Holy crap!

Glad you survived and I hope you heal up quickly.

Wow Metric Man, I am so glad you lived to tell the story! Man it made me nauseous to watch that.
You were very smart to start riding with cameras. I ride with two Contour Roam cameras for this very reason and this event reenforces my belief in them.
That guy NEEDS criminal charges brought against him and I hope you are able to sue the **** out of him.

That was a pretty terrifying video. If the guy took responsibility (as you claimed in an earlier post) then it certainly doesn't seem intentional... unless it was something that went farther than he intended. Still, how awful. I'm sorry to hear of your injuries, but as others have said, I'm glad you're alive.

It's things like this that make me cheer for developments like Google's self-driving car. Whether it's a foolish prank or a moment of irresponsibility (out comes the cellphone), people are terrible on the road...

Man that was a high speed hit. Since he stopped I'd say he was drifting because he was distracted by something. Looking through the glove box or texting or something like that.

Scary stuff to watch. Glad you're alive anyway.

Thank your lucky stars, your God, or Fate - an inch or two more towards you, and you would've been a goner.

What can one say about a driver who clearly knows what he had done, yet drives on? Are there not multiple charges leveled against him by the constabulary, (hit-and-run at least) or is this just another wild-west Texas tale? (Don't get me wrong, I've visited TX numerous times and enjoyed every visit.) I mean, it wasn't the truck driver who came to your aid, was it? The video shows another driver stopping and walking back to you. What, did he turn himself in?

I'm trying to picture the conversation between the police and this perp. Too many absurd imagined scripts, best left unsaid. "I think I might have hit something on the highway back there..."

If you cannot sue for at least criminal damages and pain-and suffering plus medical bills, then there is no justice there.

I'm glad you're alive to tell the tale. Careful with the pain meds. I know you'll be needing 'em!

Wow what a video. Glad you are OK.

Wow, how horrific, just terrible. You survived one of my worst nightmares.

Heal quickly and completely. And hopefully, you'll get compensated fully for all your pain and suffering.

That is the most terrifying video I've seen since Rodan gave me nightmares when I was a child. Heel well, Metric Man. As others have mentioned, let your lawyer handle things. That's why you're paying him. Best to keep mum.

If I may ask, how do you mount your rear-facing GoPro? I have an extra, but have never run the it on the rear. Your horrific accident is a "wake up" call to all of us.



Note to self: NEVER ride my bike in Texas.

I use a RAM mount on the rear camera. Extremely versatile. RAM GoPro Camera Mount Kits

Ask the phone company. If necessary get the court to ask the phone company.

A couple of observations, the hit was bad enough, what really pi**es me of, is the number of vehicles that went by without stopping. The other, he fessed up, but he thought about it for a bit, he should have been the first on the scene. There isn't any sign of him in the 3:00 give or take, his first thought was to keep going.


I really feel for you, hopefully it is a speedy and as little pain as possible recovery.

Fricken a**hats...

Just horrible. So glad you're alive. I can't stand to watch the video a second time as it was pretty upsetting. Did he hit your rear wheel and send you and your bike flying, or did he brush you sideways? It also looked to me that it could have been intentional. Best of luck with the heeling process. A miracle that your injuries, while severe, were not life threatening. You'll live to ride again.

I can't add anything unique but have to chime in on wishing you the best! I'm very thankful the outcome was not worse.

Best of luck with a speedy recovery!

Despite many here thinking this was some type of deliberate action, the most likely scenario was that the driver just wasn't watching the road so he likely didn't see the accident and given the size of his truck probably didn't feel much either.

Had it been deliberate it's unlikely he would have stopped.

Still negligent and driving with undue care and attention that should net a reasonable length driving suspension.

I have to completely disagree.

Either he felt it or he didn't, If he didn't why did he end up stopping? If he did, why wasn't he first on the scene? You can hear the passing vehicles as the OP lay on the side of the road, it isn't like the first vehicle stopped and beat him to it.

Did you have a rear view mirror? Or just the camera?

It's a very simple explanation. He likely felt something but took some time to determine what had happened. By the time he/she realized what had happened they would have been a considerable distance from the accident site.

I'm not clear on what you're disagreeing with. Is it your thought that the driver deliberately tried to hit the rider and hurt/kill him but then had a change of heart and decided to stop? Sorry, but that doesn't pass the smell test.

Regarding the other vehicles that didn't stop, it's possible they didn't see the accident because they were shielded from view by the truck. Or they were also staring at their iPhones :)

We don't know the driver's mind when he clipped OP. That he did stop after does not imply that his driving was negligent rather than deliberate.

If he was buzzing cyclists deliberately, and struck him accidentally, stopping would be logical. Didn't intend to hit him, just to scare him, so stop and play it out.

An undirected drift in my experience is a smooth motion, sometimes a motion smoothly accelerating to the side of the drift. I saw an initial motion over the fog line, what looked like a correction and then a series of minor corrections. To me that implies control, which implies deliberate steering. It's possible that I'm wrong - I didn't examine the video closely. I'd bet that if you did analyze it, frame by frame and noting how the wheels are aligned, and the apparent direction, you might get something definitive.

With a court order in the discovery phase of a lawsuit.

I see only two scenarios. Distracted and horrible driving or an intentional buzz. If it was a buzz, he miscalculated and it hurt you. What he did not count on is video evidence. Trust me, you are still in the glad to be alive, it could have been worse phase. You have plenty of painful and restless nights and some mental and physical healing to do. It may be hard to get back on the road when you are feeling better. Your life is different now because of this.

Driver should be charged with failure to maintain his lane and distracted driving. If deemed to be intentional, the charges should be a long list. I would get an attorney and be patient and wait to see how it plays out.

Good luck and heal up!

Hope you heal quickly and that the injuries were not far worse.

I do report close passes that severely endanger my personal safety, regardless of the cause. In this case, the motorist could claim " target fixation", but in my case, I've learned to train myself to lessen my chances of falling victim to "target fixation".

Because it comes so quickly, here's the last frame before impact. See what I mean about "an inch or two"? And he's doing 65mph, at least.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=394261

I run with front and rear facing cameras, a lot of interesting things go on behind me that I may have missed. The main reason I run a rear cam is to video the moment of any impact, or in this case, to video a front license number since the odds are great that the front cam will be unable to video much of the motorist's vehicle after the impact, but there have been rare exceptions in other cyclists' collisions.

Thank you, you beat me to the answer.

Metric Man,

I am so sorry this happened to you. Heal soon. I'll be thinking of you.

I've been considering a rear-mounted GoPro for a while, for documentation purposes.

Metric Man, The GoPro you were using had good resolution - which one were you using?

JUST TODAY I got buzzed by a huge buss on Hiway 120 a couple of miles north of Oakdale, CA. That monster was SO CLOSE I could've reached out and touched it easily. I know that only a very small per cent of bike riders get hit in that fashion but it made me so DAMNED MAD!! It's a good thing there was no way I could catch up with him because I'm certain there'd have been more going on than a mere exchange of ugly words! Like many before me OP I wish you a speedy recovery. It is often said that what does not kill us makes us stronger, I hope that's the case in this situation.

Why I use video cameras, I nonchalantly go home, download and review the video, and report the motorist to law enforcement if there is enough detailed information to give to them. No ugly words or situations to get into, and a whole lot more gratifying and calming for me than just smiling and waving and carrying on like nothing really happened, like some on BF have suggested.

Doesn't work so well in states that do not require a front plate though.....