sexy cyclist:

Get a contingency lawyer and do it quickly. These guys don't get paid unless they win and you must find one with a history of winning -- I have decades of experience with this.

Insurance companies are crooks, one and all. They will screw you if they can. A skillful lawyer can make them pay. You cannot.

It is a shame that civil law is so corrupt and cynical, but --- it is.

Get a skilled and experienced accident lawyer! I guarantee you that the insurance company is waiting for you to give up or for time to run out. It's what they do.

Joe

BTW: I suspect, from your 'name', that you are a woman. Women tend, in my experience, to believe is fair play. Insurance companies are run by greedy, arrogant men with no sense of fair play and little regard for women. go get'em! -- JM

Sounds like the right call as you know when a commute is dangerous. Have been ass slapped, cursed, cut off, cut close, attempted pin (light), honked, etc. And that is in a location I consider pretty good for cyclists. For whatever reason driving seems to bring out some of the angriest people.

Are we being trolled? Where's the OP?

Carolinas. North Carolina, if I remember correctly. He has apparently ridden tens of thousands of miles all over the eastern half of the country over the last couple years, but commutes

Not only is the OP MIA, but some of my follow-up posts are MIA, as well. I have tried to respond to one of mcours2006's posts twice and neither time did the reply appear. The only thing I might have said "wrong" is that since the recent presidential campaign, more people than ever seem to be emboldened to say or do anything they want to anybody they disagree with. I suppose our moderators are Trump supporters. (Let's see if this post also gets zapped.)

Follow-Up: OK, it's still here, so let me just add that I am a bit concerned about how people are going to act out on their contempt for cyclists over the next few years, given the tone the incoming administration has set so far.

I read your initial post, but then a few hours later it was gone. Strange.

In case you missed the follow-up edit to my previous post, what I added was:

Follow-Up: OK, it's still here, so let me just add that I am a bit concerned about how people are going to act out on their contempt for cyclists over the next few years, given the tone the incoming administration has set so far.

We need a new sub-form for post-apocalyptic cycling.

But seriously, elections don't change peoples' character.

this one has emboldened the most sinister & violent in our society thereby making it acceptable to exhibit those traits publicly thus influencing children who are developing reason & character. the dangers are 10-fold & will be long lasting, perhaps irrevocable

Right on, Rumrunn. I used to be considered the Voice Of Reason at work when it came to acceptance of people and cultures that are "different." From the time Donald Trump hit the campaign trail, my status and credibility began to diminish. When he started dominating the headlines, I became a laughable old fart. My only hope to ever be redeemed was to wait until he got squashed in the election. Now I am irrelevant.

I see how intolerance has already infected my 7 and 10-year old grandchildren, who make gay jokes and mock Hispanic people while their parents stand by and wait for my wife and I to correct them. And as I mentioned earlier, I had to bite my tongue while a successful, 30-something surgeon let a nauseatingly derogatory comment about gays and cyclists roll off his lips effortlessly. This is going to be a big, big problem, and it's going to trickle down to people who ride bicycles.

The OP is f/k/a buffalobuff.

Definitely a step backwards but I don’t believe it is irrevocable. More like distress of the privileged taking a last swipe. They're tired of watching the world change in ways they don't approve of. Many see this as their last chance to hold things back to the way they were in the past.

But continue to change the world will… inclusion and cooperation will prevail, as will bikes as useful transportation.

Every time a cyclist allows himself to be bullied off our public roads the terrorists win. I refuse to give in to them.

I agree, but let's not pin it all on the "privileged." Most of the people I work with are laborers and office workers who feel they never had permission to voice their racist and hateful opinions before now. Many are unsatisfied with their social and economic status and need to blame that on someone else. I think (actually, I'm pretty sure) that when these people see a physically-fit, decked-out rider on what looks like an expensive bike (which is how ALL riders and bikes look to those who don't know better), they see the self-loving, financially successful person they want to be and they immediately go into envy mode, which almost always turns ugly in the end.

Maybe we should stick to the original question regarding the Op's accident and decision to quit bike commuting. If the thread continues on this tack, relating to Trump or social/political trends in the US, we can expect tho mods to either close or move the thread to P&R sooner rather than later.

The deletion of certain prior posts along these lines should have been fair warning.

That's why I've tried to bring it back to bicycling at the end of each of my posts.

So let's just forget how we got here. The fact (and I use that word pretty confidently) is that there seems to be a trend toward people treating other people badly because they do not fit into the set of standards they have manufactured in their minds. I see it every day and I know I'm not the only one.

Many people have negative attitudes toward cyclists and, while I have no personal experiences to cite, I hear from many, many other cyclists that it's getting ugly out there on the road. Perhaps it's just a coincidence, or just the fact that more and more people are cycling these days. I don't want to pretend to have the final word.

My advice to SexyCyclist (if there IS such a person) is not to pack it in and let the bad guys win. Ride your bike responsibly and within the law, smile at the driver next to you whenever you can, and be prepared for people to behave their very worst. That way, you (and all of us) will always win.

I retired .. My commute is to have some Pints with my friends ..

There's usually no other bikes on the road when I commute to work on this wearing my highway safety vest:



When it's 20 degrees out I'm pretty sure no motorist sees me as a "financially successful person decked out on an expensive bike that they want to be".

I'll drink to that!

I felt the disturbance in The Force the nanosecond the o.p. hit the wire. It has taken every ounce of restraint I possess to not immediately denounce it as bullshizzle. Sadly, the backlash would have been against me, not the o.p. But, yay, my faith in humanity is restored. But what took youse so long? Its been days!

see post #34!

LOL. Yeah, I think you're right.

Don't give up. I've been commuting for over 10 years. Just logged over 11,000 in 2016. Had things thrown at me, drivers cut me off and jump out of their cars to fight, hit from behind by a car... I must admit, I watch my mirrors more than the front of the road and ride with a camera on the bike, but I assert myself and make myself known. I yield only out of courtesy, but otherwise, take my share of the road when safe. After my accident, I have been taking trails when possible (more peaceful and sometimes faster) but otherwise stick to the roads. I ride 365 days in all weather. The local folks, I think, got used to me, which hopefully makes it safer for other cyclists.

I know it can be intimidating, but awareness is your best defense. Be as predictable as possible, and try not to antagonize the idiots, even my middle finger gets a lot more sun than any of my other fingers at times. I'll see them tailing me in my mirror, and after some time, they go around. Haven't been intentionally hit yet, but I'm always looking out for distracted drivers.

Easier said than done, but do not give up the cycling lifestyle. When I pull my 2 wheel Burley trailer loaded with groceries or gas cans for my mower, they tend to gawk in curiosity and go around. Don't think they want to hit a bike toting 30 gallons of gasoline. Good luck, and think it over.

I'm worried the day when I want to quit commuting due to traffic fears will come too. One of the reasons I haven't gotten a nicer bike is the worry of suddenly finding myself in the OP's spot and not wanting to ride at all.

I've done some bike advocacy over the years too, and whenever I ask about making bicycling safer by making our legal rights to ride on the roadways important enough to protect with fines/punishment strong enough to deter bad behavior by motorists I keep hearing how multi million dollar infrastructure changes that may be completed in the future is a more likely outcome.

Damn that's crazy. My commute is 31 miles round trip, mix of arterial, neighborhood and rural roads, and I've NEVER had such things happen to me. Even people yelling or otherwise saying anything is extremely rare. Number of close passes per year can be counted on one hand.

But I also have to wonder where the OP is.