I got hit by a car (1 Viewer)

[CaseyLS]

I was traveling down the street tonight, in the bike lane, and a car pulled out. Actually let me describe the intersection to yeah, it is a lot like a 4 way intersection but the east/west sides are offset by about 20-30 feet. I was going south on the north/south road and a car turned left from the east side and headed south. Has he started to do this it startled me but the road is pretty wide and there is a bike lane that is wide itself so I figured it was no big deal. Well, then without warning, read: no turn signal, Captain Planet makes a right and turn onto the west side. I slammed into him and demolished his mirror. My friend, we'll call him Tanner, because thats his name, said sound of me hitting the guys car and subsequent shattering of his mirror was a horrific sound. I dont really remember hearing because I was still in the "oh snap mode."

THe driver was really cool about it because he knew it was his fault. He said he saw us too late. Tanner and I both had headlights and tail lights. I bent the crap out of my fork and maybe damaged my front wheel. He offered to buy me a new fork but I figured I got the fork out of the used parts bin at my LBS for free so it was no big deal. Any way stay and wear your helmets

 

[Chad Isaacs]

I know all to well how scary that can be. About 2.5 years ago My son,daughter and myself were out taking a walk.We were holding hands, on a sidewalk and happened to come to a cross street. Well,there was a full size Chevy truck there, stopped at a stop sign and lots of traffic so we went ahead and crossed. Well, my daughter was sort of walking in the front, I in the middle and my son in the back.The truck saw an open spot and floored the truck. He struck my daughter and threw her about 10', luckily not out into the heavy traffic! She landed on her head and rolled down her neck onto her back.

Well, she laid there motionless. He jumps out of the truck and I started screaming at him and cursing at him as I was trying to get my lifeless daughter to wake up. All of a sudden she sprang up screaming. The ambulance took her to the er...her elbow was scraped, thats it! The guy became a pretty good friend. He was on his way home from a music lesson and stopped by a few times to check on my daughter. I have since moved away from the area and lost touch but his insurance was generous as was his family. I did not persue anything other than coverage for any medical bills.


My daughter is still somewhat scared about crossing the street and I still have nightmares about it...

 

[Paul D G]

Wow, Chad. You're really lucky. A similar thing happened to my brother (stepped off the curb to cross the street and a woman came flying around the corner). Unfortunately he wasn't as lucky.

Kids are amazingly resilient. I used to work in a hotel with a two story open staircase. At least once a year some drunk college kid would try to slide down and fall off it. Once this little 7 year old took the plunge. Everyone ran over and suddenly he sat up and said "Woah! I'm BATMAN!"

-paul

 

[Chris]

I almost hit a young kid the other night. Driving down a residential streat, a kid comes zipping around in the middle of the street on a bike, no lights on the bike, and wearing dark clothes. I literally could not see him until I was virtually on top of him.

So, to quote Tony Kornheiser: if you're out at night WEAR WHITE! Be safe

Glad to hear you're safe, and a good biker to be using lights and wearing the right gear

 

[Jay H]

Sounds like a problem intersection to me and I would be extra cautious about watching cars doing the zigzag like the guy that turned in front of you. Personally, by the sound of your intersection, I would get out of the bike lane and into the travelling lane to prevent somebody from making the left to go south and immediately making the right to go west thereby right-hooking you. I am one of the cyclists who dislike bike lanes and dislike their design in many places. I'd rather take the lane in situations you describe and prevent anybody from making the left and right. I'm sure the driver there is looking around and probably not seeing you and since he's coming from your left, your headlight and taillight isn't facing him directly.

I find the wheel reflectors very visible to drivers and I have reflective tape all around my frame and my helmet.

I also expect drivers to make turns without signaling so if it's possible, I will look at drivers in my rear view mirror as I get close to intersections to see if I can gauge the driver's intent. And this includes drivers coming towards me. I'll try to make eye contact to see their intent as most drivers will turn their heads slightly and look around when about to turn, regardless of their use (or nonuse) of blinkers.

I have yet to be right-hooked or left-hooked in my years of commuting and I plan on keeping it that way.

p.s. if you bent your fork, I would seriously inspect your head tube area for any hairline cracks and any possible sign of a fracture. Be careful...

Jay

 

[Bryan Ri]

I got bumped into by car once going into my gym.

I felt like Clark Kent in Superman 2, because when the car hit me, I slammed my hands onto the front hood to brace myself, and left a decent dent where my hands were

Only a big bruise on my right calf, still did my workout

 

[Lynda-Marie]

First of all, glad to know that everyone here who has had a close encounter with a car is all right.

It scares me to try to go anywhere these days (in a wheelchair) because there are some pretty careless types behind the wheel who would not notice something if it was glued to their inner eyelids.

On the other hand, there are also those on bikes and on foot that I call the "Darwin Award contenders in training." There was one night, my brother and I were traveling along Pacific Highway South, at the speed limit (45 mph) in fairly heavy traffic. It was after dark, it was raining, and there was road work going on, so it was a challenge, to say the least.

My brother, fortunately, managed to catch sight of these two idiots at the last possible second, who practically stepped under his Jeep. They were jaywalking, AFTER dark, in rainy, difficult, HEAVY traffic conditions, wearing black leather. They were rather indignant, first at the screech of tires, then at my brother's honking at them. In Washington State, the law states that pedestrians have the right of way. Unfortunately, that means a lot of people take this to mean that they can cross the street at will, without having to look first.

My dad was fond of saying of people like this that they forget a fundamental supplement to the pedestrian laws, that while the pedestrian has the right of way, they can also be dead right, too.