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biking accident
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| Aquarian |
So I was biking on this trail this morning. There's a section that leaves the forest to intersect with a small country road, and then goes back into the forest. The way this intersection is designed, there's a stop sign for the cars, but it's about ten meters away from the trail, and the trail has thick foliage on both sides, so neither the cyclist nor the driver can see eachother. I'm lucky the guy actually did his stop. He started to accelerate for a few seconds and I came into the street. I paniced and my first instinct was to hit the brakes. He did the same, but not in time, and I got hit (barely missed my leg!). The bike went flying a few meters, spun once on the ground, then I let go and dragged and rolled on the road about 5 meters.
I've got bruises and blood everywhere, and a few stretched muscles in my left leg, but otherwise I seem to be fine. My head hit the ground pretty hard but I had my helmet, so there's no damage. Can't say the same for my bike though - it's completely totaled. The part that got hit directly just completely EXPLODED (whew! glad it wasn't my leg) and there were pieces of it everywhere. The gears and the chain got dislodged. Front brake is severed in two places. Both wheels are twisted and misaligned. Left side of the handlebars (the side that hit the ground) is twisted and unsuable. Pedals are twisted and finished. The seat is bent and would need replacing as well. And finally, the bike's frame itself has been slightly twisted and has bumps in several places.
The guy left me his number. I was pretty much in shock so I can't remember what he told me exactly. I'm gonna call him later on and see if he can pay for my bike replacement. Though I kinda feel bad about it because it wasn't entirely his fault - more like poor placement of stop signs. |
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| Fundamental |
No luck son!
I don't think it's right that you go asking the guy to replace your bike if it was nobody's fault though. I mean, what would you say if he phoned you up asking you to pay for damage to his car?! |
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| Rob |
EEK. I road cycle and it's bad to hear like this. It's alot worse on the road too. Last year I saw this 12 year old get run over by a truck on his bike. His brains were smeared all over the road along with chunks of skin and pink stuff:nervous:
You're lucky to be alright to say the least. One second to late and you might not be here:nervous:
Anyway, got pics of the bike? |
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| Aquarian |
| quote: | | Originally posted by Rob Anyway, got pics of the bike? |
Nope. It actually looks fine from a few meters away. It's not twisted severely, just enough for it to not roll properly and be unusable.
| quote: | | You're lucky to be alright to say the least. One second to late and you might not be here |
I know alot of people don't do their stops, and if he hadn't, then my injuries would've been really severe. In this case though, he was just starting to accelerate, so the worst I could've had would be a broken tibia and maybe a dislocated thigh bone. Much worse if I didn't have a helmet though. |
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| Aquarian |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fundamental
I don't think it's right that you go asking the guy to replace your bike if it was nobody's fault though. I mean, what would you say if he phoned you up asking you to pay for damage to his car?! |
Well it was still partially his fault. The only mistake I did was braking instead of accelerating, but I had about half a second to react, and anyone would just freak out in a situation like that, you don't have time to think. I saw him, and he should have seen me. In any case, the bike was pretty cheap (probably why it got damaged so easily). I'd probably ask him like 100$ to cover part of the cost of buying a new bike, plus 20$ for the helmet. He seemed like an honest guy. If he's really not capable of sparing any money I'm not gonna take him to court or anything. |
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