Bike Gremlin

I got hit several times by cars. Twice people were driving small kids, probably got distracted. They were OK. Apologized for what they did, took the blame. I asked them for bicycle repair costs and didn't even call the cops (I never got hurt). Came back several days later with receipt from the bike repair shop and they paid me and thanked me for not calling the cops and said they were very lucky for the fact I didn't get hurt.

I believe they learned their lessons and didn't see any point in "punishing" them. Mistakes happen, we're all human.

pedalsimotxilla

Glad to hear you are OK!

downwinded

Glad your not hurt. Hope things work out well with the bike.

AlmostTrick

How would you know this?

Leebo

Did you see her in your mirror coming from behind?

Jarrett2

Scary stuff. Glad you are ok. I hope her insurance gets you a nice new ride.

I-Like-To-Bike

He is a lawyer?

SactoDoug

She hit me on 24th St. just south of 47th Ave around 7:40AM. I was going north in the bike lane.

I did not. I glance at my mirror every now and then as I ride, but most of my attention is on the road ahead unless I am changing lanes or turning. In this case, I had been on the same road for two miles and had another two miles to go before my turn. No reason to pay much attention to my mirror.



Thank you everyone that mentioned getting a lawyer. Once I get a copy of the police report, I will go from there. I do have a prepaid legal service that I can use at any time.

Also, thanks for the suggestion on the itemized list. I have started the list.

This is the morning after and I am very sore. I am not going to go into much more details online since this could turn into a legal battle. I will say it certainly feels like I was just in a car accident without the benefit of being in a car.

I know how fortunate that I am. A few years ago a man in Hammerin' Wheels, a local bike club that I am a member, was run over during a foggy morning. He suffered significant injuries and brain damage. He was in a coma for a long time and even had the top of his skull removed for a while because of the swelling. From what I hear, he still has occupational problems and his personality is different.

Also, I am now a strong believer in helmets. I was ambivalent for a while after reading some different opinions on it. I mostly just wore one because my wife made me. I examined my helmet and it saved me from some serious injury. I did not even blackout. I will be buying a new one for sure.

I-Like-To-Bike

Your accident indicates otherwise.

SactoDoug

That assumes that I would have seen her and had enough time to get out of the way. Neither one is likely. There are literally, hundreds of cars that pass me safely every day on my 16 mile commute. If I spend half my time staring at my mirror, I am more likely to get into an accident from something coming up in front of me. I can say that on a daily basis, I have avoided many cars pulling out in front of me, turning left/right in front of me, cyclists riding dangerously, and innumerable amounts of road debris and obstacles. In my experience, I am better served paying attention to what comes ahead rather than staring in my mirror for what might be behind me.

ItsJustMe

Do not compromise on being made whole again. I wouldn't bother welding the frame myself - I'd get it professionally done, or get a professional to indicate that it's not repairable and get them to buy a new bike. Get them to replace everything damaged, right down to the helmet, the scuffed shoes and the socks with a new hole in them. Keep and photograph everything that you expect to be replaced. Be careful when signing off - make sure you are not going to have more medical than you're agreeing to.

ItsJustMe

I can't imagine being able to get out of the way fast enough on a recumbent. On an upright bike you might have been able to jump sideways, but you've only got maybe 2 seconds even if you're watching - the difference between a car coming up behind you and braking (people seem to like going full speed then slamming on brakes) and not braking is very little, and it's difficult to judge distance on a bike mirror where you're only typically looking with one eye so there's no depth perception at all.

scroca

Sactodoug,

I hope your injuries don't turn out to be serious and that everything works out for you. Good luck too with the bike repair.

rumrunn6

forgiveness is good but she's still "responsible" remember that when you are kissing your family and ordering your new bike and helmet

Bike Gremlin

?!? And the point is?

Will she do that again? I don't think so. Unless she's crazy.

Will she think better next time? Definitely, unless she's insane, in which case even 10 years of prison won't make a difference.

Do 99% of drivers know they can get in trouble themselves if they fall asleep and cause ANY kind of accident? Yes.

Daniel4

Not necessarily. No matter how many times you make a point of looking in the rear view mirror, some people just sneak up on you. This happens many times when I'm driving on the highway. All of a sudden someone zipped by you cutting you off in your lane and he's weaving in and out as you watch him miles ahead. Then you wonder how you didn't see him in your mirror weaving when he was still behind you.

I hope SactoDoug recovers quickly.

noglider 

That's a cruel thing to say to someone who was just badly hit through no fault of his own.

cafzali

We just had a conversation about this with a personal injury attorney at a bike club to which I belong last night. In many cases, insurance companies will play hardball over cases where they think it's likely that the other party will either not fight and/or to which juries are often sympathetic. The big issue in these cases is so many jurors let their bias against cyclists cloud their judgement. Given that, insurance companies have relatively little incentive to settle fairly and are willing to roll the dice.

Compound that with the fact that many cops don't even know how cyclists figure into the motor vehicle code and you can see the issue.

At my meeting, we had a cop who was a rep. on the county Traffic Safety Board. And even he was unaware that the NY vehicle code gives cyclists the right to not ride as far to the right as practically possible in order to avoid an object or other hazard that might result in a crash. This is the kind of stuff we're up against.

tjspiel

+1

Personally I like this approach. I was rear-ended in a car while sitting at a stoplight in the wee hours of the morning. I hear a screech of brakes and then BAM! my car is pushed all the way through the intersection. I look behind me to see a heavily damaged car back away and then take off. The backrest of my driver's seat is laying in the compacted trunk which seemed to occupy the space that was the back seat. If I hadn't had a death grip on the wheel I'd be laying down instead of sitting.

A group of teenagers that happened to be out called the cops and an ambulance. They checked me out but other than shaking from the rush of adrenaline I was OK.

Over the next few days I felt sore but it wasn't long before I was perfectly fine.

My point is that whiplash is not a guaranteed result of an accident like that. I don't know if whiplash is something a doctor can diagnose right away or if it takes a certain amount of time to manifest itself. Anyway, while I certainly would want to get compensated for any serious injury and lost wages, I think that very often in the long run getting lawyers involved in these kinds of things profits lawyers at the expense of everyone else. I would avoid it unless the injuries are serious and the drivers are unwilling to cooperate.

In my example it was a hit and run. I could have been seriously hurt and they just left. Would not be surprised given the hour if the driver was drunk. Those kinds of people should be punished. The ones that do the right thing and accept responsibility for what they did should make it right with person they injured, but punishment beyond that can do more harm than good.

CrankyOne

The problem with this, at least in the U.S. is that this keeps a crash from being included in statistics. Then, when politicians, planners, traffic engineers, and others look at the stats they conclude that drivers hitting cyclists is not a big issue because according to the statistics it doesn't happen very often. A couple of years ago there were officially 2 incidents in my city of drivers hitting cyclists. One of those was me. If I remember correctly there were 3 others just from the local bike club but none were reported even though there were injuries in two of them. Sheriffs office guesstimated that there are actually about 15 in the city each year but they rarely write a report.

ALWAYS report every incident to LE and make sure a report is filed and that you get the report number. It's important that politicians and others know the realities of our roads and drivers so that they can be made safer.

nkfrench 

OP, I am sorry to hear about your crash.

But posting accident details isn't a good idea until you have settled this case. The insurance people and lawyers have internet access too and are quite resourceful.

AlmostTrick

Good advice. I figure as long as you watch what you say/post you'll be ok. I see nothing here that would hurt the OP's case, but then I'm not a lawyer! You could always ask the mods to delete the thread to be safe.

RomansFiveEight

Also, be careful with the "How are you feeling" question.

I got rear-ended (in a car) by a driver who was staring at a cellphone screen. I was stopped in the road behind a stalled car and was hit by a car going 60mph who never even touched the brakes. Both cars totaled. Actually, the ENGINE from her car went bouncing off into a ditch and the car was resting on the firewall. It was brutal. Luckily, everyone was okay. But I had some serious whiplash and some bruising (Airbags don't deploy in a rear end collision on that car and my head wanged the steering wheel). Several weeks of doctors visits, chiropractor, etc. Some light physical therapy. Missed some work, several grand plus my car they had to total out. I was getting phone calls about once a week from an insurance agent who kept saying "We're just calling to see how you're doing. Are you feeling okay? How are you holding up?" And I simply responded, "I'm in pain." Finally, when that didn't work, I got a "Well, our client tells us that you were at fault" phone call which was responded with a "The police report says she was!" (They tried to say that me being stopped in the middle of a road not at a stop sign / light was the cause of the accident. Well, I stopped behind a stalled car. Was I supposed to run them down? And, of course, if she was paying attention...) Then suddenly they went from trying to be my friend (Trying to get me to say "I'm fine"), to suddenly telling me that they were going to take me to court! Though, fortunately for me, a good friend of the family is an attorney, and called them up! Asked them when we were due in court. In other words, called them out on the carpet and said "Let's go", and finally, the check came.

Oh, I forgot to mention, after hitting me, this girl then pinballed off of 5 other cars (amazingly, nobody was seriously hurt). I was the first hit. I'm sure the insurance company was paying out big.

Just remember, the person you're calling, they are getting paid to NOT pay you.

RomansFiveEight

+1 I know a lot of motorcyclists are bit on leaving the bike in gear at a stoplight and staring at the mirror. But, if they see someone barreling up behind them, where exactly do they intend to go? I've thought about it sitting on my motorcycle. Once in a while there's somewhere to go but most of the time, I've got nowhere to go.

locolobo13 

Haven't ridden a motorcycle in a while. But used to stay back far enough to pull up and to one side or the other or the car in front of me depending. If you're at the front of the line sometimes the crosswalk in front of other traffic or onto the sidewalk is a possibility. Never had to use my escape plan. But almost always looked for one.