car." I thought she said, "You aren't God," so I replied, "Uhm... yeah. I know I'm not God."

"No," she says, "You aren't a CAR."

"Uhm... yeah," I replied, "I know. But I have the legal right to be here."

The light turns green, the car in front of me takes off, I clip in and take off staying in the center of the lane (until after the intersection, when I normally merge back to the right) and just past the crosswalk her big f*ckoff Ford Excursion passenger door mirror slams into my left shoulder and throws me to the ground.

Moments later I get up and walk over to the smaller shopping center on the southeast corner of the intersection, and when she gets out of the car I exclaim in no uncertain terms that I am quite unhappy because by California law I have equal rights to the road.

"Fine, then, I'll just leave," she said, and attempted to get back in her car. I slammed her car door -- there was no way I was going to let her get out of there.

Anyway, two witnesses immediately came up to me and told me they saw the whole thing, and gave their reports to the police when they got there. A report was filed, and I have every intention of following this up as much and as hard as I can. There has to be some attempted murder or endangerment charges in there somewhere.

I'm pretty sore, but I'm OK. I've been in the E.R. for the last 6 hours. My left knee, hip, elbow, and shoulder were scraped up and bruised pretty badly. My helmet was cracked and I've got a couple of bumps on my noggin -- thank whatever dieties you hold dear that I had one on, otherwise my head would have gone straight against the concrete.

Anyway, that was my day. All on brand new wheels. *deep sigh*

Danielle

I was hit by a car today too. I was riding in my lane and the guy behind me wanted to pull over. So instead of pulling over behind me, he raced in front of me and slammed his brakes on. I was able to get as much to the left of him as possible and went down. I am amazed I was able to get out of my clips. Maybe the fall took me out. HE said he was going to call the cops. I told him to go f**k himself.

sbhikes

I'm glad you are relatively ok. I hope she gets prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Thank goodness you had witnesses, too.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I'm glad it happened to someone like you who a) did all the right things, and b) isn't going to let her get away with it. I hope your story gets in the news, too, but if it doesn't maybe you should write a letter to the editor of your paper.

genec

Tell him to call the cops... in fact offer to make the call for him.

DCCommuter

I'm sorry to hear that this happened to you. It sounds like you handled it well.

If the cops didn't haul her away in cuffs right then and there it's unlikely they will pursue the matter.

You should talk to a lawyer. An experienced lawyer will know that a criminal proceeding will make any civil action you take easier and more lucrative -- the cops and the DA will end up doing a lot of the work for you. He will also know the pressure points to put on the DA and the cops to get them to follow up and file charges.

Then you sue her for everything you can get.

supcom

Sounds like this woman's going to buy you a nice shiny new bike for Christmas. If nothing else, you'll be able to take solace that her gift will be one that keeps on giving. In her case, in the form of increased auto insurance premiums for the next three years.

Then again, Santa DA may give you a nice present in the form of a little prosecution of the sweet little offender. I hope you made sure the police were aware of her verbal harrassment just prior to Blitzen pulling her sleigh to the right.

MacMan

Hopefully nobody was witness to you caller her a c*unt and slamning her door shut. Don't get me wrong, I'd be inclined to shove my fist through her face but in today's society she stand a good chance of counter claiming that you "assaulted" her after the altercation and thet she stopped "out of goodness and concern" only to be threatened and physically intimidated. I know it sounds like crap, but I've seen it happen.

I hope you get to stick it to her in every possible way though.

UmneyDurak

Also based on what MacMan said, remove as much detail as you can from your post. No need to give her lawyer any ammo against you.

Dchiefransom

If the witnesses heard every word, then calling her a name shouldn't be a problem for you, but her saying she was going to leave the scene of an injury accident should be for her.

cc_rider

Maybe you should have let her leave the scene. Then when you call the police, report it as a hit and run. Much worse for her.
You had plenty of time to get the plate numbers, and with witnesses on your side, you'd probably have a pretty good case.

roadwarrior

A former racing friend of mine got hit and the guy's yelling at him while he's on the ground...and he said he'd call the cops. Turns out the police station was right across the street and a cop saw the whole thing.
The driver was arrested. The guy aggressively moved into him...obviously on puropse then unleased a stream of profanity at him after hitting him.
My friend was OK...but the driver's got a record. The cop sort of knew the guy and according to my friend, the record's caused him a lot of personal issues...like employment, credit, things like that.

People don't get it.

mechBgon

Well, if she held that little dialogue with you, she certainly can't claim that she didn't know you were there. It's a shame she didn't sign herself up for the full hit-&-run thing. I hope she gets the book thrown at her, at any rate. Get well soon, bro!

DCCommuter

Yes, definitely scrub any personal details out of your post. This site is archived and searchable via Google. Lawyers have been known to find this site and make trouble for cyclists by dredging up their past posts.

Looking quickly at your post history, I don't think you'd want to have to explain in court your postings about swearing at drivers or cycling after drinking.

Polonswim

I usually don't post here, but I like the part of "as much and as hard as I can. I get SO sick of people thinking that they have the right to do whatever they please; laws and common courtesy be damned.

Get her!! Take her car. Take her house. Take her first born male child. Garnish her wages. Garnish her husband's wages. Put her on the street. Make her pay for LONG after your wounds have healed.

Maybe she will tell her rich, arrogant friends that being a be-atch costs more than it is worth.

1955

You're lucky there was someone driving the SUV when it hit you otherwise you wouldn't have anyone to sue, I thought we had SUV's driving around without drivers running people over. Go after the driver of the SUV after all she is the one who hit you, people like that shouldn't have drivers licences in the first place. Maybe if it's taken away she'll "get it".

scarpi41

There has to be something done about these motoristd. WE HAVE EQUAL RIGHT OF THE RODE. I hope this lady will learn her lesson, but chances are that if you dont get her real hard, she wont.

N_C

Because of the circumstances you may have been able to charge her with assault & had her arrested. In fact maybe you still can. She hit you after stating she feels you have no legal right to the road. Sounds to me it was intentional after you gave her your reaction to what she said. I would call the police & find out if you can file assault charges on her.

IMO, DO NOT GIVE HER THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT on this one!!!

iamtim

When did I do that? Link, please.

DCCommuter

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...59#post1858959

The internet never forgets.

Nachoman

And sir, could you state for the record, just how often you ride your bicycle after inebriation?

Helmet Head

While you're at it, could you state for the record how often you post after inebriation?

manual_overide

"I've only cycled once while slightly inebriated, your honor. As evidenced by this bike forums post, it was not a pleasant situation and I've never done it since then. More relating to this case, no, I was not inebriated at the time of the incident, but I cannot say that I trust the SUV pilot's sobriety at the time of the incident."


hey, it's worth a shot....

oboeguy

That happened to me once. I went right to avoid jumping in to speeding traffic and got doored pretty badly. You got off easy!

OP, you handled things pretty well, all things considered. Throw the book at her!

Don Cook

"There has to be some attempted murder or endangerment charges in there somewhere. I'm pretty sore, but I'm OK..".....

You're being silly. But, if you persist you might look at "vehicular assault". But you would be required to prove "intent". I don't know why you're looking at criminal charges anyway. So you get a conviction and she gets slapped on the wrist. There's no money in it for you, and you sound the type to be looking for a payoff.
So, forget it. Have an attourney send her insurance company a claim for damages. Take the check and be thankful.

iamtim

HAH!

That's a total fabrication. I don't even own a Schwinn Varsity 10 speed, nor have I ever even had a Schlitz. I mean, the whole thread disintegrated into a slew of sarcastic threads about how people were "the worst rider ever." -- note the at the end of that post. I have enough character witnesses to prove that I am not a drinker, and that the "event" I "described" was a fabrication, but I see your point.

Truth be told, I have no reason to hide that. If this winds up in court, and the opposing lawyer brings up that post, I'll be happy to laugh it away as a desperate attempt to sully my character.