I had a nearly identical accident in 1975 in Montclair NJ. I was also going fast down a hill and a passenger van made a left turn into my path. I executed a panic right turn to avoid a T-bone collision. Had the driver maintained his speed or slowed down, I would have passed in front of him because my speed increased during the turn. The van driver panicked and sped up to outrace me. He came along side me giving me zero room. I put my left arm against the side of his vehicle to keep some distance between me and his car.

The force of my arm caused my elbow to break his side window and my body to brush against the side of the van. The door handle hit the side of my body and threw me to the ground. That door handle also cracked a rib. Door handles are now recessed to avoid injuries.

I was very lucky. I came out with a few stitches on the elbow that broke the side window, in addition to the cracked rib. The bike's only injury was a pretzled rear wheel due to the angle of the fall.

One contributing cause to the accident was that the sun was directly in the driver's eyes. He did not pick me up due to sun glare.

BTW, I live just past the bottom of that hill in Flushing.

I don't do screaming downhills anymore. My reflexes are not what they were 35+ years ago. I don't think I could execute a panic turn in a panic today.