Jacob J

I took a hit on Friday. I was on my way home from work at about 3:45pm when I got “doored”. I was going about 12-15mph with moderate traffic around me when I heard the “pop” of the door. It was perfect timing, I went for the brake and started to swerve left but still hit the door. My forearm , bicep and shoulder took the brunt of the impact. No broken bones. (Praise God!) I hit the door and flipped/spun around the door onto the road. The bike has a nice dent in the frame, the front tire is bent and the rear brake cable as it runs across the handle bars is pinched. Nothing too serious.

The guy was driving a nice SUV with tinted windows. I hate tinted windows because it’s too hard to see people in the vehicles and what their intentions are. His door got messed up a bit but still closed.

Oh well, here is a pic of what my shoulder looks like.

Enjoy,
Jacob

substructure

Wow!!! Looks like George Romero got a hold of your shoulder.

Thank God it wasn't any worse. Heal up.

beingtxstate

gruesome...that's the kind of bruise I would have showed off to all my friends in the playground

Hope it doesn't hurt too much. I've heard it helps to lightly rub it out (breaks up clotted blood) but I'm no doctor. I hope for a fast recovery.

Did the driver apologize/react or care?

dipy911

Wow, all sorts of pretty colors. Looks almost like my shoulder did when I had a driver illegally pass me in a roundabout, no citation but her insurance paid . Only thing I changed in my riding was to take the entire lane, or just move to the left.

dipy911

jyossarian

Ouch! Feel better soon. Get the driver's insurance info and a police report?

oboeguy

No kidding. It's illegal pretty much everywhere to door someone. I forget the technical details, but there it is: dumb@55 owes you a new bike.

Sir Lunch-a-lot

Brutal!

Jacob J

"Did the driver apologize/react or care?"

He was somewhat shocked himself, and yes he did apologize. He also gave me a ride home. Turns out he lives about seven blocks from me. On the way home we stoped at the LBS and asked them for their opinion on the bike frame to see if the integrity had been compromised. (I was riding an aluminum frame bike and the dent was in the section fron the crank to the stem.) The guy at LBS thought it would be fine. He also called the next day to see how I was doing. Nice guy, just in a hurry to start his weekend.

"Get the driver's insurance info and a police report?"

We exchanged numbers but since there were no broken bones and the bike was easily repairable I told him not to worry about it.


Thank you all for the "get well" wishes! It's healing quite fast. I biked into work today with no real pain.

Jacob

divergence

You might get a second opinion on that frame. I'm not a metallurgist, but my understanding was always that dented steel frames might be fixable, while dented aluminum was pretty much a total loss. I'd be glad to find out I was wrong, but make sure the LBS guy isn't making a mistake...

ilikebikes

Looks like a demon is trying to exit your body through your shoulder! With a little luck youll have a scar or one of those semi-perminate bruises, great way to pick up the women (No disrespect ) but seriously, Im glad your not any worse gently rubbing the bruise will break it up, use pure coco butter as a lubricant and rub the bruise as much as you can, it works great be safe brother

unhookt

So what's the deal in these situations? Does the driver's insurance cough up for this? Did you fill out an accident report?

Helmet Head

You're lucky your attempt to swerve did not cause you to swerve in front of a passing bus or something.

To prevent this type of crash, you really need to learn to never track closer than 5 1/2 feet from parked cars - your shoulder no closer than 4 1/2 feet. I prefer to think of it as keeping my body at least 5 feet from parked cars. That way if a door suddenly opens, it's irrelevant.

If you're uncomfortable riding so far out in the lane, you need to figure out how to get over it. See the Advocacy & Safety forum for more on that.

bmike

...!

bobcrotch

I'm just happy to hear that the guy wasn't upset and realized it was his fault, I'm glad that you aren't seriously injured too.

But honestly if Jacob feels okay about the situation I don't think there is any reason to pursue money or the police. The last thing that people need is bikers going nutso over things like this if all parties agree that everything is okay.

Dahon.Steve

You should have called an ambulance. That injury should have ment a visit to the hospital. If an ambulance arrived, a police report would have been filled out by the officer. With that document alone, you would have been compensated THOUSANDS of dollars. In addtion, you really don't know the long term effects of that injury.

Allen

Wow, all the colors, impressive!
Sorry, I know that smarted.
Here's to staying on the right side of the grass. Heal well.

Jacob J

"gently rubbing the bruise will break it up, use pure coco butter as a lubricant and rub the bruise as much as you can"

Thanks for the tip!

"You're lucky your attempt to swerve did not cause you to swerve in front of a passing bus or something."

Amen!!

"To prevent this type of crash, you really need to learn to never track closer than 5 1/2 feet from parked cars - your shoulder no closer than 4 1/2 feet."

Five days ago I would have said that sounds excessive, now I'm not so sure.

"Do you ride this route often, or was this a freak occurrence?"

This is part of my daily route. There is about a five block section of small shops/businesses. If I ride 5 1/2 feet out from parked cars I'll have to take the lane. I'm considering going one block east for those five blocks. As I type that it seems like a no-brainer, but when I'm biking home it seems like a long way out of my way.(Lets see, one block east, five blocks safe biking, one block west, two extra blocks, yup no-brainer.)

"You should have called an ambulance. That injury should have ment a visit to the hospital."

My wife did talk me into going to the doctors when I got home. The doctor just smiled, chuckled and said "Man you're going to hurt tomorrow." He gave me some pain killers and sent me home. (I told you Honey I was just fine!)

"If an ambulance arrived, a police report would have been filled out by the officer. With that document alone, you would have been compensated THOUSANDS of dollars."

Accidents happen. No need to sue.

"Here's to staying on the right side of the grass. "

LOL, I'll drink to that. (It took me five times reading that statement before I understood it. I need more coffee.)

"Looks like a demon is trying to exit your body through your shoulder!"

LOL

Jacob

Tom Stormcrowe

Sounds like an honorable driver Rare breed and those like him must be encouraged, at least the honorable part I'll bet he looks more carefully before he opens his door now too