Chopper1

On a residential, 2 lane road and going through an intersection. The first car through the light opposite me goes straight and I see that the next two cars have their left blinkers on. I proceed through the intersection after stopping for the light and the first car passes me. The second car, first one with the blinker on, proceeds to turn left right at me. I yell and swerve to try to avoid any impact and she keeps turning and hits the back of my bike. My chain is knocked off and I am headed for a curb. I am able to hop the curb and avoid a major crash. I put the bike down and the person in the second car with a left blinker asks if I am okay. I say yes and realize that the person who hit me did not even slow down or stop. I hop in the car and we chase this old woman down and catch her as she is pulling in to her driveway. She tells me that she did not realize that she hit me since I kept going!! I called the police and they met me in the woman's driveway and had an accident report filed. What should I do now? The cop did not even give her a ticket. I realize that I am lucky to have avoided major injury and my bike only needed a new back tire, but I feel like she should have at least received a ticket. What would you do?? I am tempted to tell her that the bike was totaled and see if she will buck up.

Cypress

Take the bike to a shop have the rear wheel looked at to see if there is a "hop" in it. Then have them check the frame for trueness. If there is a scratch on your frame that means new frame.

If you aren't injured there isn't a whole lot you can do.

Biggziff

Treat her as you would like to be treated?

The Octopus 

Glad you're ok. If you want to push this one (I would, personally, since she didn't seem to care whether she'd nearly killed you and was completely inattentive to begin with, but this is a highly personal and subjective decision), then keep after the police to do something. You can file a complaint agaisnt her at the station, even if the officer refused to do so; this was, afterall, an assault with a motor vehicle, I'm sure there are a number of things she could be ticketed for or charged with. It's a matter of working through the heirarchy. Good luck!

FormerBMX'er

"like to be treated?", how about what she deserves!

She's prolly legally blind with a bad hip.

Snicklefritz

I don't think there is anything wrong with the guy filing a police report. In fact, I think it's wise for him to do so, particularly if he wants to get reimbursed for bike/medical expenses through her auto insurance carrier. While he may not necessarily need the report, I think it does help push the process forward (ie reimbursement).

I don't think he's out to harass the woman and I don't think he's breaking the "golden rule" thing either. Look at it this way, if she does have an eyesight issue, then she shouldn't be on the road. Either that or she should go get checked out by an optometrist and get a new prescription. What if she did this again and the person didn't have as good bike handling skills as the OP? Then what? Do we really want to have to scrape another lycra clad body off the ground and into an ambulance?

Bike Lover

You can always sue her civilally for assault and battery (with a deadly weapon)...

reneuend

Ok, lets say she is old, feable, bad eyesight, or bad hip, or whatever. What if next time she runs over a biker and rides off, leaving the rider for dead? In my opinion, you would be doing not only other riders a favor, but her also. She didn't think she hit you? I'd say there is something wrong here. I'd go to the police department and ask to file a complaint. At least it will be on record if she hurts someone in the future. The police would probably be liable for not doing anything at that point.

Anyway, its good that it happened at a slow speed. The street department would probably be hosing down the area still had you been hit at a higher rate of speed.

Cypress

Exactly!!!!

Remember the ski resort owner's wife that was prone to seizures? What if this had been her two years ago?

Lady - "Oh sorry officer, you see, I can black out and run off the road at any given time"
Officer - "Maam step out of the car. You are not physically able to drive."

Then we wouldn't have so many "Cyclist Killed by Motorist" headlines in the future.

GuitarWizard

If the woman wasn't aware that she hit someone, she should not be on the road. Simple as that.

Miller2

I think what he meant was dont try and stick her for a new bike if the old one is fine or can be repaired. Get what is due but no more. Isn't that how you would like to be treated?

Ih8lucky13

You should also, file a complaint against the officer, he should have at least wrote her a ticket, it is an obvious case of a hit and run, and it sounds like this lady should not be on the road. I would push this at the police departrment.
File the police report , and make her insurance pay for damage to your bike.

merlinextraligh

If the police don't choose to press it, Call the prosecutors office and talk to them. I think you should try to keep on this. It sounds like there are 2 possible explanations: 1) she really didn't see or feel that she hit you (which would indicate she doesn't have the faculties to continue to drive, or 2) she intentionally left the scene of an accident. Either way it needs to be addressed. Make sure you have the witnesses name and contact info if you go to the Prosecutor's office.

gurana

Good point, but I disagree that we'd see any sort of decline in roadie casualties (fatal or otherwise) as a result. The reason being that there seems to be some sort of universal constant in effect that dictates how many bad/irresponsible drivers there are. When one is effectively disabled (e.g., liscense revoked, or they contribute to the darwinian theory of evolution) another will take their place in society. Kind of like the Agents in the Matrix... get rid of one, and they are immediately replaced with a facsimile.

Even if this weren't true (which it is) the number of genuine accidents would probably increase. By this I mean, we'd see incidents where the driver wasn't particularly doing anything wrong, but the situation leads to some sort of injury of person or property.

Either way, the number of threads with that topic would remain constant, or possibly even increase to correspond to an increase in the number of cyclists... you know, because of gas prices and all

Biggziff

Yup..that's all. Police report should definately be filed (what if you realize you now have neck spasms due to soft tissue damage a month from now?) Get the bike checked out by a good tuner and present her with a list of "damages". She can either pay you or turn it in to her insurance company.

Biggziff

There is something to be said for this...if she truly didn't realize she hit you, there's a good chance she doesn't meet the requirements for driving. The responding officer should have called paramedics regardless of what you said just to cover his arse. He should have also initiated an investigation starting with an accident report. If you didn't get at least that much, I'd be calling the local DA and asking why.

Cypress

Hit and run is against the law no matter what state you are in. A ticket is the LEAST that should happen.

rthomse

I'm a police officer and if the situation warrants a ticket.I usually ask the operator of the vehicle if they want a ticket witten.This is only in a case of an obvious vehicle code violation. Driving HUA( head up ass) can be deemed careless in this state,Pa. A retest can be requested but it has to be documented as to why, HUA , doesn't count!

SBSpartan

Filing a report is enough to take action. A ticket is given at the discretion of the officer. Think about it. You only need a police report to file an insurance claim. You do not need someone to be given a ticket. You can still get paid for your bike.

Kimbercop

Sounds to me like a report has been filed, an accident report was completed per the OP. Assault and Battery?? Someones been watching too much TV. For a battery or assault to occur, intent must be proven. Simply failing to yield to right of way traffic does not constitute assault or battery, (at least in IL). In IL if an accident report is completed then there should be insurance information listed. Submit this info to your insurance man and have him get moving on a claim, if there is in fact damage of any type. Or call her insurance company yourself and try that angle depending on wether or not you want to avoid claiming anything thru your insurance company. For a person to be convicted in IL of hit and run, you need to be able to prove she knew she had been in an accident. I wasn't there and don't know the extent of the damage so I wont try to play devil's advocate on that one. In IL if theres minor damage only, (ie no injury) and the parties have proof of insurance, then citations aren't required, and even if written usually get dropped in court because the victim, (you in this case according to your explanation of the accident) wont come to court. The victim has to be in court to testify against the offender, the officer's testimony alone wont work.

Starclimber

Some years ago I had a lady drive up beside me and say "I think I may have hit your friend back there". 'And you didn't STOP???'. I was incredulous. And sure enough, Steve was walking up the road dragging his front wheel tacoed bike. She paid for a new wheel, but that she was so clueless as to keep driving still boggles my mind.

Mind you, she 'was' blonde... (ducks)

Then again, so was Steve. Heh.

I wonder if a hefty fine for careless driving helps the below average driver to remember to respect cyclist's rights, or merely makes for one more biker hating driver.

Cypress

Maybe it makes them terrified to pass cyclists... Last night I had a lady REFUSE to pass me until there was 0 traffic coming from the other way. I had a wide-ish shoulder and waved her by twice. As soon as no traffic was coming from the opposite direction, she went ALL THE WAY into the other lane to get around me.

I thought to myself "what could this poor soul have gone through to make her break laws just to get around a cyclist that knows she is there and has waved her by excessivly?".

Old Dirt Hill

Exactly...or worse, if she knew she hit the OP and decided to keep going, she should also be removed from the road. Either way, it's not good.

GuitarWizard

I keep saying that if you really want to get away with murder, just kill a cyclist....

Why is it that you can get a ticket and possible license suspension for going 25 mph over the speed limit on the highway.....which harms absolutely nothing at all, but has the POTENTIAL to do harm; but you can apparently get away with hitting someone on a bike because "you didn't think you hit them" while leaving the scene of the accident? In any other case, the "I didn't think I hit them" or, "I didn't see your lights and hear your siren" doesn't fly.....but in this case the officer doesn't question the ability of the person driving, even with a witness?

I think if the person is elderly, and from what I can gather from the incident, they are.....at the MINIMUM a driver re-test is in order.

Keith99

Move to a civilized state?

In California that is hit and run and they take it very seriously.