Riding home from another 12 hour shift, 18:00 - 06:00, delighting in the mild albeit wet weather and easy riding when a pedestrian wanders into my path (which just so happens to be on the separated bike lane)...

and we go down. He is an average sized male and he yelps in surprise and pain as my 6'3" 210lb (on my 30+lb (probably closer to 40lbs) commuter rig) frame slams into him. We both go down. Hard. He's able to get up first as I tenderly test my limbs for injuries.

Does he offer to help me up? Offer an apology? Make a move to get help? Pretty sure that's a negative. I'm livid and cursing up a storm as I extricate myself from my bike laying at an odd angle in the wet running gutter slop. I'm demanding he explain his thought processes as he circles about unsure of himself and now asking me repeatedly if I'm okay. Now I'm getting annoyed. Where the frak is that cop I saw two blocks ago? A couple of people slow to rubberneck. A fellow bike commuter stops to ask if I'm okay. I now realize that my pylon is quickly hobbling away to a nearby skytrain station. He's already a half-block away and disappearing through the entrance.
I tell the commuter I'm fine. He asks if my bike is okay as I begin picking up pieces: busted air-zound, busted computer bracket, busted rear blinky, busted ergon g3 grip. I tell him the bike is fine. He wishes me luck and is on his way.

My left knee is really stiffening up and beginning to ache. My left hand hurts. Right knee is (very) mildly abraded. Ouch.

I pick myself, the bike and all the pieces up, check brakes, etc. all seems, okay, straight and true. I mount the bike and...

Frak.

My front wheel is warped. My Handspun Pavement Series 2 dyno wheel. I love that wheel (as much as a man can love a wheel. It's not like I'm weird about it.).

Yarb. I'm home now. Heavily medicated. Icing my knee. Hating on jaywalking pedestrians. Back to work in ten and a half hours. Got two more twelve hour shifts to go.

Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.

B.

If there were a pedestrian version of the "hit and run" that would be it. In this situation is there any legal obligation for the jay walking pedestrian to remain at the scene? Do they have any legal obligation to pay for damages? What is a cyclist's recourse in this situation?

Damn man, sorry for your troubles, what a nightmare. I can totally understand your anger and frustration and it is well worthy of the rant! I hope you heal up and feel better quickly.

Sorry to hear about this, hope you 9and your ride) heal soon.
I bet you wouldn't have much chance of legal help here in the states, the jaywalker could claim they were out jogging and suggest you were at fault for their injuries.

Except the jaywalker was in a bike lane, so it was his fault and he did run away from an accident he caused where personal injury and property damage was involved. The problem is how do you make sure he sticks around for the cops? Citizen's arrest?

I don't know much about the legal system & even less about the Canadian legal system, but you may want to file a police report just in case the guy turns out to be injured & files a claim at some point in the future. It would suck to be held liabile for this. at least if you report it, your side will be recorded.

Sucks that so much of your stuff got destroyed. I'll bet he thinks twice before walking blindly into the bike lane from now on.

That's certainly worth considering. The counter-point is that the cyclist will not be hard to find in the future should the pedestrian decide to pursue charges. If he's a commuter, you can safely assume that he rides the same route every day (or every few days), at approximately the same times. If he ever decided to pursue a claim, it would certainly bolster the cyclist's chances of winning if his version of events was recorded close to the time of the incident.

The main problems are you'd have to prove the jaywalker caused the problems and then get the cops to do something about it. I've seen enough videos posted by people who had evidence of drivers committing crimes that went unpunished to expect anything like justice out of the police. Especially in a case like this where the identity of the jaywalker is an unknown.

Except that the OP is in Canada, those folks are generally more civilized up there, and their police are of a completely different mindset than ours in my experience.

Condolences to the OP!

True!

Hi all,

Thanks for the well wishes for a quick heal and the advice and all. Just got seven hours of fitful sleep with a fist full of NSAIDs in my gullet and an ice pack strapped to my left knee.
Knee is still sore but not too bad. Don't think I can ride my back-up commuter (Dahon Cadenza) to work today so it's either the car (Aagh! No! Don't get me wrong, I love my car but only so much as a sane man can love a car. I don't want to get weird about it. See enough of that on TLC) or my Frankenstein-ebike. Probably the ebike.

I can walk with only minor to moderate pain, my hand doesn't hurt so badly I can't type, so work should be okay, still, today has definitely been a pisser.

Safe riding, everyone!

Citizen's arrest and U-Lock him to the nearest bike rack or sign post.

If it's a hipster the U-Lock might fit through the ear extenders.

^^^ (edit: not my image or annotations)

Feh. At the last minute I chose not to ride the ebike but took the Dahon instead. Knee is sore to bear weight and walk on but fine for riding, go figure. Sitting here in the office icing it intermittently.

Funny thing is...

...on my way in I nearly got smoked by a driver making an illegal right turn at the same intersection!



Not five minutes after a cabbie nearly took me out when he made a right on a red without checking oncoming traffic. He apologized. I let it slide, told him to pay better attention. Two blocks later and the cabbie/mayhem magnet nearly caused three more accidents making a three-point turn.