Speaking of hitting cars at night, I got in a nasty wreck this past Saturday night/Sunday morning. I was in the bike lane on a really steep hill following a small sedan throught residential going about 25-30 mph. Its dark, I have full lights. I'm about 50 ft behind him, keeping up (actually had to feather the brakes to keep from getting too close). In retrospect the guy was clearly lost and in the wrong neighborhood. Approaching an intersection (no stop sign, we have right of way) he decides to turn right (no signal) onto the side street so I continue like normal, passing on the left.
Except he isn't turning, he's doing an illegal u-turn (without ever signalling!) and suddenly his front end is right in front of me and all I can do is grab a handful of brake before I t-bone him at almost full speed. I break his driver's side window with my knee, go over the hood, breaking the windshield, then land on the other side.
The police report has a nice diagram of the whole thing, I'll post it when I get to scanner.
Anyhow, Guy immediately realizes what a dumb@ss he was, and freaks out, as I calmly tell him to call an ambulance and police. They're there in 2 minutes, and I get carted off in the meat wagon while he gets a citation. Bike is totalled, his whip doesn't look too hot either, but spine/limb x-rays all turn out negative, I just need stitches in my leg. No idea what cut me, possibly my stem as I went over the bars. His insurance is covering
everything. Can't replace my favorite jeans that the EMTs cut off thought...
Moral is...If you ride at night, you better be lit up like a 747 on final approach.