[wanglung]

Hi Davek,

Thank you.
It’s good to know about this and thanks to a lot of concerned citizens that the MD law is improving.

And to RestonToDC,
Thank you for sharing your experience, after a few days of thinking and thinking from the driver and insurance’s point of view, their denying of fault is just logical, after all, there is no punishment for doing it and if they can get away with it with even just a little chance, the better.

So I learned a lesson here, behave as a civilized person, it’s good for all including me but never forget to apply rule of jungle because it’s everywhere.

[wanglung]

Thank you all again for these advices given. I am continuing cooling down and just treating this issue as some kind of paper work to deal with it. Actually I rode my bike to work today again.

I thought of a joke last night:
The driver said: Oh s**t, I hit a person on the pedestrian crossing!
Luckily, this guy was on a bike, I am not liable for this.

[wanglung]

Hi CCrew,

Thank you for the information, what I am wondering about is that, isn’t that the job of a police to write a report with the facts and if either party want to settle it in a court, they can have some facts base on the police report.

Another one is I really like to know if there is such a law, rule or regulations that when you are riding on a sidewalk which is legal by Montgomery county code sec. 31-5, do I have to follow the flow of traffic on the right side of the sidewalk?

Of course I can move on and I will move on, but as a father, I should do all I can to help, what if my kid is the next one facing this situation?

[wanglung]

Hi Silver,

Thank you for the support, I read your thread and the information are very helpful.

I was following StopmeansStop’s advice to contact the driver and asking for fixing up my bike, he said that the police told him that he is not liable for the accident so he is not going to do anything, I thanked him and hang up the phone politely.

Next I prepared my complaint form and faxed it to the Interal Affairs of Montgomery Police department, I should get a reply in about a week.

What I think is that an accident happened, I got hurt with a broken bike, if I was wrong like go through a red light, why I did not get a ticket? 911 was called, 2 policemen was there and there is no police report?

I am learning a lesson here and I will stay cool and try to process this as civilized as possible, at lease I am ok and can talk, complain about it out loud.

[wanglung]

Thank you again for all these replies. I prefer the sidewalk because I am an old guy, 50+, just biking to be a bit faster than walking, I always yields to pedestrians and sometimes I biking with my teenage kid, put her on the road with a bike will increase 10 times of my heart beat

I am thinking about submitting a complaint to the Internal Affairs of police department.Jsnyd, “sweep you under the rug” is exactly how I felt, taxpayer should not be treated like this.

[wanglung]

@StopMeansStop 4693 wrote:

First of all, the police was trying to determine if the witness actually WITNESSESED the accident. Not the aftermath.

Second, if if you were in the crosswalk with a green pedestrian light, the you probably had right of way. I’m saying probably because I don’t know if being in the saddle has any bearing. Assuming it doesn’t, then as long as you were in the crosswalk area, it shouldn’t matter if you were in the left or right portion of the crosswalk.

If the above were true, I would try to contact the driver and get them to pay for your bike repair. They might be happy to do this and avoid having their insurance find out about this incident.

Thank you very much for the advice. The problem from what I saw was that these 2 policemen, no one take a note or even write anything down. I had a bit of suspicion that one of the policeman is an acquaintance with the driver.

I had a bit of after shock at the time and did not think clearly so I think a police report might help me to clarify, can I ride on the sidewalk in both directions or I have to follow the traffic flow, what if there is only one sidewalk on the wrong side?

[Author]

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