colleenreckless

hey! i got hit by a jerk who drove off afterwards. if any of you are in palo alto (around stanford) and see an older man (short white hair) driving a royal blue new mini cooper with a white roof, let me know. his car will also have a dent and a huge scrape on the passenger side... i reported it to the police but because the fart face drove off, i couldn't get enough of his license plate for it to be any help.

any ideas what else i can do? the police officer i talked to got so angry when i told her what happened. she said, "you keep your eyes out for that guy. if you see him, you gve him a what for, and then you give me a call." sweet.

'nother

That sucks, hope you are okay!

I will be on the lookout. I ride around there all the time.

colleenreckless

thanks! i appreciate it. i'm ok; its the second time i've been hit by a car in the past six months (i got hit by a taxi in sf on bike to work day!! aahh!) i'm more annoyed than anything. i mean, come on, people! both times, too, involved cars swerving into the bike lane to pass on the right. :[ i just hope i find this a-hole and get to yell at him. i bet he's a professor at stupid stanford.

UmneyDurak

I'll keep an eye out. Try hitting up local body shops.

CB HI

A reasonable estimation. Consider riding around the facualty parking at a time around when he hit you, especially on the same day of the week. You may catch the SOB.

sgtsmile

Ask at local mini dealerships, ask at local body shops. That car will show up someplace. Because of the kind of car it is, any body shop that has to replace any fender or light or whatever, will source it from the mini dealership - odds are good that there is not a ready supply of aftermarket crap for that car yet. Phone the police officer back, suggest this to her, and ask if she can call the dealership and explain they are investigating a hit and run involving a blue mine etc etc. and would appreciate a phone call if anyone calls privately or from a body shop looking for parts related to this crash. See the story below for reasons you might get lucky.


At times, due to load, the police do not check all possible places for such things. I remember helping to catch a thief who broke into a friend's house and stole his cd collection. Thing is, he collected classical music. The police figured it was long gone - a reasonable supposition based on years of experience trying to track stolen cds etc, but I figured that anyone who threw a brick through a window and stole cds likely did not listen to Bach. Guess what? neither did the owner of a used record store who called the cops shortly after we suggested such a possibility to them. The arrest followed.

Kayakado

That's ridiculous, whith a partial plate number and vehicle description they should be able to run a computer check to see how many are registered in the area and keep an eye out in the neighborhoods of those vehicles. Chances are there aren't that many minis like that around. Certainly it's not like looking for a Ford Taurus. If it was one of their family they'd find the guy immeidately.

bbonnn

Yeah, I find myself riding up around Palo Alto sometimes too. I'll keep an eye out. Do you think he even saw you or knew he hit you? You said the passenger side, so if he's a major oblivio, he might not even realize it happened until he goes to gas up.

It's scary and frustrating to read about how many cyclists have been hit. I don't know if you were geeked out in bright clothes and had lights on your bike, but, if anyone is so inclined, we can take this as reminder to keep the batteries in our lights fresh, and wear bright clothes, and don't zone out on the bike, and all that. I'm not yet at the point where I do the "driving blackout" thing on a bike (you're driving your normal commute route, and you realize you're almost home and can't remember anything about the last 10 minutes except what was on the radio), but I've come close. That's ooky to me. Anyway. Off topic.

Good luck!

Bikepacker67

Get the cops off their asses!

Fer crissake, how many royal blue new mini coopers are in the P.A. area?

webist

Good luck with your search. Glad you are well.

colleenreckless

actually, he stopped and looked at me. and i picked up my bike and kicked his door and said "PULL OVER M*F*ER" and he just looked away and drove off. hence, my uncontrollable rage. i am going to find this guy and stick it to him! felony city, here he comes. i am not some renegade cyclist that darts in and out of cars and rides the wrong way down the street. drivers need to be more careful (this guy was passing on the right, so he doesn't win good driver of the year award, anyway) and this is totally unacceptable.