My first accident was in my first month of bike commuting. I was riding in the bike lane on sixth avenue and a tourist doored me with their cab. I landed hard on my left knee. The woman never apologized and the cab driver was yelling at her that he told her to look before opening the door, and then explained to me that more women do this than men. I sat on the curb trying to take stock of my injuries, and put the chain back on my bike and when I look up the woman is walking away. My knee was tender but healed fully in about three weeks.

About a month after my first accident I was riding towards the fifty ninth street bridge at about 6:30 a.m., there was a thin layer of wet snow on the ground and it was december so it was dark out. I was approaching an intersection all of my lights flashing and I notice a woman crossing the intersection. There was plenty of time for her to complete crossing the street if she kept her initial pace so I wasn't immediately concerned. As I neared her it became apparent to me that she had not yet noticed me, so I called out or whistled to try to get her attention, still she doesn't acknowledge me. At this point I resigned myself to the idea that I was going to have to edge around her from behind and I only had to deviate slightly from my path to do so. Just as I am about to pass her she sees me and panics. She steps one way, then the other, meanwhile I still had room to get past, so I held my path. But as I am passing her, her final fight our flight instinct kicked in and she stepped away from me, but when she did she shot out her arms effectively throwing me to the ground at at least fifteen mph, re injuring the same knee that had just recently finished healing. As I sat there silently asking the powers that be, "WHY!?", I find the girl standing over me pointing at her ear saying, "I'm deaf!", in the unmistakable deaf person voice. She was young and in my opinion probably not fit to be out on her own crossing busy streets in the dark. This time the pain was much worse but rather than turn back or call into work I rode over the bridge and the rest of the way into work in significant pain. Popped ibuprofen and did my days work riding home in an equal amount of pain. The pain persisted through the night and I was unable to sleep. The next day the doctor x rays the knee and says it's not a bone injury. I waved off an mri and walked with a brace and cane for the rest of the week. I also didn't ride for a couple of weeks. I was so shaken by this accident I bought heavy knee guards which I wore for months afterwards.

So far in 2011, no accidents. Hopefully I can keep it that way....