Runner 1

Anyone can look at the crash statistics involving bicycles, but it's not always as simple as some numbers.

So I think if people listed the ways in which they were hit by a car, it would be valuable to the community as others could avoid getting hit in the same manner.

Also, there's many here that have never been hit by a car. What do you do to avoid that? Sometimes when I hear advice regarding accident avoidance, I'll think "Well I never thought to do that".

Looking for actual cases, not safety advice.

Bioluminescence

Pro tip: Don't be stupid.

swampdonkey90

Stay on the road in traffic and dont ride the sidewalks unless your state laws dictate differently. You are more visible on the street than the side walk.

DrPete 

+1 on that. My only bike vs car was in college. I was riding on the sidewalk and a car pulled right in front of me out of a parking lot. I T-boned the car and rolled across the hood. Amazingly my bike was actually OK. I needed motrin for a while.

Elvo

Old lady hit me with her side mirror on Foothill blvd and told me that I shouldn't be riding on the road. Made a small 1 cm tear in my glove.

MNX1024

Does getting clipped by a blind a$$ mutha f###er who decide to open his car door when I was next to it count? By the way, this was exactly a week ago. First time getting hit by a car in all my years of cycling.....

Bioluminescence

Did you run into the door? If so, you technically hit the car.

Bob Dopolina 

I hit a crap brown Toyto in the passenger side door at speed. The driver was creeping into the intersection to turn left and jumped the light. She was late for church. True story.

I broke my arm, some ribs, and collapsed a lung. I had been invited to a National Team training camp and was doing some speed work in final preparation. I didn't make the camp and was never invited again.

I hit another car during a sprint work out. I was in the middle of the lane, there were no other cars on the road in either direction and the driver pulled out of their driveway rather quickly and without looking. I managed to go into a two wheel slide and hit the car with the side of my body. The only damage was the broken top tub of my Miyata (1500 IIRC) at the spot right beteen my legs.

I had some DEEP bruising that bothered me for the rest of the season.

I had an old Mercyx that I had convereted in a SS and I was riding to work very early on a Sunday. There were no cars, pedestrians or other signs of life anywhere around accept me and 1 slow moving, on coming car. Of course the Taiwanese tourist driving the car turned directly in front of me and I table topped by bike onto his hood freaking out his wife.

I was completely fine but the hood of his rental car was a mess.

I figured he was screwed enough. I told him to watch for bikes as there are lots around and I rode off to the bagel shop to get some Montreal style bagels for work.

Those would be the highlights.

MNX1024

Nope, he hit me with the door. Luckily it clipped my handlebars and brushed my arm. Got out of it with a slight bruise which lasted about 2, 3 days. But, that was it. I saw the person opening the door, was about to swerve left, but decided against it because a bus was coming up next to me... Which meant that I had to eat that clippage. Was tempted to get off my bike and kick the door close when the driver decided to open the door again.

Elvo

You should be a multi billionaire with all the pain and suffering damages recovered in your lawsuits.

pdedes

1. driver turning left intersection hit me as i was going straight through (wound up on the hood of her car)

2. hit from behind (woke up in somebody's driveway)

both collisions, driver at fault.

Bob Dopolina 

I lived in the wrong country for that.

Palomar01

Car turned in front of me trying to beat me across the intersection. Just lightly clipped my front wheel but I went down trying to avoid a bigger collission. Hit the back of my head on pavement and got minor whiplash. My bike didn't even touch the ground because I was still clipped to it! LOL!

Most of my close calls are cars trying to beat me across the intersection to make their right turn. Jackoffs! It's taken a lot out of me to NOT go after these jackholes to let them know how I feel when they nearly hit me!

hamfoh

mirror as they passed me once

another time some kids tossed a coke at me and hit me in the back. I thought another rear view mirror had clipped me until I felt the coke dripping down my leg

Velo Vol 

A driver in the post office driveway (apparently) didn't see me and began to make a left-hand turn just as I was cruising in front of it, clipping my rear wheel.

Fortunately, it didn't knock me over and only bent the rim out of true.

I don't know what I could do to avoid it, other than not ride on that road.

hairnet

The one time I was hit I was rear ended, which not surprisingly was a hit-and-run. Other than that it has been never ending with drivers pulling turns in front of me

wrr1020

I got doored back in April of this year. Still recovering from the shoulder injury i got due to the accident.

WonTian

I have been hit twice on the same road. Both times occurred less then a quarter mile away from each other. The section of road I was on has a major bus stop junction, a high school, a massive multi-block junior college. So a large number of bad drivers tend to be around at all times. There is some kind of accident on this road about once a week. First time I got hit was because the lady in the car did not check that the bike lane was clear before she turned into a parking lot and cut me off. I did a hard right into the parking lot as well to try and avoid her and smashed into the side of the car and ended up underneath her car. The second time was around sunset and I was cutoff by a car that did not see me and did not make sure all cross traffic was clear before turning in to the junior college and I smashed into the side of his car and did flips over his car while still clipped into my bike and hit hard on the ground still clipped in. Snapped my carbon fork, exploded the tube in my tire, snapped the rim of my wheel, and broke my shifters.

Reynolds 

3 times in 48 years of cycling:
1. I was about 11, my fault, turned suddenly and was hit sideways by a slow moving car. Fell but no injuries at all.
2. Shared fault. Riding at night without lights, a guy didn't see me, started moving slowly and touched my rear wheel. Fell on my left arm, no broken bones but pain for 10 days or so.
3. Not my fault. Riding on the shoulder, hit from behind by a drunk driver. Broken scapula, a few stitches, lot of bruises and road rash. 40 days off the bicycle, recovered OK.

M_FactorX19

both of those piss me off! i hate when a car flys around you then gets in front of you and turns immediately after. why even pass??

this happened to me this week on a small group ride. we had just crested a hill and were bombing down when about half way down this car passes us. we all make it to the bottom of the hill before he had enough speed to pass us. right after he pulls infront of us he slams on his brakes to make a left turn. WTF!!! we all locked up the brakes an were skidding trying to not hit the trunk of the car. luckly we all made it out ok but this shouldnt have happened. heck we were going fast than the speed limit to begin with. why not stay behind us for 5 more fraking seconds and then turn?

Dan The Man

Driver turning left onto the highway got my rear wheel as I passed in front of him. There was clear visibility from hundreds of feet away and he gunned it straight into me as I passed in front of him. I got sent flying with minor road rash and broken wheel. His fault.

Driver in city traffic squeezed me into parked traffic. Clipped my handlebars and I went down. His fault.

StephenH

One valuable lesson I carried over from my vast safe-driving experience is Dumb Luck. I've never had a major accident in a car. There's been times and places where I could have been killed had things been just a bit different, but I had Dumb Luck and came away without a scratch or car damage. That applies to bicycles, too. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law was stopped at a stop light, when some asleep-at-the-wheel bozo plowed into the third car behind her, and wrecked her car, too. So that was her failure to exercise Dumb Luck.

When someone says they ride smart and have never had a wreck, that's great, I believe them. When someone says they ride smart and won't ever have a wreck, I think they're probably confusing Dumb Luck with skill.

Machka 

+1

You increase your chances of getting hit if you ride on the sidewalk.

canyoneagle

My only collision with a car happened in 1985. I was on the street (suburban), and a lady pulled out in front of me from a parking lot. I T-boned her, went up onto her hood then fell back to the ground, still attached to the bike. Gotta love tight toe straps and cleated shoes. My privates hit the stem, and I totaled my fork (no frame damage, amazingly). My Fiamme Ergal front wheel still rolled dead true.

These days I won't ride without some form of active lighting front and rear, even if teeny Blackburn blinkies. I've had a number of close calls that I believe were mitigated by the blinkies (cars double taking before pulling out in front of me).
My commuting rig has a very bright LED dynamo headlight, plus a 2W blinkie up front, and a similar arrangement out back.

Machka 

A few tips ... no guarantees ... just tips which might help ...

-- Ride predictably. Signal your turns. Hold your line. Refrain from suddenly doing something unexpected.

-- Obey the law. Bicycles are vehicles of the road and therefore must follow the rules of the road. Stop at stop signs and red lights. Signal your turns. Ride with the traffic rather than against it. Refrain from riding up onto the sidewalk and back down onto the road. If you would or would not do something while driving a car in a safe and consciencious manner, do or don't do the same when you're riding your bicycle.

-- Be visible. Don't wear black at dawn, dusk, or after dark. Use your lights, reflectors, reflective gear, and bright clothing.

-- Pay attention to the environment. When the sun rises or sets, it can be extremely difficult for drivers to see anything at all when they are driving into the sun. Therefore try not to be riding into the sun at those times. If you are, take extreme caution. Pay attention to every vehicle coming up behind you and assume that they cannot see you ... because they probably can't. If it is foggy, wear your hi-vis stuff and turn your lights on ... and ride as far out of the way of traffic as possible.

-- When you stop by the side of the road for some reason, get well off the road.

-- At times it is prudent to stop and let traffic go by ... to get out of the way of traffic. And at times it's better to get off the bicycle and walk through a very busy area rather than trying to negotiate traffic, pedestrians, and everything else.

-- Be aware of the busy times in the area where you ride, and perhaps pick quieter routes for those times. This might be 8 am and 5 pm, or it might be during the summer tourist season, or just prior to the big game, or whatever.

-- Watch out for the second vehicle. Quite often motorised vehicles travel in pairs (or more). The front vehicle is often a little larger and a little slower, and the second vehicle is impatiently tailgating the first, intently watching for a place to pass. The first vehicle might see you and pull out to go around you, but if the second vehicle is tailgating too close or is watching the other side of the road, the second vehicle might not pull out. (I have had some very close calls with the second vehicle.)



And ... go for a drive between 7 am and 9 am in your local University or College area ... drive up and down the streets and observe the behaviour of the students cycling to work from the perspective of a driver.