Hit by a car again

[birddog]

Just wanted to document a little accident I was in yesterday at the intersection of 19th and Van Buren: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=207491148900742506668.0004e242913c506eb2d02&msa=0

Traveling northbound on Van Buren at the four way stop I waited for the car in front of me to go through the intersection and I put my foot down at the sign. The cross traffic went through. Then I thought it was my turn. A quarter of the way through, I was hit from the right. A brand new black Corolla. My bike went flying, but I clipped out and tried to jump on top of the car. On the lady’s hood, I could see that she was still looking down at her phone. I think she just pumped the brakes at the stop sign and didn’t see me.

No need to call the cops – no broken bones. I’m OK minus two scrapes and a big hole in my shorts (made for a fun ride home). I just had to true my front wheel and re-tune my front fender. I rode to work today – so no worries.

I just wanted to document it here.

Topic

[Tim Kelley]

@birddog 58858 wrote:

No need to call the cops – no broken bones.

You absolutely need to call the cops to report this!! Partly for your own protection: you may be feeling fine today, but if you have underlying issues that appear after a week you won’t have any recourse.

And partly for the general good of the cycling community: crashes need to be reported so that police on local governments are aware of what is going on out there. Having statistics helps jurisdictions make informed decisions on putting in bike infrastructure or doing more enforcement when it comes to distracted driving!

[dcv]

That was you? OneEighth and I saw you talking with the driver and another cyclist on the corner and it looked like you were laughing so we thought things were OK. Glad it wasn’t worse.

[dbb]

Tim is totally correct! WABA has additional information.

http://www.waba.org/resources/crash_faq.php

[DaveK]

Glad you’re okay.

CALL THE DAMN COPS.

Nothing will ever improve if there is no record of the situation and the driver is unaccountable.

[KLizotte]

So glad you are ok since things could have been much worse. Ouch.

I wish you’d called the cops so she could have been cited. Maybe after a court date she would learn to put away the the damn phone while driving.

I can’t wait for black boxes to be installed in all cars.

[birddog]

You could say that I kept calm and biked on. Probably should have called the cops – but I kept my cool and was as nice as I could be.

[Terpfan]

You still can file a report with the police and I would advise it. Perhaps the woman was oblivious and this will change her outlook or perhaps she’s selfish and doesn’t change. If it’s the latter and she does this to someone else, somewhere else, wouldn’t you feel horribly guilty? At least get it documented.

[Tim Kelley]

FYI–The Arlington County Police 24-hour non-emergency is 703-558-2222.

[americancyclo]

That’s a dicey intersection. Always hard to know what people are going to do there.

[NicDiesel]

You need to report this now and get checked out immediately by medical personnel. Feeling fine and bleeding internally are not mutually exclusive and a crash like that can cause injuries that take days, if not weeks, to show symptoms.

[birddog]

Well it is a four-way stop so everyone needs to stop and look. If you’re on a bike and the other sections are empty, you could roll through. But every car has to stop, then look, then proceed. This lady just pumped the brakes behind someone who rightfully stopped.

She was a nice lady who exchanged phone numbers with me and was very apologetic. She was scared enough for me to feel comfortable that she’ll be more careful. If I filed a police report, that would just be worse for her and I wouldn’t gain anything. She called me later in the evening to check on me and apologized profusely.

[NicDiesel]

@birddog 59003 wrote:

If I filed a police report, that would just be worse for her and I wouldn’t gain anything. She called me later in the evening to check on me and apologized profusely.

Dude, nobody is telling you to call 1-800-UHAVEALAWYER and start dreaming of your settlement cash, we’re suggesting you get checked out for serious injuries. She could be the nicest person in the world but she hit you and could have cause you internal damage that need to be checked out.

[eminva]

The other thing to remember is that Virginia just enacted a no texting while driving ban. We need law enforcement in all jurisdictions to take the law seriously and enforce it. We need to tell them (via incident reports) about specific instances where we observe drivers disregarding the law so that they know it is a problem and need to step up enforcement efforts. Otherwise they can legitimately say they’ve never heard of any problems in this area. We complain to each other about distracted drivers, speeding, unsafe passes, etc. but we need to elevate it to the appropriate public officials if we expect them to take action.

Think of it this way: by taking this step you may be protecting another cyclist in the future. Not necessarily from this motorist — I take you at your word that she has seen the light — but from others that law enforcement will be targeting before they make contact with a cyclist.

Liz

[dasgeh]

@birddog 59003 wrote:

She was a nice lady who exchanged phone numbers with me and was very apologetic. She was scared enough for me to feel comfortable that she’ll be more careful. If I filed a police report, that would just be worse for her and I wouldn’t gain anything. She called me later in the evening to check on me and apologized profusely.

You might not gain anything, but another cyclist might. Even if this driver is scared straight and never breaks the law again, Police and the powers that be don’t know that an incident even occurred — so they can’t adequately adjust their enforcement/infrastructure.

[fuzzy]

Next time call my attorney, he works for Dewey, Cheatem & Howe…. Seriously, glad you didn’t get creamed. She needs to but you a new pair of shorts.

[Author]

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