He's fine, only bruised his side a bit. Glad he is OK, but I am just a touch more than upset with him over the whole deal.

I had mentioned in another thread that we just moved down the road a bit over 10 miles to a smaller town. Our son lived in the old neighborhood since he was 4 and is taking the whole thing really hard. At that age it is hard to see past your own self, natural thing for most kids, and he is convinced that we moved just to get him. He took it upon himself to ride back home the only way he knew how, back along the most heavily traveled roads in the county. How he made it as far as he did, I don't know. He actually managed to get all the way to the old house, and was on his way back here when he was struck. He was in a construction zone and got hit by the mirror of a passing "dually" truck.

He went off into the ditch and flipped over the bars. Truck didn't even stop to see if he was hurt. One of the workers came over and helped him out. He had to walk the rest of the way home. There are two big rub marks on the top of his frame, won't shift or track right. I suspect that the frame may be tweaked a bit and have to take it in to the shop to have them look it over. Worse than the damage to the bike, is the fact that he is completely dis-interested in further riding.

eff the bike, at least he's not hurt bad.... He could have been hurt real bad, so you so have much to grateful for. You never said how old your son is, but let his injuries heal. He will get used to the new neighborhood, make new friends, etc. Maybe he can meet some new people who like to ride, and that can get him back on the bike.

Regardless, go a bit easy on him. Be thankful he wasn't hurt worse, and you still have a son to be mad at.

If surviving getting hit is lucky your son is very lucky. How old is he?
Several of these dually trucks have hit cyclists in our area and usually end up sending the unconcious rider to the E.R.
We just past the 3' rule/law here in mobile al. We were ranked the most dangerous city in the USA for cycling (maybe in the top ten now?)
I was hit from the rear in june of 2008 by a drunk doing over 50 mph. It left me with a broken neck, a broken shoulder blade and a completely crushed right thoracic area - it also left me more determined than ever to never give up the thing i enjoy most - riding a bike to work! So here i am!

Had that been my son, I probably would have forbidden him to ever ride a bike again!

You are so lucky to have him back in one piece!

Just thank GOD!

- Slim

As said several times, the most important thing is that your son is alive and relatively unscathed. I have heard this one end tragically so many times. My son crashed a dirt bike practicing MX and got himself a good old American concussion when he was 16. I vaguely remember my wife calling me at the N.O.L.F. air strip's ATC tower and speeding on I-10 back to Pensacola and screeching up to the ER. You should throw the book at him but I would hug him (as I imagine you have repeatedly done) too. He will ride again, this young a boy will want to ride just to do what young boys do. Time heals all wounds when they and the parents survive. Oh yeah, mine is now 24, 6'-2" tall and graduated with honors form college in December, this too shall pass. God bless y'all and be safe.

Bill

Sorry to hear that! I am glad he is fine.

Glad he's alright. Chances are he'll want to ride again but may take some time. Come up with some new routes near the new neighborhood and tell him how fun they are and how nice the riding is, it might give him the itch to try it out. Good luck!

18 years ago, my younger brother, who was 15 at the time, was riding his bike on a busy street (forbidden by my parents) when he was hit by an inebriated woman driving >50mph in a 35.

He died on the way to the hospital from head trauma.

Consider yourself very blessed that your son emerged from this incident alive and relatively unscathed.

And do everything in your power to impress upon him how lucky he is, how much you love him - and how unsafe behavior will absolutely not be tolerated.

sorry to hear that, punkncat. I think I recall from previous threads that your son is around 14 and you have been trying to get him into road biking?

10 miles is very doable, but it sounds like you told him the route was not safe and not to do it? if so, I'm not sure I have the answers regarding his disobedience. probably a mixture of punishment and encouragement to do new things. there's no single answer for any kid acting out, but teens can be especially hard to reach once they go off the rails.

Hope he heals up fast! Glad that he made it out and that nothing worse happened. Blessed!

+1

Some lessons are learned the hard way. It sometimes takes awhile to come around after a bad experience, so hopefully he'll get back on the bike after a period of time and ride smarter.

Thanks for the well wishes. Kids are going to be kids and he was able to learn a hard lesson an easy way.

My brother just got hit yesterday in San Francisco. We need to change the infrastructure and get more people on bikes so that people see bikers easier and acknowledge them as equal users of the road. Bikeforums is a great tool for the consumer because it is a huge source of product information. What Bikeforums currently isn't, is a place where we can open up the discussion for how we want to change our cities to make them more bike friendly and safer for bikes. I vote everyone here on Bikeforums makes a pledge to themselves to get more involved in their city planning and politics to encourage safer bike routes for people who are 7 years old or 77 years old. Denmark made huge strides when they began to protest in the streets and created "critical mass." Regardless of the stigma attached with critical mass in the USA, we have the power as a group who loves cycling to make our places more bike friendly - not just so we can more safely ride up our favorite canyon - but so we can enjoy the ride to work and not be afraid about being hit by cars.

do what? advocacy & safety and the commuting forums both discuss bicycling city safety, infrastructure, etc.

critical mass in the united states is a lot more about young people being 'in the scene' than it is about trying to improve bicycling safety and facilities.

That's my biggest fear for my son. He goes on 80+ mile rides up at school and it's very rural. so if he does crash, he might not get help for hours.

Glad your son is OK.

I'm sorry to hear about your son, punkncat. He was very lucky. Lots of lessons to learn here; growing up is hard. I'm sure this is also weighing heavily on him along with all the other stuff he was already dealing with. Sounds like the two of you have a lot of work ahead of you to figure this stuff out. Good luck.

I had a friend that had the exact same thing happen with a truck mirror, but out in the middle of nowhere. Glad your son is OK.

Yes, I know this has been tough on him. That age is already hard, and then packing up and moving just far enough down the road to make seeing them all inconvenient at best has got to be really difficult for him.

I did find it rather impressive that he took the initiative to get himself where he wanted to be all on his own. If we can temper that with some forethought and planning concerning his routes as well as letting us know his plans, it will be a good thing.