Originally Posted by
daveizdum
The OPs question is a good one. I understand if a car hits you. Some things are out of your control. What I am surprised by is that people here have said they hit cars or pedestrians. How is that possible? I routinely ride at 20-30mph and have had many pedestrians walk out in front of me, cyclists run red lights in front of me, car doors open, and cars pull out of driveways. I have never hit any of them.
I've had to jump off my bike a few times due to the lack of necessary distance to stop or slippery road conditions, but I've never hit anyone. If you maintain your brakes, have good reflexes and athletic skills, and pay attention to the road at all times (If I see one more cyclist on a cell phone I'm gonna' explode.), it doesn't seem reasonable that you should hit anyone, even at high speeds.
To those who have hit others, if your brakes were working properly, you have good reflexes and athletic skills, and you were completely focused on riding defensively, how did you hit something? What went wrong? I'm curious to know if there's something I'm overlooking. I'd like to keep my accident-free streak going.
I got doored last summer. Riding along on my MTB on a quiet neighborhood street and had a lady quickly flick her door open as my front tire was about even with her back tire. A small 2 door - In fact it was an older Acura Integra. The lady hadn't previously gone around me, or turned out from a side street ahead of me, so didn't observe this car backing into the parking space, or I would have given a wider berth. No brake lights ever lit, and she did not unlatch the door first and then swing it open. In other words, I had no indication that there was anyone in this car, or about to open the door prior to it happening. In hindsight, the timing couldn't have been better if she was
trying to door me. So when she flung her door open, I had no more then 3 feet to assess what was happening, get my fingers on the levers and grab a handful of brakes. The last speed I remember seeing on my computer was 17 mph. I'm not bothering figure out how many feet per second I was traveling, but I remember feeling my right fingers touch the brake lever and then I was airborne. I'm in my 40's so my reflexes certainly aren't what they once were, and I'm not sure what sort of athletic skills I would need to avoid that collision, but I'm sure I can't hit a major league fast ball either. I sliced my shin pretty good on something, and the bike ended up needing a new front wheel and forks, but I was able to ride it home, however I folded her door all the way over onto the front fender. I spent about a minute getting my bike ride-able (basically opened up the front brakes enough to clear the wobbly wheel and then spent 10 minutes helping her get the door of her car closed. I was just getting back into cycling, so I was not aware of how things worked in these cases. So I didn't get any information from her and ended up paying for my own repairs. It was only about 5 blocks from my house and yet I've never seen that car since. I wish I'd have at least gotten a picture of the carnage I inflicted on her car. It was impressive.
-T.