Man bites dog (hit and run)

[magid]

I was at a T-shaped junction (Inman and Mass Ave.), sitting at a red light, a couple of cars back. The light changed, I went forward, ready for the quick left-then-right. As I angled for the right, a bicyclist came by my window, on the traffic side, angling from the one-way (the other way) street, crossing a major street as traffic turned. Surprising that someone would be that stupid, but alas, there is much bike stupidity about. The car ahead of me stopped for pedestrians in the crosswalk, so I did too, easily despite the wet streets, because I hadn't gotten up much speed. I heard a *thump*, had a "what the...?" reaction, and realized it must've been the bicyclist hitting my now-stationary car. The bicyclist, of course, didn't stop.

I checked, and the car does have new bruises on it, on the rear bumper and an area that may be the side, or the edge of the bumper.

Comments

[cellio]

I hate that! I was hit by a bicyclist (doing something illegal and stupid) once and he ran off without dealing with the damage he did to my car, too. And the police wouldn't take a hit-and-run report, which they really should have. Traffic is traffic, and bicylists can be cited just like the rest of us for breaking the law.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I didn't even think to call the police, because I assumed they'd do nothing, or imply that I had hit the bicyclist.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

Technically, bicyclists are considered vehicles, which is one of the reasons why you are not supposed to bicycle on the sidewalk. So you could have called the police. The really annoying thing is that based on traffic patterns, bicyclists are forced to the far right of the road, which makes them vulnerable to being doored by parked cars. But by law, a doored bicyclist is at fault, because they were the moving vehicle.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I know that bikes are technically vehicles, which is why I get annoyed at the bicyclists on the sidewalk (though I admit being less so when it's a little kid). I couldn't figure out what the police would do for me, though.

Yeah, dooring is definitely a problem, not only physically, but legally. I mean, the door was moving, and that was the problem, right?

(Not for this cyclist, though, biking through the middle of the street!)

[equinoctial.livejournal.com]

A bicyclist in Oregon just got charged with manslaughter for killing an old woman he hit when he blazed through a stop sign. They were operating under the bike-is-a-vehicle theory.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Wow. Vehicular manslaughter, I assume?

(Still. Wow. Deserved, sure, but it's just not something I expect to hear, that someone was killed by a bike...)

[magid.livejournal.com]

(Or is there only vehicular manslaughter?)