Old 09-22-05 | 11:23 PM
  #28  
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HillaryRose
grouchy bookseller
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 89
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From: Chicago metro area
Three times for me as well.

first: About four years ago, I was hit by a drunk driver while I was on my way to work. I was going through an intersection where I had the green light. He had the red but just kept going. He must have been slowing down/trying to stop, but the force was enough to throw me off my bike and send me sailing about fifteen feet. Car was the guy's friend's minivan. Guy was hauled away in cuffs by the police. Bike damage- substantial. It was theoretically fixed, but it never rode quite right after that and I soon replaced it. Damages to me- rather severe bruises all over my body, but nothing serious. Oh, yeah, and I lost about three days of my life when I had to go to court as a witness to his dui case.

second: On my way home from work, at about five in the evening, this lady driving a honking big suv cut me off, making a right turn into a parking space. I slamed on my brakes just barely in time so I wasn't hit dead on. But the recumbent that I was riding at the time, the back wheel popped up and basically threw me into the side of her suv. And then somehow, this suv ran over my foot with its rear wheel. I don't know how or why it didn't break my foot. This suv was one of the really huge ones, a lincoln navigator or something like that and must have weighed a ton. Damage to bike, zip. Damage to me- a bruise on my forearm. And the fact that even to this day, two years later, I'm too scared to go down that street. That was also when I stoped riding the 'bent.

Third time- I was stopped at a four way stop, just waiting for the other cars to go through so I could take my turn when this woman driving a minivan rear ends me. She'd been pulling out of the convenience store and must have been juggling a soda and her cell phone or something while rolling to a stop. It threw me off the bike to the ground. I wasn't hurt other than a tiny bit of road rash on my knee, but the bike had to have its back wheel trued.

Three minor incidents in as many years is not a good track record, but I think I've learned my lesson. In all three cases, I had been just assuming that the cars were going to do what they were supposed to do- stop at stop lights and signs, use their turn signals, etc. Now, I cycle more defensively, more alertly. I now know that I can't count on them to see me or to do the right thing when they do.

I've also been hit by a car while I was pedestrian, and honestly, that was far more frightening than any of my bike accidents. I was also hurt worse, ending up with a small part of my arm that was numb for several months, where I'd hit the pavement and gotten a bruise that when all the way to the bone.
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