It finally happened even though I have been extremely careful. After 33 years of riding and commuting I got left hooked by a car this morning. I thought I would share some lessons learned.

The story:
I was the first (and only) vehicle at an intersection waiting to go straight and I had the morning sun right behind me. I had just come off of a bike path because it ends at the intersection. So I wasn't fully in the lane but closer to the crosswalk of the intersection. The only car on the opposite side of the intersection was stopped and waiting to turn left (across my path). I am aware that drivers traveling east have a hard time seeing anything at that time of the morning so I always wait to make sure that they see me before I start across the intersection. The light turns green and the car just sits there. My wife who was commuting with me starts into the intersection and the car is still not going so I thought that the driver must have seen us. I start into the intersection and I think I glanced over to one of the cars that was now stopping because their light had just turned red and then I heard the sound of a car accelerating and the car was on me.

Nothing broken or seriously injured. I remember the back of my head hitting the ground very hard. I played Rugby is college so I am familiar with hard physical contact. So when I say it hit the ground hard I mean HARD. The helmet absorbed the impact. I can't believe it didn't shatter. My lower legs must have made contact with the bumper first. The left one has some swelling and I have some scrapes and bruises but nothing worse than I ever had playing rugby. The driver stopped and was extremely apologetic. I am sure he simply didn't see me and under those conditions it would have been difficult for even an attentive driver. The whole reason I am posting this is so that others can learn vicariously. Here is what I learned:

1.) Always take the lane! Of the hundreds of times I have been through that intersection, I would say that 99% of the time I choose to take the lane instead of stay near the crosswalk for visibility. This morning I didn't because when we first go to the intersection there were no cars and unless you press the walk signal it never seems to trip for a bike. So I stopped to press the walk button and my wife had already stopped so I just pulled up next to her. I have a theory that cars only look for other cars and that means they only look in the lane. So take the lane and increase your visibility.

2.) Never take your eye off the car that is about to turn in front of you! I almost always practice this because as I tell my wife to "Assume every car on the road is there for the purpose of running you over and doing smokey burnouts on your face" I don't remember what made me take my eyes off the car. I think I had glanced right to make sure the cars from that direction were stopping but I really don't remember. That does bring up my 3rd point.

3.) Don't just assume that because the light is green that the people with the red light are going to stop. I do this even in my car. When crossing an intersection with a green I glance both ways to see if the cars are stopped or stopping. If I had to get hit by a car, I'd rather get hit by one that was just stopped than by one that was moving full speed or trying to make a light.

4.) Assumptions are very dangerous! I have been through that intersection many, many times and even under those conditions. Cars that see you act in 1 of 2 ways. They either start to creep forward but they are waiting for you or they just sit there and then enter the intersection. It turns out that I had counted out a 3rd kind of driver that looks just like the second one. The third driver is not paying attention and texting, or fiddling with the radio and they sit there because the light has turned and they don't know it. That is exactly what I think happened this morning.

The front wheel of the bike is toast, most likely the fork too. The guy didn't have proof of insurance, registration or a drivers license on him. The officer wrote him citations for all of the above. So no word on replacing the bike or helmet. I was wanting a whole new bike anyway. I've been riding this one since 1993. I'm looking forward to getting back out there. People looked shocked at me when I say that but I try to remind them that even if you cower in your bunker you are still going to die. I'm not worried about dying. I'm worried about having never really lived. I hope that this post helps to keep someone else out there safe.

I'm glad your able to write about it. Contact with a car...

Thanks for the informative post, and glad you're OK. Someone without insurance, registration, or a license has no business driving a lethal vehicle. I'd hope his license would be removed for life, but seeing as he didn't even have one, perhaps that's too much to hope for. Stay safe.

# 2 i strongly agree with and even trying to make eye contact, glad you are ok, i have bounced of a car hood before it is not fun but, it does make you pay more attention,

I'd also suggest running some sort of headlight. The brighter, the better. A small shiny object to catch the eye could save your life.

Glad you came through it OK... I've been hit three times in well over 35 years of cycling... each time it was by a slow moving car that did something at the last second.

Every time it has been a surprise. Every time I had checked the motorist and swore I had eye to eye contact.

Your number 2 and 3 above are what I want to comment on... You cannot do 2 if there is other traffic around... that is the real problem with riding in a dense urban situation... You really want to watch the car you have the greatest vulnerability to... in your case the left turner, but if that vehicle is turning left, there could just as easily someone on your right too.

Give yourself some time to recover... the pain, etc was always worse a couple days later.

Again, glad you are OK.

Glad that you are ok, and a nice informative post.

I'm thinking I might share this with some co-workers who often question my insistence that 'taking the lane' is safer than trying to ride the shoulder.

As to people being shocked that you will continue to ride... remind them that they continue to drive despite the number of car accidents on the road (I'm sure some of them have even been in one).

I'm glad you're okay. When I ride with the sun behind me or approach an intersection where I might get left hooked, I flip on my headlight. I have a home built MR16/fog light affair that I control with a switch mounted in a box above my right brake lever. I just flick it with my thumb and it's on. Even in the daylight, it seems to get drivers' attention. I figure that even if I switch to LEDs, I'll get a smaller battery and keep the light for getting drivers' attention.

Thanks for posting that-its helpful.
I am glad you are okay-and also strong enough to keep riding. I will remember this next time I am on the road...

Happy to hear you're ok. Happy to hear you had a helmet on. This should be a good example to those who ride without one.

No no, you can't disrupt the "it'll never happen to me" delusion. Clearly the OP planned to crash, which was the only reason he needed the helmet.

Thanks for the post. It's a good reminder for me. It sounds like you and I have similar commuting styles (I also tell my riding partner to assume they are all out to get us (the cars) so that she will be as aware as possible.) I will keep your experience in mind on those days when I'm maybe too comfortable with my familiar route.

I know it isn't the point you are trying to make but I do dress as if I plan to crash. I always have a helmet, I always wear "don't run me over" yellow, I use a headlight and a tail light and I wear a mirror to keep an eye on the cars that are trying to sneak up on me and do smokey burnouts on my head. I can't imagine how bad of shape I would be in if I hit my head that hard without a helmet. Blind, deaf, or dead are all strong possibilities.

The sun was directly in the drivers eyes as it was sunrise. I'm not sure that a headlight that was anything less than full high beam of another car would have made me more visible. Trying to out shine the sun is a difficult thing to do. It is just a bad spot and I plan to change my route to a slightly longer path that avoids that intersection.

Why don't you losers go start a thread about whatever you want to pontificate about this time over in A&S and quit f'ing up informative threads here with your BS. Even my humor is wearing thin with you wannabe preachers. Thank you.

To the OP: Glad you're OK. From your scenario I'd agree that the driver was futzing around and never noticed the light change, let alone you or your wife...even after he finally noticed the light had changed and gunned it. The lessons you took from it are sound...always plan for Murphy!

I don't understand. Doesn't the crosswalk run perpendicular to the lane? This statement confuses me: "So I wasn't fully in the lane but closer to the crosswalk of the intersection."

I have been going to see a specialist in downtown St. Louis for treatment for my recent bike crash. I am stunned when I see folks bike commuting in that kind of an area. Riding a bike in all that traffic makes me shudder, but obviously a lot of people do it.

Let me see if I can clarify the "fully in the lane" thing. When you get to an intersection on a bike you can either act like a car and stop at a light just like you are a car or you can pull on on the corner and act like a pedestrian and cross the intersection on the cross walk. I was in a position that was sort of between the two. I wasn't on the crosswalk but I wasn't taking up a lane like a car would. It is just a peculiarity of how the bike path dumps you out at that intersection.

My theory is that cars only look for other cars and I was in a spot that you wouldn't look for another car. So drivers who are distracted and glance up don't really check the whole intersection, they just look to see if there are cars where they would expect them. I regret not being exactly where you expect to see another car because I think it would have helped my visibility.

I had an extremely similar accident recently (slightly worse results: fork snapped, bike written off, car written off, taken to hospital with dislocated toe...). I agree with your "lessons", especially 2 and 3. In my case I would add:

5) It's not always right to ride as fast as possible. When you're distracted or lost, when there are lots of things going on, dangers everywhere (several sets of tramtracks, pedestrians, car doors...) etc, just slow down. It would be the right thing to do in a car, so even more so on a bike.

6) You need front blinkies and front-facing reflective gear more than you think you do.

7) Being a cautious, concentrating cyclist some of the time isn't enough. And you need a strategy for being aware of and dealing with times when you're not.

Steve

As a driver of a car (car-lite these days) -I have a few times ALMOST hit pedestrians and cyclist when making turns at intersections. The thing that hinders my vision is the A-pillars of the car. With the sun in my eyes it is nearly impossible to see anything coming at me with the pilars in the way.

Anyhow, as a cyclist too, I'm glad your alive to share the experience.

I hope you got that guys number, so you can go after his insurance especially if you have any latent injuries.

Dang dude! How are you doing almost a week later? Any follow up from the cops? Whats the chance of getting this guy charged with Assault with a deadly weapon? (JK on the last one )

I disagree! I flew over a car hood once, and that was pretty fun. Wouldn't want to do it again though.

NM_Marauder, thanks for sharing the experience. I think if I were you I would finally relax, because statistically speaking, a collision with a car is likely for someone who would commute for 33 years, so now you got that out of the way and no longer have to worry about when and how it's going to happen and how serious it's going to be.

Speaking as someone with no more expertise than anyone else who rides in traffic every day, I think your analysis is probably spot-on correct; drivers do only look for things they expect to see. I wish I had a link to it, but there's this safety video from the UK that asks the viewer to track the movement of a group of dancers. The ad then re-plays the video in slow motion, which reveals a big guy dancing around in a bear suit, which you missed before, because you were focused on counting dancers. It was very revealing. I guess we can draw one of two conclusions from your misadventure: either be where drivers expect to see cars, or behave as if you're utterly invisible to anyone peering out at the world through a windshield. Probably both.

I've collided with cars three times in the last four years. (Yes, I obey all traffic laws, and no, I'm not an aggressive idiot.) Clearly, many other cyclists are not doing their part to crash into things at statistically appropriate intervals. Come on, people! Let's start taco-ing some wheels and bending some forks! I can't take up your slack forever!

Lack of insurance doesn't relieve the guy from financial responsibility for the damage he caused to you and your bike. You can always take him to court, small claims if the amount isn't too high, and get a judgement that will cover your costs (including any attorney's fees if you go that route).

Glad to hear that you're basically OK.