Commuting - I hit a person today :(

I'm a little shook up right now. It happened in the town next to mine and was about 4 miles from home. I was in the right tire track instead of the shoulder because it's narrow and the road starts to curve to the right. I saw an older lady standing on the curb getting ready to cross the road. I saw here look left and right. She looked right at me (or through me) before she started to cross. I saw her start to move and started hitting the brakes. Sure enough, she crossed right in front of me. I tried to swerve to the left and hit the brakes at the same time. We collided and both went down pretty hard. I asked her right away if she was fine. Her hand was bleeding but she said it was no big deal because she lived right there. The glasses/sunglasses thing she was wearing got destroyed. I told her that I was sorry and she also appologized and said that she never saw me. I've always wondered how pedestrian and bike collisions happen, but now I know. I wish I would have hit the brakes earlier or yelled earlier. I don't know what else I could have done. I feel very bad about the whole situation. I ended up riding to my friend's house right down the road and she gave me a ride home. I'm sure I could have ridden, but really wasn't in the mood.

Right now my left palm is sore and there's minor pain on the inside of my left foot, which is no big deal. As far as my bike goes, the handlebars are bent and the bracket that hold the cyclocomputer is cracked. I think those are the only things messed up. The good news is that the wheel for my recumbent came in today, so I should be able to ride that while I figure out what to do with the handlebars on the other one.

(Sorry for the cell phone pics; camera batteries are dead right now)
http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n286/Chalupa102/Photo223.jpg

http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n286/Chalupa102/Photo225.jpg

sorry to hear about that, I can imagine it is stressful to hit someone. I have had a lot of close calls, it always seems that they look right through you. Don't quite understand it, there are plenty of bikes around here.

Sorry to hear about the ordeal.

I had an incident where a driver zoomed past me at night and parked about a block away. They got out and I rolled right past them barely missing them. They looked shocked as I past them. They apparently didn't see my Ultrafire 501B red light, NR Cherrybomb, and PB Rack blinky from behind. They also missed my two 900 lumen P7's up front. Wish I could figure out a way to be more visible.

This is a strange story about people not paying attention to whats around them.

http://www.ngnews.ca/News/Local/2010-10-01/article-1812234/Man-struck-by-train-in-Westville/1


On Thursday evening around 8:00 p.m. Westville Police, Fire Rescue and EHS responded to a 911 call of a train/pedestrian accident on Main Street, Westville.
A Cape Breton Central Nova Scotia Train traveling west crossed the intersection of Main Street when a 39-year-old male pedestrian proceeding south collided with the train.
The pedestrian became entwined under the locomotive. The train was stopped and the man stood up and continued his way home.
EHS and Fire Rescue responded to the individual's residence where he was treated for a number of cuts and abrasions. The man is at home resting.
The matter is being investigated

Sorry to hear your experience. Hitting little kids and the elderly are some of the most worrisome things for me. It was kind enough for her to even apologize to you after being hit. We have to keep in mind that many elderly people have poor hearing and eyesight, so we need to be more "conservative" when encountering them, maybe get off the bike sooner than later.

Very sorry to hear about your accident. This scenario is exactly the reason I've been looking for a front blinker. I've had plenty of close calls and have swerved to miss pedestrians. They do 'look right through you' and never see you coming. Like many, I've been commuting for years. I ride extremely defensively. Still, **it happens.

I usually ride with my headlight on during the day but even that seems to blend in with other shiny objects. I'm still not seen. I think a front blinker will help.

I hope things work out. Keep us posted.

Jerry H

hi dan,

very sorry that happened. i'm glad that neither you nor the lady was hurt badly. worry not - the bike can be repaired, and you'll continue to ride and have many wonderful rides.

The pedestrian became entwined under the locomotive. The train was stopped and the man stood up and continued his way home.


You can bet that it should have been followed with "Alcohol was involved" :P

As I am getting older myself, I have come to realize that old people often cannot see or hear very well. I think a good idea if you see an old person is to stop and assist them to cross the road. You will feel good after this.

Sorry to hear that. I am a pedicab driver and have to be careful because people think its funny to deliberately step right in front of a 200 lb pedicab rolling 10-12 mph so they can ask for a free ride. Sometimes I wish I could hit them.

I would never want to hit a person not testing Darwin's Law though.

I could be misjudging the pictures but it looks like the handlebars are straight but were twisted in the headset. Are you sure you cant just loosen the headset, recenter the handlebars and tighten it again?

You ask how someone can look right at a bike and not see them. I don't know. I was once driving a commercial big rig: tractor, semi-trailer and pull trailer. As I came to a T-intersection (I was on the thru road), a car came to the stop sign. Just in case, I shifted down to 9th gear. I watched the driver look right at me, wait 3 seconds, and then pull out right in front of me. To make matters worse there was a car coming from the other direction. I frantically engaged the engine brake, hit the brakes (gently, a partial jack-knife would take out the on-coming car) and hit the air horn. If she couldn't get up to speed fast enough my choices would be to either hit the ditch on the right side (my death) or go right through her car (likely her death as well as that of the two children with her, one in a car seat). The puff of smoke out her tailpipe told me the air horn had gotten her attention and she did manage to get just enough speed just fast enough to avoid a collision.

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how she could fail to see a 75 feet long 12 foot tall white and yellow truck after looking right at it. I decided she probably drives to that intersection several hundred times per year and never has any traffic approaching from her right side, so she turns her head but is not really looking for anything. She waited the amount of time she normally waits and then went.

...I decided she probably drives to that intersection several hundred times per year and never has any traffic approaching from her right side, so she turns her head but is not really looking for anything. She waited the amount of time she normally waits and then went.
I'm sure a lot of us can agree with this statement. I, for one, can relate; I've also been the victim of driver inattention.

I decided she probably drives to that intersection several hundred times per year and never has any traffic approaching from her right side, so she turns her head but is not really looking for anything. She waited the amount of time she normally waits and then went.

You probably scared the absolute beejeebers out of her and I guarantee that she will be looking properly next time!

what time of day was it? what was the weather like? what were you wearing?

bright, multicolored clothing is a good idea no matter the time of day.

the advice "ride like you are invisible" works whether it is to keep us out from under the wheels of a cage or peds from under our wheels.

a few days ago i damn near mowed down a jogger in my cage. it was overcast and he was wearing a black sweatshirt. not particularly smart.

could i have been more attentive and seen him sooner?

yes, i could have and did feel a bit guilty for scaring the bleep out of him (and me).

the bottom line is, we can all pretend that we are 100% attentive 100% of the time.

we're not. it's why they call them "accidents".

so, dress like a clown. ride like an invisible clown.

I can't seem to win with peds crossing the street. They're either at crosswalks, where you stop for them and they wave you by, or they step off the curb at random right in front of you.

Sorry to hear about your wreck. Glad the two of you walked away alright for the most part.

.......so, dress like a clown. ride like an invisible clown.

I suppose that's one of the few advantages of being over a certain age - you stop caring if you look like a dork when riding, you just want to be seen / noticed.

To the OP, I'm glad that neither you or the pedestrian was badly hurt.

Happened to me once but I broke my right hand middle finger. The pedestrian was unhurt and just walked away and didn't apologize. (Maybe frightened). Had finger surgery and more than a year of therapy to recover movement on that finger.

At the end of the day, you were lucky. Were you going fast?

Were they jay walking or you had the right of way? Then even if you are a salmon its ok. (at least according to this tool)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJLrcG64ulU&feature=player_embedded

Thanks everyone. I think in a few days I'm going to visit her to see how she is doing.



what time of day was it? what was the weather like? what were you wearing?...

It was about 2:30pm and the sun was shining bright. I was wearing a hi-viz vest.



Happened to me once but I broke my right hand middle finger. The pedestrian was unhurt and just walked away and didn't apologize. (Maybe frightened). Had finger surgery and more than a year of therapy to recover movement on that finger.

At the end of the day, you were lucky. Were you going fast?

Ouch, that sounds like it hurt. I agree I was very lucky. I was going between 18-20mph before I started hitting the brakes. No idea how fast I was going when we collided.



Were they jay walking or you had the right of way?...

They were jay walking.

It was about 2:30pm and the sun was shining bright. I was wearing a hi-viz vest.

So, perfect conditions, in other words. Some times you just can't win.

Just noticed that we are neighbors pretty much. I did a ride to hamden mass with a guy from work, just to be able to say I rode to another state. I was thinking of going as far as Monson but got lazy.

Maybe we can go for a ride some time. See how many peds we can mow down.

I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how she could fail to see a 75 feet long 12 foot tall white and yellow truck after looking right at it. I decided she probably drives to that intersection several hundred times per year and never has any traffic approaching from her right side, so she turns her head but is not really looking for anything. She waited the amount of time she normally waits and then went.

I am ashamed to say that I have done this. Worse, I was on my bike at the time. There's a section of my commute that has me transitioning from a footpath to the road. The road is a one-way, two-lane service road that feeds one lane into a small clump of businesses, and the other lane onto the highway. 99% of traffic is in the lane that feeds into the highway. I hardly ever see anything in the other lane (the one I merge into). So when I saw that semi coming down the road, I honestly thought/assumed it was in the highway lane.

Imagine my surprise (and, no doubt, the driver's) when I realised, far too late, that it was in the lane I'd just merged into. :eek: I pedalled like crazy, and to his credit, he slowed down and gave me room to accelerate and to get out of his way.

It could've ended up very badly. The lesson's been learnt, however, and I'm now much more cautious about that particular area, and also about joining traffic in general.

Max

buy her a pie and bring it over

Dan glad to see that you all came out ok, bike could be fixed or replaced. In my morning routeI go by several schools and the kids usually are not paying attention I have to almost come to a complete stop to make sure they dont jump in front of me as they have so now for a block or two I am just cruising at a very low speed just in case.

This scenario is exactly the reason I've been looking for a front blinker.

I have TWO Magicshine headlights in strobe mode unless it's a bright sunny day. Do you think it helps? Nope... People still walk in front of me as if I wasn't there. Unless I blow my Airzound there is little reaction to the lights.

"so, dress like a clown. ride like an invisible clown."

So true. I use three blinking red lights at the back my bike. One under the seatpost, one on the rear rack, one Planet Blinky attached to the back of my helmet. The front of my helmet has a 58 LED flashing white light and my handlebar has a flashing multi-LED flashlight-style through insect lens. I wearing an orange visibility vest with 4 inch yellow reflective stripes and an yellow reflective band on my right ankle. I suppose I look stupid but it will be hard to claim they did not see me...

Glad to hear that no one was seriously injured. I recently bought a magicshine head and tail combo and run it on strobe during the day. I don't see a lot of peds but it grabs the motorists attention. People are used to seeing blinking lights on emergency vehicles the neighborhood school bus...etc. My wife was my tail from a long way off while driving in traffic, she didn't see the cyclist but the blinking caught her eye. A daytime strobe can't hurt in my opinion.

"so, dress like a clown. ride like an invisible clown."

So true. I use three blinking red lights at the back my bike. One under the seatpost, one on the rear rack, one Planet Blinky attached to the back of my helmet. The front of my helmet has a 58 LED flashing white light and my handlebar has a flashing multi-LED flashlight-style through insect lens. I wearing an orange visibility vest with 4 inch yellow reflective stripes and an yellow reflective band on my right ankle. I suppose I look stupid but it will be hard to claim they did not see me...

pics?

I have TWO Magicshine headlights in strobe mode unless it's a bright sunny day. Do you think it helps? Nope... People still walk in front of me as if I wasn't there. Unless I blow my Airzound there is little reaction to the lights.

That's disappointing. I just put a cheap LED strobe on the front. I won't generally don't have as much ped traffic to deal with as I do car traffic. Oh well. Hopefully every little bit helps. Haven't tried the Airzound yet.

Jerry H

people don't respect or don't realize the speed bikes travel at. I see people look right at me all the time then look the other way and just walk right into the street. I usually buzz them on purpose. for some reason they can't gauge the speed the bike is moving and seem to t hink they ahve plenty of time to saunter out across the street.

I'd imagine it's even tougher to be seen on a 'bent.

I'm a big fan of the conveniently mounted dingle bell to add a little friendly audio cue to the multimedia extravaganza of the clown suit. Yelling gets old faster for me, and the AirZound has its joys but strikes me as more of a revenge weapon.

Dan, how many miles on the rider mower for 2010, and can you squeeze a third axis into your eco thing? ;)

If the old gal bent your bar you may have broken her hip and just stunned her into not knowing, that would either be a hell of a hit or a hell of a cheap bar / stem. From the above shot, it looks a little out of alignment too far to the right (yaw axis) and can be corrected by twisting the stem back to the left (like another poster mentioned). From the front shot, there's either some weird parallax going on in the shot or the bar has displaced on the roll axis, which is strange, and/or it looks like it yawed to the left. Be sure to check that stem and fork, too. (and shorten up the front brake housing while you're at it)

I'm not sure this would have helped the OP, but I have a bell on my bike and it seems to be great for getting the attention of pedestrians. Unless they are deaf or wearing earbuds.

^^ I have gotten into the habit of often ringing the bell as I approach pedestrians, even if they don't seem to be about to step into the street. I think the most useful situation is if they are walking in the same directions as you with with their back to you - if they decide to cross the street and don't hear a car behind them, they sometimes don't bother to look back until they actually step into the road. Several have thanked me.

Sorry for your misfortune, but glad everyone is relatively OK.

This just goes to show the importance of planning for Murphy - expecting others to do the stupidest thing possible and planning your options accordingly. Expecting her to jump out in front of you might have enabled you to avoid hitting her. ;)

I totally sympathize. I have done the same thing. Hit a pedestrian so hard that her earrings popped off and she suffered a slight cut and possible concussion. She was in the crosswalk when she saw me so I figured I'd go around her (I was going uphill and was mashing those pedals) aiming for a spot behind her figuring she would keep walking. But as soon as she spotted me, she started walking backwards right into my path (she must have thought I was going to head her off) and I was standing on the pedals as I hit her so it was ugly. This was in front of her apartment building so I had to endure her neighbors' accusing stares and comments while waiting for the police, ambulance AND fire trucks to arrive (snarled 5pm traffic in both directions). When the policeman asked to look at my vehicle and realized it was my poor bent-handlebar MB-2, he kind of laughed and told me to go home - didn't even bother to ask my name. I took it real easy for months after that and was extra paranoid at crosswalks. This was in Brookline, MA on Beacon St. where there is always a lot of foot traffic.

^ she was in a crosswalk AND moving reasonably to avoid you? :eek: That's not good, and that cop had no business being casually dismissive. The rare upside to not being considered a proper vehicle with full rights and responsibilities on the road. You should have gone to buy a lottery ticket straight away, as it was your lucky day (and not hers).

I totally sympathize. I have done the same thing. Hit a pedestrian so hard that her earrings popped off and she suffered a slight cut and possible concussion. She was in the crosswalk when she saw me so I figured I'd go around her (I was going uphill and was mashing those pedals) aiming for a spot behind her figuring she would keep walking. But as soon as she spotted me, she started walking backwards right into my path (she must have thought I was going to head her off) and I was standing on the pedals as I hit her so it was ugly. This was in front of her apartment building so I had to endure her neighbors' accusing stares and comments while waiting for the police, ambulance AND fire trucks to arrive (snarled 5pm traffic in both directions). When the policeman asked to look at my vehicle and realized it was my poor bent-handlebar MB-2, he kind of laughed and told me to go home - didn't even bother to ask my name. I took it real easy for months after that and was extra paranoid at crosswalks. This was in Brookline, MA on Beacon St. where there is always a lot of foot traffic.
Lucky.

Crosswalks can be serious in certain cities.

I am sorry to hear about your accident. Bring her a pie or flowers she would like that. Unfortunately, I am seeing a lot of people riding on the sidewalks and they often do not annouce their presence behind pedestrians. It appears that they think their cycling skills are such that if a person suddenly stop, turn, or swing their arms will avoid hitting them. I was hit once by a cyclists as a child (40 Years ago) and I still remember the impact.

You'll never really know when accident will happen. No matter how you avoid them and how careful you are. I'm glad nothing serious happened to both of you and the old lady.

Buy her a bike :D

^ she was in a crosswalk AND moving reasonably to avoid you? :eek: That's not good, and that cop had no business being casually dismissive. The rare upside to not being considered a proper vehicle with full rights and responsibilities on the road. You should have gone to buy a lottery ticket straight away, as it was your lucky day (and not hers).

Yep, totally my fault. I admitted it to the cop, to the lady, to her friends, etc. I volunteered my information to anyone who would take it. Her friends took it down and I never heard from her. So, yes, I considered myself very lucky. Believe me, I ran out of way to apologize by the time the ambulance showed up. Accidents do happen - it's a result of being human.

^ stuff does happen. Good for you (and her) for being so human.

This is a strange story about people not paying attention to whats around them.

I wish I could find the link to the Dallas story from about 7-8 years ago where a woman hit a DART train while it was stopped. She turned at a clearly marked "NO TURNS" rail crossing, drove ~40 yards down the tracks, and hit a stationary 13ft tall, 10ft wide yellow and white train with strobes and amber flashers going in full daylight.

Here's the intersection; note the "NO TURNS," no left and no right turn arrows before and at the crossing, and "DO NOT ENTER" signs on both sides.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=st+paul+and+san+jacinto,+dallas+tx&sll=32.204319,-98.207247&sspn=0.012455,0.022724&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=San+Jacinto+St+%26+North.+St.+Paul+Street,+Dallas,+Texas+75201&ll=32.783954,-96.797687&spn=0.001547,0.00284&z=19&layer=c&cbll=32.783954,-96.797687&panoid=r3Aq0GdGZUY-4ynIRoLEWg&cbp=12,129.51,,0,3.13

This is what she failed to notice until she hit it:
http://www.trainweb.org/tony/eaglepics/IMG_1605.jpg

Fortunately, the only "damage" to the train was some pieces of her car stuck in the coupler, but she hit hard enough to total the car and injure herself.

I would be more inclined to think that she made that turn intentionally. Where things went wrong is that train was stopped and not coming at her at 40-50mph like she was counting on. Surviving was not what she had in mind.

Seven years ago I was riding with a group of buddies early one morning when the lead bike hit a jogger. The impact knocked out the jogger who was also running with his girlfriend. She didn't get hit but started screaming hysterically and we never got her calmed down. We called an ambulance who came and took him to the hospital...

I'm glad you or her didn't get hurt.

Ride safe,

Jeff

Is that a "yellow Ledbetter"?
http://www.trainweb.org/tony/eaglepics/IMG_1605.jpg

rider visibility is important. Most likely she was looking for large objects like cars and not a cyclist.

I was riding in the middle of the road and almost hit a runner when he suddenly decided to change to the other side of the road without looking behind.

I can see more accidents coming with electric vehicles since they're silent. They should have cow bells installed or something that make a car noise.

I have hit a person as well. Do I feel bad about it ?? No. Reasons why = I was going on the sidewalk, and the guy was walking looking at the floor instead whats in front of him. Plus wearing sunglasses. I thought he saw me, I have assumed and that was a bad mistake... It was a long time ago.

I had something similar like that hapen to me just yesterday, only instead of a car person crossing the road, it was a car turning into my road (and straight into the bike lane when the driver then corrected herself). Just something I anticipated so I hit the brakes. I wasn't angry at the driver, if she didn't see me then she didn't see me, just uneducated (and most likely, unable to be educated) as to her environment. I'm sure she meant no harm just like you or your pedestrian meant not harm.

Not your fault, don't sweat it. Just learn you gotta hit the brakes sometimes, even though it's the other person at fault.

In my 3 years of commuting across a college campus, I have hit 4 pedestrians. The first one was a guy who was crossing at a crosswalk, but he had a green light. I yelled and he looked at me just as I was hitting him. We both went down, but neither were injured so we went on our way.

The second one was much worse for the pedestrian, I was hanging a left through an intersection where I had a green arrow and I was at speed. The kid just stepped off the sidewalk as if I wasn't there, again I yelled and he looked, but this time I put my hands out and knocked him over like some kind of an open ice check. He went down real hard, but I stayed vertical. I stopped to see if he was okay, but there was very heavy pedestrian traffic and I think he wanted to look tough so he just shook it off.

The next two encounters, I have been better prepared and have been able to nearly come to a stop before any serious crashes occur

I was in a left turn lane in my car. The street in front of me has a dedicated right turn lane. Out of the corner of my eye, I see somebody's legs up in the air in this right turn lane. Turns out this young woman driving a small black car just plows right through a ped walking across the turn lane. Didn't even slow down. She does stop 20-30 feet after she goes through the guy, though. Broad daylight about 2pm.

I read in the paper later that the guy was ok. Had some lacerations on his face. I guess it could have been worse. She could have run totally over him with her car. I think the driver was 99% at fault, however, the old axiom for the ped that you should "look both ways..." could also apply here.