!*&%~!

[magid]

Bike ride this morning. I was coming back on the bike path, and there's construction around Alewife, making the space for riding narrower. I was coming around a blind corner, carefully on the right, and a guy smashed right into me, head on (well, skew enough that our front wheels didn't hit, but you get the idea). He said something joking about knowing he was going to hit someone coming around the corner, and I pointed out that he should have been on the right. Of course, he was in a group of casual riders, who presumably wanted to chat, and therefore were paying no attention to this. He asked if I was ok, and I said my head and knee hurt. He said something about how at least I was wearing a helmet (he wasn't, but his head didn't get hit, because he was rather taller. Still, stupid of him.). One of the other people in the group said something about calling 911, and I moved my bike out of the way. When I looked around the corner again, they'd gone, and he hadn't given me any contact info at all. And of course, that was when I noticed that the right hood on the handlebars was bent inward*. Nothing to do but bike home (noticing that the gears were not stable :-( ), wishing I had someone to give me a hug. I'm a bit wobbly emotionally; though I might get a bit of a lump on my forehead over my right eye later, that seems to be the extent of the body stuff.

eta,23:48 Unnoticed until about an hour ago: a nice lump on my right forearm, on the top/outside. Not really painful (the forehead one is, still), which is why I managed to miss it until now.


* I'd done this same thing to the bike three weeks after I'd bought it, but paying for my own stupidity doesn't bother me nearly as much as paying for someone else's.

Comments

[jwg.livejournal.com]

Ouch. e-hug anyway.

Good that this was only a bike-bike accident.

And I'd say the worst part about the guy's behavior is that he didn't stick around long enough to make sure you were really OK.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yes, very good that it was bikes only; I'd've been much less ok had it been something bigger/faster (though nothing that much bigger/faster would've been legal there, in the pedestrian part of the area around Alewife).

I've got a low bump on my forehead, and am a bit emotionally shook up, but I don't think there's anything seriously wrong, except with the bike. (Which is annoying enough, really.)

[cellio]

Gah! What an asshole. (He was only stupid for having the accident; leaving the scene is what makes him an asshole.) I'm glad you're not (apparently) badly hurt.

I'd probably be tempted to report the hit-and-run accident to the police. They probably won't do anything, but there's the tiny chance they might.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about what I would have done differently, and realized that had I been out with a friend, it would've been a lot easier to have someone with the presence of mind to say "stay here" or "give me your contact info" or think to call the police. Once they'd gone, all I wanted to do was get home as quickly as I could.

[cellio]

You were shaken up; I wouldn't expect you to have had the presence of mind and awareness to stop him from leaving on your own. I'm thinking back to the time I was hit as a pedestrian and that even though I stood up afterwards (too much adrenaline to know I had a broken leg yet), I sure didn't have the presence of mind to try to collect contact info from the several witnesses.

You can still make a police report after the fact, though I grant that it's not likely to lead to much. If any passer-by did call it in, though, then hearing from the victim could be relevant. Dunno.

[magid.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a horrible accident (broken leg!).

I might go by the police today; not sure whether it'll feel worth doing, other than a reason for the construction being done at site to consider workarounds (a mirror for the blind corner, maybe?).

[cellio]

Even if the report won't help catch the jerks who did this (I mean, it's not like the police would have much to go on), the statistics can be useful. I don't know about in this case, where what makes it dangerous is a temporary condition, but I know that around here one of the factors in deciding where to put new traffic signals and pedestrian crossings is the record of accident reports in the area.

(It was, fortunately, not a compound fracture, which I think even in my befuddled state I would have noticed. It was a significant crack but not a full separation, so it's not like the leg was exploring funky new angles. But I sure did notice it once the adrenaline died down some. And a few days later, when I was able to get down the hill to the police station, I learned that not one of the several witnesses had stopped to give a report, so it was my word against the driver's. Grr.)

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

ouch! and what a jerk!
*hugs*

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[pling.livejournal.com]

Ouch :( Not nice at all of the guy to just bugger off afterwards, either :/

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not one of the finer specimens.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

egad that sucks! I'm sorry that guy took off without really making sure everything was ok, that was not the right thing to do. Jerk!

I hope you recover quickly and that the bike can be made ok.

internet ::hug:: too.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've been comforting myself with karmic schaudenfreude, hoping that it's never wiped off his record (while hoping that he at least learned to ride on the right. I suspect he'd never dream of *driving* on the left....).

And thanks. I think the bike will be ok with enough $ thrown at it, and I'll likely need a new helmet, while I'm ok modulo a lump on the forehead.

[trainingmom.livejournal.com]

hug....

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

I'm learning how to ride a bike as an adult, through a bike riding school. I also only learned how to drive in the past few years and only got my license last summer. And I whenever I watch most other drivers I get full of righteous indignation- RTFM! Because I know what it says, I took the exam last year and YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG! ;)
This confirms my opinion that adults need refresher courses in handling their methods of transportation, be it bikes or cars.
(Well, this, and seeing how some people bike on paths shared with pedestrians- my dogs know to get behind me and walk single file when I say "bike", rather than heel next to me, because some people get way too close for comfort)
I'm glad you are ok.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed that your dogs are so knowledgeable; I'm always nervous that dogs will bound somewhere when I'm trying to pass, and try to stay as far away as possible.

I get so annoyed when people don't follow the transportation rules stupidly. I mean, I jaywalk, but only when I check that there's no oncoming traffic (cars have exoskeletons pedestrians don't!). Ditto right on red when I'm on a bike, if there's no oncoming traffic. But there's a lot of extreme stupidity out there (riding the wrong way, running lights, no lights, no helmets), and it's not good.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed that your dogs are so knowledgeable

They aren't knowledgeable- I'm the knowledgeable one! They're just following commands! ;)

I taught them the bike command after one too many times that someone on a bike passed to close to us. My dogs are well behaved on walks (unless a squirrel runs in front of them- then the greyhound instinct kicks in) and heel nicely, but somehow they are invisible to people on bikes, and how do the people on bikes know that the dog won't try to catch the bike or run in front of it? (I mean, besides the fact that I'm obviously a great dog owner! ;)
So I taught them the command "bike" by saying it (even when there wasn't a bike around us) and pulling them back and behind me to walk single file. It's a command like "heel" means to walk beside me, or "sit". So it may come in handy for other occasions as well, but "bike" was what instigated me to teach them the maneuver, so that's what it's called. This reminds me that I haven't practiced it with them recently, so I gotta work on it!

[magid.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, but I already knew you were knowledgeable :-) How about, your dogs are well trained, and I think it's cool that you've given them such a useful command to obey?

My dad had some run-ins with unleashed dogs years ago that made me careful about unleashed dogs, and the newer retractable leashes mean that it could be somewhere that I could run into it and fall, if the human's on one side of the path and the dog has meandered to the other side. I try to go around rather than between, since it can be hard to see leashes until it's too late.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't get me started on my anti-retractable leash shpiel! I hate those leashes with a passion. I'm sure there's a time and place for them, I just haven't encountered that magical convergence yet.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The only thing I can think of is for dogs that the humans don't trust not to run away if let off leash, in a space that off leash would be reasonable.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Oh my! How terrible. :(

And what an asshat. WTF. I'll add in condemnation of the rest of the group, too. What kind people don't stop to help an injured person, even if they *aren't* responsible?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Nice icon :-)

And thanks. I don't know whether they realized how injured I was; all I'd said was that my head and knee hurt.

[(Anonymous)]

I am sorry you were hurt, treated badly, and made to feel alone. That's no fun at all.