If or when you will be hit by a motorist?

You are a safe and courteous cyclist. You obey all traffic laws. Your bike is in perfect working order. Your body and mind are in shape for riding. You wear a helmet and other appropriate gear for riding.

Unfortunatly for us no matter how well we prepare for a ride we can still be hit by a motor vehicle. Some of us already have been.

Luckily I have not been hit by a motorist, yet. But for me I believe it is a matter of when, not if. Every time I ride I expect to be hit by a motorist. Perhaps that is why I ride so defensively and have not been hit, yet.

So how about the rest of you? Which do you believe more, if or when? And if you have been hit, do you think it is only a matter of time before you are hit again? Or do you think that now that you have been hit you are "immune" to it and it will not happen again?

I try not to think about being hit. Scary thought. :eek:
I try to ride in a manor that is safe and my actions are predictable to motorists.
Luckily I've never been hit but I've had a few close calls.

I have been hit by a car and I feel it is still an "if" issue for a next time. Your poll does not give that option, I do not feel immune to being hit again.

Sorry about that gus, didn't realize that I could add to the amount of voting options until after I posted the thread. Perhaps I should kindly ask the mods. to help modify it so there are more voting options? Won't happen again I assure you nwt that I know I can have up to 10 voting choices. But thank you for your input.

I voted for "When you will be hit by a motorist." I havn't been hit yet, but I have come close to nailing a few cars (their fault a few times, my fault only once).

I have been in a car accident when there were no other cars or people around. That tought me that even when there doesn't appear to be any dangers at the moment, there could be a danger that you don't see until it's too late. It's just a matter of time before your luck runs out.

By the way, legally, my only car accident was not my fault. The deer left the scene of the accident! :)

Originally posted by Gus Riley
I have been hit by a car and I feel it is still an "if" issue for a next time. Your poll does not give that option, I do not feel immune to being hit again.

My experience (25 years ago, concussion, clavicle fracture, and bent-back 1960 Capo frame) and sentiments exactly, Gus. The risk is small, but it is not zero.

I've been hit a couple of times. A couple of times I've done the hitting. Every hit is a lesson, and every lesson learned is knowledge in avoiding being hit again. There is always another lesson to learn.

The only proviso I put on the above is that severe lessons like the 'hit by a car' one tend to only be presented after more subtle and less painful lessons have been repeatedly ignored.

Hmmmm,

None fits. It is still far too new. I was hit by a van on April 12. I believed I was a defensive ride. An uninsured idiot driving a van, did a "rolling pause" through a stop sign. I had the right of way. There wasn't time, there wasn't room to stop. I can't think about getting hit again. I am working my way through the insurance quagmire, and am going to be starting physical therapy. No broken bones (thank God) but much soft tissue damage and bruising. However, I am itching to ride - but alas, there is no bike. It was totalled in the accident.

Originally posted by Anastasia
Hmmmm,

I was hit by a van on April 12... No broken bones (thank God) but much soft tissue damage and bruising. However, I am itching to ride - but alas, there is no bike. It was totalled in the accident.

Here's hoping you heal thoroughly and soon! I also hope to have your attitude if and when I get smacked.

-Rob

Rob -

Riding for me is like breathing air. I am actually pretty irritable (since I haven't been able to ride or work out) and am thankful that I currently live alone - because I am sure that one of us would have sent the other packing by now. :rolleyes:

I love riding so much, I feel so connected to my core being and my Higher Power when I'm on my bike.

If and when you get "smacked", I am confident that if you enjoy cycling nearly as much as I do, you will hope right back on the bike!

i know what you mean. i've always been athletically-inclined and have thus had innumerable sports-related injuries. there's nothing worse than not being able to exercise. in the past, doing a lot of stretching has helped ease the mental and physical itch - have you tried yoga or anything like that?

re: the inevitable car encounter. that's pretty much my opinion - i imagine i'll get smacked one of these days. interestingly though, every time i've had a close call on the streets of philly it has been a big, shiny SUV with Jersey plates.... (just a minor heckle, forgive me ;) )

By using my bicycle to get around Chicago, it means that I never use the Dan Ryan Expressway, which I've seen ranked as the nation's #1 worst-designed expressway as well as the busiest. With expressways having no stoplights, no stop signs, no traffic calming other than traffic jams, and cars travelling 80 mph, I consider the expressway conditions far more dangerous than any road conditions that I will face on a bicycle. This doesn't mean that I think myself immune to accidents on my bike, but statistically, my risk is much higher in a car on an expressway than it is on a bike that never gets onto an expressway. (And unlike a car, I have a lot more means of avoiding idiot drivers. (When you're in a car, and you don't like the driving conditions, you can't pick up your car and walk it along on the sidewalk.))

This is very thought-provoking post.

I said, "if," since "if" is perhaps the most powerful, if not shortest word in the English language.

I have, however, been hit by a pedestrian, with disasterous results (but not fatal.) He "punched" me.

Do all that you know to do. After having done all, stand.

(Oh, and that time I slid sideways in front of a construction crew who cracked up over the incident, having watched me slide into a car. My buttocks graced the back door, after which the driver searched her vehicle for signs of aggression, but found none. As for me, she asked me not for evidence of hurt.)

(...is there a guardian angel for cyclists?)

:angel:

I hit a car after he failed to give way, I was following the road rules, but that is little consolation. I also hit a car 7 years ago after a car pulled in front of me and then braked to pull into a drive-way, another car was exiting the driveway so the car in front of me could not turn in and came to an abrupt stop. I had nowhere to go and slammed into the back of her car, again she should not have pulled in front, she should have waited 5 seconds and pulled in behind me. So two accidents with cars in 10 years of riding is not too bad, but it will probably happen again. Even if you ride defensively you can only have so many near misses before someone does something so unpredictable you couldn't even foresee such a situation. In the last week I have had two near misses with on-coming cars turning right, without giving way. On both occasions there was a car that turned in front and the second car has assumed that the road must be clear and has then begun to turn only to see me at the last possible second and stop, thankfully. It's only a matter of time.:mad:

CHEERS.

Mark

We drive on the left.

Lets see here, been hit by car, hit car ( yeah it was parked). Neither were fun. I did more body and bike damage the time I hit ( I do a coaches wistle really well), the time I got hit there was damage to the car. Just like surfing, everytime I lace up the shoes, clipin and pedal off I put myself in God's hands. Its amazing how I have had many " almost" and only a few " yeah that was a solid object". It all just makes me feel luck that I am still breathing.


Hey Anatasia. Sorry to hear about your incident. Lotza of luck on the recovery. Suggestion for motivation Aerosmith " Back in the Saddle again". Hope that cracked a smile for ya.

I've hit one parked car and one moving car. Both were basically my fault and I was far less experienced then.

I think about getting hit every day I'm on the bike and how to avoid it. I think of it as a sort of mental preparation.

It's getting to the point where a dangerously close call two years ago is nothing now. I think that if I accepted that it was only a matter of time before I got seriously hit, I'd have been hit long ago.

The biggest insentive to not being hit is the possibility that I won't be able to ride again.

MadCat -

I understand what you say, but I don't believe it is as simple as not wanting to get hit.

I -prior to the accident - didn't jump on my bike every day, just aching for all the hassles which come with an accident, the injury, pain, legal crap, insurance crap, etc....

I hoped on the bike, not knowing what beautiful thing I would see. I think accidents have much more to do with the CARMENTALITY (not to be confused with karma - lol) of North American than anything. The people in the shiny SUV's, vans and cars think they own the road alone - and that they don't have to share it.

Certainly defensive riding goes a long, long way to safer riding - but not all the way.