Well, tonight is a milestone in my car-free living journey. I was hit by a car.
I was going home after work heading north into an intersection where I had a green light when a big pick-up truck heading south cut the intersection to pass in front of me to save a whole 5 seconds of her night. My hubris overcame my best judgement and I started mouthing off to her (because I had the right of way) as I was watching her truck pass through the intersection and beyond. I left eye contact of my path for only a split second. When I turned back around there was a smaller car that was hiden by the truck and was following it. Even though my bike is lit up pretty well with continuous and flashing lights, she wasn't looking either. She didn't see me because her friend's truck blocked her view of me. I hit my brakes and my front wheel went right into the front of her car. I did a flip over my handlebars and landed on my back onto her car's hood. She felt horrible, as she should, and ended up giving me and my bike a ride home. She promises to pay for a new wheel, because it is completely out of round.
I don't know why I'm writing this. Probably a little bit to brag about possibly cheating death...don't forget my hubris. Probably a little therapy, because I'm still shaking.
So, that's my story for the day.
Platy
01-15-06, 01:38 AM
Did the crash seem to happen in slow motion? I'm just curious because that's the way it was with me once when I got left hooked.
We're all thankful you had enough good luck to walk away from the crash. But starting tomorrow morning I predict you're gonna be sore for at least a week.
The kind of "car free" I'd really like to be is not having to worry about colliding with one.
SaladShooter
01-15-06, 01:48 AM
Was she cute?
Gotta always look at the positives ;)
Dahon.Steve
01-15-06, 06:45 AM
If you start feeling pain, you better go to the doctor. I would have taken her insurance papers because you never know. Small claims court will hand you a couple of thousand for pain and suffering. Do you have any scratches?
Roody
01-15-06, 12:40 PM
And the obligatory question on Bikeforums....
Was the bike OK?
:D Glad you're alright!
2wheeledsoul
01-15-06, 01:16 PM
I had an almost simular occurance just yesterday.
The intersection is a four-lane road, two lanes either way, going across two-lane feeders on eather side of a major freeway. Even with the heavy traffic on this road, the intersection usually isn't a problem, as long as vehicles turning right on the feeder merge into the right lane. The left lane is straight only.
I was in the right lane intending to go straight, with a car ahead of me. The light turns green and traffic starts to move, when I hear fuious honking from the car ahead. A peabrain in the left lane decided on the brilliant plan to turn right, almost t-boning me and the car ahead. I yelled at him and cut a sharp left, passed him on his rear by a foot, and hard cut back into the right. The moron kept right on cruising like nothing happened.
Ah, dancing with cars at it's finest... :rolleyes:
Artkansas
01-15-06, 01:41 PM
I hit my brakes and my front wheel went right into the front of her car. .
I'm glad you survived. I hope you got complete address and license information. Take photos of your bike and your wounds.
My only suggestion is that I hope you have a second bicycle stashed to get you through when the worst happens.
Hamburglar
01-15-06, 06:17 PM
Did the crash seem to happen in slow motion? I'm just curious because that's the way it was with me once when I got left hooked.
We're all thankful you had enough good luck to walk away from the crash. But starting tomorrow morning I predict you're gonna be sore for at least a week.
The kind of "car free" I'd really like to be is not having to worry about colliding with one.
I wouldn't say it was slow motion. It was more like I remember hitting the car, my back hit the car hood, and I closed my eyes. When I opened them a second later, it was like I just woke up from a long sleep.
My back is a little sore today, but that may be because of my temporary sleeping situation (on the floor in a sleeping bag...long story).
Hamburglar
01-15-06, 06:18 PM
Was she cute?
Gotta always look at the positives ;)
Yes, and she gave me all her info. ;)
Hamburglar
01-15-06, 06:20 PM
If you start feeling pain, you better go to the doctor. I would have taken her insurance papers because you never know. Small claims court will hand you a couple of thousand for pain and suffering. Do you have any scratches?
So far, I think I'm good. My front wheel is a goner though. She promised to take car of it and gave me all her info.
Hamburglar
01-15-06, 06:21 PM
And the obligatory question on Bikeforums....
Was the bike OK?
:D Glad you're alright!
Front wheel is totaled. I need to take the rest of the bike in to my LBS to check it out.
Hamburglar
01-15-06, 06:24 PM
I'm glad you survived. I hope you got complete address and license information. Take photos of your bike and your wounds.
My only suggestion is that I hope you have a second bicycle stashed to get you through when the worst happens.
I didn't call the police. I was too shaken up and didn't think of it. Next time, God forbid, I'll know better.
I don't have another bike. I've been looking at getting another for a while, and have been waiting for a check to come in before I buy it.
Artkansas
01-16-06, 06:30 PM
Front wheel is totaled. I need to take the rest of the bike in to my LBS to check it out.
Yes, have it checked out thoroughly. Many things could be wrong. Make sure that the fork is still true, trailing angle is still the same, that the bearings are okay and that the frame did not get damaged by the fork.
Good luck.
gwd
01-17-06, 03:24 PM
Waiting for the police and getting an official police report gives you more leverage with the insurance companies when the driver is at fault. When I got doored I waited around to make sure the car person received a ticket. It was fun to listen to a fat cop berate the car person when she tried to give him the old "I didn't see the bike." line. It was more fun when the car insurance company got all deferential to me and paid for my bike repairs and made sure I understood that they'd pay medical expenses too- even after the legal time limit.
JMPetersen
01-17-06, 04:27 PM
You should hook up with this girl. That would be a great story to tell people that ask how you met. "She hit me with a car."
Hamburglar
01-19-06, 09:36 PM
Well, I had a migraine today so I called in sick to work. Later in the afternoon I was feeling ok enough to take the bike to the shop. The fork is bent back pretty bad. (After seeing how bent it was, I feel pretty lucky I wasn't hurt any worse, as the impact must've had a lot of force). Wheel is about $125, and they had a recycled fork that was the right size (and color is complimentary) that they're selling to me for $50. $175 for parts. No idea on what the labor cost will be.
I'm hoping my migraine is just one of my quarterly migraines and not related to the bike accident.
As You Like It
01-19-06, 10:54 PM
Hey, hey. I'm glad to hear you came out of that okay, and with only minimal damage to your bike. That follow-through turn is a beast. I've about been taken out by somebody "following" the first guy who turned, too. You can't trust anybody not to do something stupid.
cerewa
01-20-06, 10:22 AM
(After seeing how bent the fork was, I feel pretty lucky I wasn't hurt any worse, as the impact must've had a lot of force).
You know how they design crumple zones into cars? And how the old cars without them give the riders a much harder impact in a crash?
You crumpled your crumple zone and it cushioned your impact some.
richardmasoner
01-20-06, 11:42 AM
She promises to pay for a new wheel, because it is completely out of round.
That's probably because she thinks the wheel will be about $20, because kids' toys are all about $20 and, after all, a complete bike at Wal-Mart is only $50.
Hit her with the $200+ bill and she might change her story. Without a police report you might have a problem with getting her insurance to pay.
Hamburglar
01-20-06, 03:20 PM
Hit her with the $200+ bill and she might change her story. Without a police report you might have a problem with getting her insurance to pay.
True. I should have called the police. I realized that the next morning when I woke up. I wasn't exactly thinking straight at the time though.
I have other ways to track her down if she doesn't follow through though...I have access to a pretty damn good tracking database at my part-time job. I will find her...whether she ever pays or not is another question.
Roody
01-21-06, 11:25 AM
I believe you could still file a police report?
budster
01-21-06, 01:44 PM
Glad you're all right Eric! That's a good cautionary tale for the rest of us. Sorry you had to get hurt for us to hear it.
Try some stretching for the back. It's helped me a lot when I've been sore.
I'll check into it. I figured it was too late. I only have her name and phone number though.
I did find some info out on her by just doing some google researching, and confirms some of the things she told me, i.e. town she lives in, in college, sports she plays, etc. I think I may have even found a business that her family owns.
We'll see if I have to start getting crafty about this, but I'm still hoping she's a good person who will follow through with what she said she would do.
I still should have filed the po-po re-po.
Chris L
01-21-06, 07:15 PM
Glad you survived, but the really obvious question here is what did you learn from it -- what would you do differently next time to try to evade such a collision?
Hamburglar
01-22-06, 04:37 PM
Glad you survived, but the really obvious question here is what did you learn from it -- what would you do differently next time to try to evade such a collision?
About the only thing that MIGHT have prevented the accident was leave my eyes on the road. I let my eyes leave my path for two seconds (not long at all). Sometimes though you have to look around you though, so extra caution at such a time. If she hit her brakes when I hit mine, we probably would not have even touched.
sbhikes
01-22-06, 04:55 PM
I thought calling the police was a requirement in any accident which results in physical injury or $500 in damages. Or were you not injured?
Hamburglar
01-22-06, 10:42 PM
I thought calling the police was a requirement in any accident which results in physical injury or $500 in damages. Or were you not injured?
I was too shaken up to think about it too much. Didn't think it would come to even $200 damage. And walked away feeling fine, just a little shakey. Pain didn't start until about 5 days after accident. I'm not for sure that the pain came from the accident anyway. Going to try to see a Doctor and fill out a police report, if it's not too late, this week.