viros20

what if your child died as a result of pothole, will you blame the death on your child for not being more careful?

Velo Vol 

Is it common practice for cities to pay for pothole-caused damage?

[The roads around here are fairly good, so it isn't a major issue here.]

kayakdiver

This is a just a little over the top.

Visibility at night sucks compared to daylight hours. If riding 30 mph at night you would need some boomin lights to project further than your brakes can stop you. Sounds like you didn't follow this rule.

Look at it this way... do you run into them in the daylight?

jrennie

Like khatfull I choose to be responsible for my own actions. The OP is doing a group ride that starts at 10pm and he is doing 30+ when he hits the pothole. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess the ride is more geared to a night time hammerfest than a bike path stroll. If that is the case then the OP chose to do the ride for the thrill and his poor judgment lead to the accident.

As to the center of the lane part of the topic, read your local codes but I'm pretty sure most of them say that a cyclist is to stay to the right of the lane furthest to the right and use the shoulder. If the shoulder contains debris or an obstacle that prevents the path of the cyclist then the cyclist may use part of the lane to pass. This doesn't mean when it's 10pm and there are no cars on the road you can cruise down the center of both lanes. Just cause it's dark doesn't mean the laws don't apply.

jrennie

and this is just asinine

spry

Our extreme snow is filling in all our former potholes,smooth as glass now.

rob!

roads in New England are horrible in winter, and my city in particular is notorious for badly maintained roads year round (but especially in winter!). I know quite a few people who've gotten flats in their car and got the city to pay for it, although I don't think any were so bad that they needed a new rim or other damage to the car.

The OP might as well try, it wouldn't hurt. And while it is your duty/privilege/etc. to be careful while driving/cycling, it is still the town/city's responsibility to make sure the roads are SAFE. Vehicle operators should be spending more time focusing on their surroundings and actions of other vehicles on the road rather than staring down at the road itself looking for tiny obstacles.

And as for the "flying" comments, for all you guys know the speed limit may have been much higher than 30. I've been out at night and gone 30 on my bike and I could still see far enough ahead of me with a MagicShine.

Quel

Won't someone please think of the children?

Treespeed

Most cities, despite the libertarian pleading on this thread, cover wheel damage due to potholes.

spry

Those are "cord roads"made from logs laid sideways.The do not get pot holes only termites.

DScott

Sorry about the mess.

I want to hear more about the group ride. Who's training 10p-2a?

Sounds interesting...

spry

Please stop placing children in potholes.

chefxian

Your the guy I heard about from Wolfpack. I do that ride and everytime were out of the valley that f#$^ing pothole comes into play. People that say " slow down" haven't done WP and wouldn't want to get dropped. So you have to go fast. Glad your OK though. We were talking about you last night before the ride.

RT

I ride to and from work in the dark, uphill both ways into a headwind. Ok, to be honest, only the 'in the dark' part is true, but there are hills at the end of each leg of the journey and the wind is RARELY at my back.

That being said, I'm glad you lived to write about it. Props on the helmet part of the story. Since I do ride in the dark 5 days a week, I make sure that any route I take with any speed at all has been navigated in broad daylight. I have a photographic memory for roads and maps for some reason, and it took only one experience travelling too fast on a dark road I had no knowledge of. I was going 40 and I somehow managed to hit just the side of the pothole and stay upright, but it turned my chamois brown.

You said this was a group ride, so I assume this is a regular route and the pothole was a new feature?

bobthib

Man, that really stinks. That short of thing scares the hell out of me. And not just at night. At my age my eyes tear at 25+ even with glasses. Living in flat So Fla I don't see that sort of speed much. Also, we have really good roads for the most part. Don't really have the same sort of pot hole problem that you see up north above the frost line.

But when I got up to Upstate NY in the summer, well, they have real hills. I can't tell the pot holes from the shadows. I'd like to let it all out on a long downhill, but those blurry dark spots in the road up ahead are just too scary. Old bones don't heal fast.

cyclefreaksix

I'm all in favor of filling in potholes with children.

Edonis13

primary collision factor:

22350. No person shall drive a vehicle upon a highway at a speed greater than is reasonable or prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, the traffic on, and the surface and width of, the highway, and in no event at a speed which endangers the safety of persons or property.

Quel

The road right near my apartment is getting terrible. At this point, I'm not sure I'd mind if they filled the potholes with children.

Atol

You might as well ask for compensation from the city.

divineAndbright

I'd like to hear the result of the claim to the city. Around here city forks over repair money to people who destroy their cars on potholes no questions asked. By law a bicycle is considered a vehicle just the same so theres no reason this shouldn't be valid if you ask me, even if it means fighting it in court as disgusting as that would be.

DScott

Is that this Wolfpack ride? How many people typically show up?

Chombi

In many other countries, incidents like this would be just "Cest La Vie". Not to say that our option to seek compensation is an entirely a flawed system, but there must be a way to keep the most frivolous cases out of the system and save us all money and time that can be used for other more productive causes........ehhhh lets just all blame it all on the lawyers as usual.....
Shouldn't our own insurance just cover incidents like this or are we really expecting perfection from our government which we know we will never have.........
JMOs

Chombi

RT

Deductibles for this type of thing rarely make it worth filing a claim. The cost of a zero deductible policy is also ridiculous. Insurance is a racket, and unless the loss is catastrophic, at least in my neck of the woods, it is a lose/lose.

viros20

yeah thats the ride, 15-30 people usually show up


as for the child comment i was being facitious in answer to Khatfulls logic, Im willing to bet that logic flies out the window if serious injury occurs.. family members would agree.

Chombi

I guess having some insurance help to heal injuries and maybe help to recover some tranportation means is much better than having nothing...........it really all comes down to the subscriber's decision on whether it's worth it to him or her to do a claim.

Chombi