bigdufstuff

My worst fear happened, I was hit by a car from behind and it was a hit and run. In the end nothing more than some big bruises, but it could have been a lot worse. I'm going to be off the bicycle until I heal (good thing work is within walking distance). I imagine my first bike ride once I'm better will be a bit scary. I've noticed most people's knee jerk reaction is to blame the victim "you shouldn't be riding at night", "you should know people drive fast and out of control on that road", and so on. In reality there is only one person to blame and that is the driver that hit me.

Damage to my bike includes rear wheel totally wrecked (notice the rim is OUTSIDE of the seat stays), rear tire damaged and the handle bars are out of alignment with the front wheel. From the looks of it, it appears my frame is not bent. Think I should have this checked by a professional or trust myself?

Here are some pictures of the damage:

eubi

Too bad you didn't get a description of the H&R vehicle.

Did you file a police report? This may be required for insurance.

It looks like a very low speed crash.

Glad you are OK.

fordfasterr

don't worry, u were riding a fixed gear .. u will live forever!!!!!!!!

tarwheel 

Definitely file a police report if you haven't already. Glad you weren't hurt seriously. You are fortunate.

Have you analyzed the situation to see if it could have been avoided? Were you wearing bright clothes? Did you have some decent tail lights? I'm not trying to blame the victim, but I've been road riding for 35 years, and I've never been hit by a vehicle. Luck may be a factor, but I also think it's due to the fact that I always wear bright jerseys in traffic, use a rear view mirror, and have plenty of tail-lights.

Tude 

Crap! I've been worried about that - especially on two of my intersections of my commute where especially on one intersection I'm on one of the inner lanes (right most lane is right turn only and it's extremely busy - whereas I want to go straight).

Glad you weren't hurt worse. Arse of a driver for not doing the right thing!

I_bRAD

unbelievable... Did you get the plates? What happened?

As far as the frame goes- look it over to see if there are any cracks. If you're worried it's straight look up how to check frame alignment with a string on Sheldon Brown's site.

Hope you heal up soon!

MrCjolsen

You say "rear ended." Were you at a stop?

bigdufstuff

Yeah I did file a police report at the scene. We had a vague description of the car and gave that to the officer. He said he would be on the look out for that car but apparently nothing came of it. I'm going to contact the officer see if anything came of it.

I do have a rear light that contain 4 blinking LEDs. Plus the other two riders I was with also had rear lights. We must have looked like a pack of red lights. I think before I get back on the bike I'm going to buy a safety vest for night riding.

bigdufstuff

No I was moving, probably somwhere between 12-15 mph. Did I use the wrong term? Sorry if I did.

Sammyboy

Really good plan. I've also mounted a blinkie on the back of my helmet, so it's way up in driver's faces. That said, anyone who's just not looking at the road can still drive into you.

littlewaywelt

I think getting a vest would be a good idea. I'm absolutely not faulting you, but there's a difference between having some visibility and substantial visibility. Your bike has at best marginal visibility.

You should consider yourself very, very lucky, considering how badly that could have turned out. I'm glad you're ok all things considered. I hope you take some additional steps to increase your visibility.


Most of my bike is covered in 3m scotchlight tape, the rear triangle in red, the front triangle in white.
to that I add a superflash on the seatpost, an LD1000 on the rear rack, and a generic 3led one on the seatpost. Up front I run a niterider classic two lamp and have a single watt led for backup. I also put scotchlight tape on the rims per someone's suggestion here.

On my helmet I have a cheapo single red flasher on the back and white single keychain led on the front. The rear of my helmet is covered in red scotchlight and the sides and front in white. In winter my helmet cover is covered in illuminite https://www.illuminite.com

On my person, my courier bag has reflector tape on the sides, rear and I hang another LD1000 on the bag. I also wear an illuminite yellow neon jacket and use neon pant leg straps on both legs.

Re the cool/Fred factor, personally, I think it's a sign of understanding the threat, what's at stake and taking every opportunity available to minimize the threat via increasing your visibility. It's better to be a dork and alive. I take pride in knowing that I'm doing everything possible to minimize my chances of getting whacked. Not wanting to increase visibility bc you don't want to "junk up" a georgeous bike by putting a sticker over something that says tomassinni or cervelo is a bad choice. Is it one you want to explain to your kids or spouse if you're lying in a hospital bed?

flipped4bikes

Wow. Hope you recover soon. I'll chime in and say that maybe being more visible would have maybe helped. But as you were going 12-15 mph, and for a car to hit you like that, they're going, dunno, 25-30 mph? Seems to me that this was a distracted driver and that idiot was putting everyone around him at risk. Or the driver could be intoxicated...

savethekudzu

Visibility is great; for a driver willing to hit-and-run, though, even the very best visibility wouldn't have prevented this accident.

Glad you made it through!

bigdufstuff

It was saturday night, so this was my first reaction too.

jyossarian

Holy crap, that wheel is mangled! Glad you're OK. I run one of those Cateyes myself on the mtb but being visible is no guarantee of safety. It helps get you noticed by drivers who don't want to hit you and brings the wrong kind of attention to drivers that do want to hit you. If the guy hit and ran, he's obviously not the type to take responsibility for his actions and may do it again considering he got away w/ it this time.

littlewaywelt

that's 100% pure speculation...you have no idea if that's true here. More lights might have caused the driver to notice the cyclist from farther away.



as to lights attracting the wrong kind of attention...ridiculous. The ppl that will intentionally go after a cyclist are far less in number than the common drivers out there that just need help seeing you. Those drivers are the greater danger.

Paramemetic

Nobody hits someone in a car and doesn't realize it who should be driving. If they didn't see him, they still knew he was there after they heard the bump. You can't hit something bigger than a person (i.e., a bike and a person) and not even realize it, hell, it's noticeable just hitting things like raccoons and possums.

ontheroadid

Glad you're OK. You were doing everything right, it sounds like, so don't spend a lot of time questioning yourself. When you resume riding, go out there with whatever illumination/reflectivity that makes you feel safe enough to ride. You're the best judge.

photoassign

glad you made it through with only bruises. i have no sympathy for the hit-and-run scum, regardless of how good or insufficient your lighting setup may be. i sincerely hope that the a-hole's car didn't escape without some good damage to it.

H23Nutcase

Where do you ride in ATL? I bike commute everday from Kennesaw to Cumberland. Seeing what happened to you makes me definitely want to complete my project. I'm rigging a 55 watt Xenon Fog Light to fit on my bike, but I still haven't picked out what battery to use yet. Yeah man I hope you get well soon. And make sure you put on a lot of lightings before you get back on the bike, ATL drivers are crazy.



H23NC,

Flimflam

Holy crap, that's one mangled mess... Glad you're relatively fine after that one.

I wear a hi-vis vest, reflective ankle straps over my pants and use a PB Superflash on the back. My current bag of choice (Gregory messenger bag) is also bright orange, which may or may not help. I believe wearing my "construction worker" look helps a lot, the vest in particular - being rear ended is a fear of mine, but I try my best to keep my riding predictable and keep myself visible. At the end of the day, if someone isn't paying attention and doesn't see me then there's no amount of lighting/vests I can wear to prevent such an accident. People are idiots and they drive/ride accordingly.

Any asshat willing to hit and not stop deserves to be in a particularly unpleasant yachting accident IMO.

Hope the frame is OK, be cautious but not afraid when you mount-up again - you'll get back into it as before I'm sure.

bigdufstuff

I was in Midtown on Piedmont when this happened. Just south of the Botanical Gardens entrance.

H23Nutcase

That area is pretty crazy with construction going on in 10th St, plus the 14th St left turn is always a mess.

orange leader

I'm glad you survived.

I almost had that happen to me here in Baltimore, but the car slammed on the brakes in time, but she was going FAST as evidenced by the screeching tires while braking to avoid me, and I was only about 20 feet from the next parked car so if it wasn't me she might have almost hit the parked car. Mine was in the morning, already very light, and the sun was at our backs since we were headed west.

I have a friend who was run over by a bus when he was stopped at a stop sign in Milwaukee. That was caught on video from the Federal courthouse across the street. Luckily for him, he went between the front wheels.

I guess we're not as visible as we'd like to be, no matter what we do. It's the dead brain syndrome that happens when someone gets behind the wheel of a car.

bkrownd

Visibility is 90% mental. Most people aren't even looking, and only automobile shapes register to them.