Welcome to the club!
Sorry to hear about your 'accident'. I've been hit twice. Both times were cases of drivers not paying attention (the first time I was T-boned by a girl making a left turn as I was riding through the intersection. The second, I was hit from behind by an old guy in a Cadillac.)
If those encounters taught me anything, it's this:
NEVER, EVER, EVER think for a second that people driving see you. And, even if they do SEE you, you can never assume that they care about what you're doing, where you're going, or that you have the so-called 'right of way'. Likewise, never assume that drivers will obey traffic laws or signals.
Case in point: When the guy in the Cadillac nearly ran me over, I was commuting in a reflective orange vest, with reflective orange bands around my ankles, a strobing red tail light, and a 45W nightsun headlight. It was 6:05 p.m. in early September. The sun hadn't even set yet, (and wouldn't do so for more than an hour).
I was approaching a 4-way stop. I looked over my shoulder and saw the Cadillac about 2 blocks behind me. I signaled my intent to turn left at the intersection and moved into the center of the lane (25 mph limit, two-lane business district in a small suburban town). I remember hearing the cadillac's engine behind me, then. . .thwack! The bars were ripped out of my hands, and I was rolling up and over the A-pillar, roof and trunk before falling off the passenger's side of the car.
Without going into the details of what followed, do you know what his story was when the police asked him? That
he had the right of way and that, as he tried to
pass me (in a no passing zone, all of 50 yards from a stop sign),
I hit
him.
The police chalked it up to a slightly senile old local (76, life-long resident of the town) "misjudging the distance between the two of [us]"
He got a slap on the wrist. I got about $1000 from his insurance company to fix my bike. In the end, I realize it could have ended much worse. Still, the memory of it was enough to keep me from road riding at all for more than a year, and it's what keeps me on my toes to this day.
Anyway, hope you get well soon and be careful out there when you get back in the saddle!
rando said:
Just finishing up a nice morning road ride, doing my cool down and I am about 3 blocks from my house when I come to the road I need to turn left on. A nice 74-75 mustang convertable happened to be at the stop sign on that road and being that I had the right away I pointed left to let the driver know my intentions. That was not good enough for him. Next thing I know I'm looking at a chrome bumper smacking into me and then a sudden stop as I fall to the ground. Of course the pathetic thing is I'm looking over at my bike, hoping he did'nt do to much damage to it, then I realize my ankle is'nt what it used to be. Luckily after having xrays I just fractured it, but that still means I have to look at my bikes for the next 6-8 weeks instead of riding them. The guy that hit me is being cool and seems like he is going to cooperate to the fullest. If only I would have taken another way home...
