I was hit by a car while bicycling in the summer of 2003 by an 18 year old who made a right hand turn directly in front of my path. I was bicycling along on a nice country road near the border of New York in Bergen County, New Jersey. There were very few cars on the road and the road had enough of a shoulder to make it feel safe to bicycle on. I was cruising along at about 18 miles an hour and came upon an intersection when an 18 year old passed me and made a fast right turn right in front of me. I was unable to stop in time and hit the rear of her car while she was in the process of making the turn. I went down hard. My abdomen hit the handle bars on the way down and my head and left side hit the pavement. Fortunately I was wearing a helmut. She stopped right away and I found myself looking up at her rear bumper.

The police and an ambulance promptly came. I was in a lot of pain but I was able to get up briefly and limp around. I did not want to go to the hospital but everyone present at the accident scene said I should not take any chances. I was taken to a hospital in an ambulance with severely bruised ribs, some minor cuts and bruises and some back pain. I was released after some x-rays and tests. The pain in my back and ribs got worse over the course of the rest of the day. The next day I developed some abdominal pain so I went to my doctor who sent me for more tests at my local hospital. I also started going to a chiropractor for the constant lower back pain. It took about 2 months for the rib pain to go away. I had many sleepless nights. I have broken my ribs before but this felt just as bad. The abdominal pain went away after a couple of weeks and the tests did not identify any specific problem. The back pain still comes and goes. What really bothers me about it is that I love bicycling, but I now develop back pain if I go out on long rides or if I do a lot of climbing. I never had this problem before the accident. I also have trouble sitting in a chair or driving for long periods of time. I never had a completely trouble free back but it is clearly worse now. An MRI revealed that I have a herniated disk.

I ended up incurring not only the medical problems, but a lot of medical bills (ambulance, hospital, medical tests, doctors, chiropractors), some damage to my bicycle and a lot of financial and legal headaches. Even though I was clearly not a fault, New Jersey’s crazy no-fault auto insurance and personal injury protection laws require my automobile insurance company to pre-approve, process and pay for required medical care. This would be true even if I was walking and I was hit by a car. Had I just crashed on my own I could have used my Oxford medical insurance, but the hospital would not accept Oxford because they said it was an auto accident. Had I been hit by a car just across the border in New York it would also be a different matter.

Because I do not drive that much (I bicycle about 10,000 miles a year, but I only drive about 2,000, and I often take public transportation) I carried the minimum auto insurance to save money. I had a $2,500 deductible with a $15,000 limit on medical expenses and the tort limitation option. So my auto insurance company is saying that I am responsible for the medical bills up to $2,500 and everything over $15,000. I had to fight with a precertification company that my auto insurance company contracted with for each medical test my doctor wanted me to go for. And because they are taking so long to pay most of the medical bills and in some cases are refusing to pay some of the medical bills, most of the medical providers have sent the bills to collection agencies and the collection agencies are threatening to ruin my credit rating.

Because I selected the verbal threshold tort limitation option, I could not sue unless I sustained an injury that is considered permanent. Because the herniated disk falls into this category I was able to sue. I have never sued anyone before and really did not want to sue in this case, but I did so because of the mess I am now in. I got an attorney who sued and this 18 year olds auto insurance company has offered us $3,000. That won’t cover my attorney’s expenses and fees let alone my medical bills. My attorney is, of course, rejecting this offer, but he does not expect to get much of out this and said it could take a couple of years to settle.

All I really want is to get my medical bills to get paid and to be able to once again go on long distance bicycle rides without pain.