jisho

I was commuting to work on Friday, coming down a slight grade perhaps about 15 -20 mph, but not fast enough for the car behind me who was dogging my tail. I kindly pulled into the parking lane, no cars, to let him pass. The next few seconds proved a stark remainder as to why I generally never ride in the parking lane. One of the two adjacent restaurants, Thai, Mexican, had dumped cooking grease in the street. I'm not sure what passed through my mind while I lost traction; had a sense of sliding on ice. Unfortunately that sensation was short lived, ending when the pavement and I violently greeted one another. Most of the impact concentrated on my left hip/thigh. Hurt like hell!! As I looked up, I could see the car for which I had pulled over back up, I guess he came pretty close to running me over, and then slowly pull around me continuing his journey. This must be so common place as to elicit little concern from him. Somehow I was able to crawl to the sidewalk. A few pedestrians later, a kindly gentleman asked if he could help. He called 911 and 20 minutes later the paramedics arrived. Good thing I wasn't bleeding. Spent half the morning in the emergency room. X-rays showed no fractures and I was subsequently released. Today is Monday. Most of the left half of my body is a color best suited for plumbs with a patch or two or raspberries added to the mix.

John Wilke

Man ... that SUCKS!

Is that legal to dump grease in the street???

jw

cudak888 

I dare say it is probably illigal, as it will no doubt will sooner or later enter the water drain and potentially contaminate the water supply. Additionally, if it is far enough out in the street, it might cause a hazard for automobiles as well.

I suggest that the OP go after the restaurant, if grease-dumping is, in fact, illigal.

-Kurt

fordfasterr

You would have to prove that they were the ones that did it.

I wouldn't watse my time... I See this as a lesson learned and an error on the OP's part.

Lesson = Don't give up the lane to cars unless you know for sure that you will die otherwise. lol

ItsJustMe

I'd certainly report them. I'd start with the local and state police, the road commission, and the EPA.
They may not be able to pin it on them, but if a few officials visit and ask if they know anything about that grease pool out front, inform them that dumping grease like that is illegal, and leave a card with them and ask them to call if they find any info on who dumped it, I bet they don't do it again.

Also report the condition to the road commission and let them know it's already caused one accident. If they don't get it cleaned up in a timely manner, they'll be liable if someone else goes down there.

fordfasterr

" Don't weave in and out between parked cars. If you weave to the right after passing a parked car, it will hide you from drivers approaching from behind you. Then you have to pop back out into the path of overtaking traffic when you reach the next parked car. Put yourself in the place of a driver a couple of hundred feet behind you. Could this driver see you? "

LINK

I don't know if there were cars on the side or not... but your scenario seems similar to this..

Jerseysbest

Yikes, they just dump grease on the street? Most places that I know have drums in the back that they collect grease in. If it wasn't just oil leaking from parked cars, I'd consider some legal action, more so to prevent any further injuries.

jisho

I'm a VC kind of rider. I would never give up my lane if I thought the outcome would in any way do me harm. The grease factor came as a complete surprise. As for reporting it, no one seems to care. The police informed me it was a civil matter; I guess a downed bicyclist doesn't warrant much attention. I'm still waiting to hear from the City agencies but I'm not holding my breath. All and all, I feel lucky. I'm battered but not seriously injured.

bbonnn

Gah! That stuff is like liquid gold to some people! Go forth, and let your local biodiesel distributor know about it. I bet the restaurant would be happy to make a buck or two, or just find someone willing to get it off their hands for free.

CB HI

That dumping is a violation of the Clean Water Act. Call both the local EPA office and your state version of the EPA (Department of Health for Hawaii).

If they get fined for the dumping, then use that as evidence for a small claims court case to recover your damages.

Your report will likely get listed on an environmental database, so if you know which restaurant did the dumping, include their name and address in the report.

Wogster

Call your local health department, ask for the folks who look after restaurant inspections, tell them your story, you can bet the restaurants along there, get a surprise health inspection, because if they are willing to dump grease on the street, they probably have other health issues.

Now call the city traffic department, and tell them about it, they will get it cleaned up.

sgtsmile

And if none of that works, fire a legal letter at your city citing dangerous road conditions and a potential lawsuit since you were injured due to negligence.

yes

Well, at least your head wasn't damaged. That was a funny little write-up you did.