Spoonrobot 

Well, hopefully they keep showing up one at a time.

More seriously, this is terrible to read. I hope you are able to recover fully and get back to riding.

cyclintom

I've been riding for over 40 years and a month ago I came to a busy 4 way intersection. I let the car to the left and the one to the right have right of way since they had beat me there. I started across and 2/3rds of the way across and woman from the right rolled through the Intersection and accelerated into me. After I recovered my composure -a half hour after the occurrence and after the cops arrived - I realized that the little old lady had been distracted by something. But the fact is that in California it has become NORMAL driving to roll stop signs and if the traffic laws are not strongly enforced this is going to get much, much worse.

Now I ride off-road a great deal on everything from full-suspension to normal road bikes so I have crashed a great deal and know how to protect myself. So I received minimal damage but my custom bike has most of the components trashed. My biggest worry is if the Pinarello Stelvio frame has been injured since one in my size is simply not available. I would have to contact Pinarello and see if they would build me a copy and there is no more special tubing for such a thing. Her insurance company hasn't even bothered to contact me. Now all in all you are generally better off working directly with the insurance company than suing with a lawyer but it depends upon the agent you are talking to. Minimal physical injuries generally do not sue well.

I have put the bike into a very competent shop and it will be $500 just to dismantle the bike and check every component and the frame for damage. And since the parts are Campy Carbon Record most of them are throw away. Once hit there is no way of telling if they were damaged unless they were literally broken into pieces as the levers were. I know that the cranks were struck because it smashed my toe which will eventually lose the toenail. Ugly and painful but no big deal I suppose. Chipped the reverse side kneecap. Bruised a lung which screwed up my cycling vacation to Arizona. I was riding like a little old lady. I couldn't even keep up with the Bull Shifters.

02Giant 

Hope you see a full and speedy recovery.

Cougrrcj

Here's a couple of oldies but goodies for you...

Best Fishes for a Speedy recovery



....and my own personal favorite:

Maelochs

All these posts and no one has blamed the victim? Where am I?

Glad you survived relatively unscathed.

CliffordK

I've thought about it some. Hopefully if I ever get rear-ended, it will be riding my cargo bike, and I'll be able to ride it out. I put enough steel in the thing that it should be able to crush a radiator and not flip, or quite get to the rider.... hopefully.

Of course, with my luck, I'll get whacked in the head with a truck mirror.

I'm glad you were safe in your accident.

WizardOfBoz

A 93 year old dad had his car sold by his daughter (my cousin) who lived nearby and viisted most every day. When she went on a vacation to Europe with her husband, the Dad called the Caddy dealer. They sent out a 30 year old blond bombshell sales gal in a short skirt, and Dad bought a new Caddy. When the daughter got home I think she told him he was gonna kill someone, and said "If you want to keep the car, get your doctor to say you're ok to drive, and pass a driving exam". He gave up, they returned the Caddy, and I think he died the next year. Interesting guy. About 5'6". Was the Works Manager for a Pittsburgh steel mill in his prime. A real optimist - he signed up for the three year discounted rate for his AARP subscription. But age doesn't spare anyone.

And I recall getting a phone call from my 80 year old mother tellign me that she ran a stop sign, got T-boned, and was hanging upside-down in her Camry. No one was hurt!

My last anecdote is about young drivers, not old. A guy I knew in Texas was driving his Dodge Hemi (not sure what model, but he was a Vietnam veteran later, so you can judge that he was a teenager, and the time frame and that this was a serious muscle car). He's driving in Austin, his friend is in the front seat without a seatbelt (of course!). He runs a stop sign and T bones another vehicle, upon which his untethered friend shoots through the windshield, does a flip in the air, and lands ON HIS FEET, and unhurt.

As it was told to me, there had been an elderly black gentlemen, sitting in a chair leaning back against the wall of a service station at that intersection. Upon seeing this kid shoot through the windshield and land uninjured, he jumped up and shouted "Praise the Lord! He has wrought a miracle!". I think that the two teenagers, not especially devout, may have concurred at that particular point in time.

I always thought that this would make a great movie scene.

str8jakett

I was run over from behind by an 88yo driver last August. Up on the hood and thrown into the grass. He kept going but my riding buddy got the plate. He told the officer he saw cyclists and then hit a pothole. No charges filed for hitting me, or leaving the scene, and the officer said he was known locally to them as having dementia and hitting things. I did all the wrong things after, including refusing treatment, follow up check, and pretending it was no big deal. The very first thing that went through my mind was my wife was never going to let me ride again, and the bike was probably trashed. I had a century planned for two days later. The bike was totaled but I had a backup so I did the ride anyway, sore as crap.

As it goes, the driver was selling his house and his kids swooped in from out of state and took him back with them. He didn't have insurance, and probably didn't even know. My homeowners paid for a new frame, after a hefty deductible.

In all honesty, every driver worries me out there, but hands down, it's the drivers of all ages glued to their phones that are the worst.

Lazyass

Well I got my bike a little while ago and it's actually fine except the rear wheel skewer is missing. But I don't remember being at the hospital anymore. All I remember is walking out into the parking lot to leave.

gettingold

To the OP, glad you are ok. IMHO, it is better you don't remember it. I've had two, one I was conscious for and the other I woke up in the trauma ICU. It took me a long time to get over the one I remember: every time I approached an intersection where a car was pulling up, I got spooked (a car pulled out in front of me and I went over the front that time). The one I don't remember, I was fine as soon as I was able to ride again (a few months later).

jefnvk

Glad to hear that you are in one piece, hope for a fully recovery on the concussion part. Don't try to rush it.

Mandatory testing should be in place for everyone at a regular period, and you lose all claims of discrimination. I'm 32, and I find it a bit incredulous that since getting my license 16 years ago, no one has bothered to retest me once. And not this "can you do the most basic of tasks while following the law" type testing, it should be performance based. There are far more than just senior drivers that would be justifiably pulled off the road with such a system.

Uh, no, they don't hit more people just because there are more cyclists around senior drivers than youth drivers. I see as many silver haired folks playing on their phones as I do young folk on my two plus hours of commuting every day, it is a flat out myth that somehow only teens are the ones distracted driving. Seniors may not be hot rodding around as much, but young folks also aren't dealing with diminished reflex times, dementia, and failing eyesight that most people are encountering by their 80s, let alone 93.

Deal4Fuji

I think you're in the sandhills area of NC, which is a lot like my area and a lot of rural areas in the US becoming some of the most dangerous places to ride:

more older drivers with diminishing driving skills than in urban areas where they tend to be afraid to drive
young inexperienced drivers often distracted by cell phones
not uncommon to have impaired drivers via drugs or alcohol on back country roads

I was hit by a older driver in a pick-up truck just a few months after one of our bike club members was seriously hurt by a 90 year old driver who just never saw him. In my incident, I made the mistake of riding into a setting sun, (lesson learned there) and luckily was just hit by the mirror which broke off and luckily never went down, but it really scared me into being a bike mirror watcher and only riding open country roads on group rides now. I was able to find a 5 mile stretch of dead-end roads close to my house where I can do loops for my daily riding without worrying about traffic. It gets boring but I still think it's the better option.

rumrunn6

get well soon!

dufeau

I had a similar experience--Winged by a mirror, and 'came-to' in the ambulance. I hope the docs gave you good care. You almost certainly sustained a moderate rank concussion. Being unconscious after head-trauma is a big deal! In my case, I was not unconscious, I just don't remember about 20mins. According to the EMT report, I was alert, responding well to questions and asking about my bike! I suspect you might also have 'missing memory' but your docs should know about this!

Take it easy recovering from this--there is no rush to get back in the saddle, and you might not be as ready for it as you believe. Took me about a month for short rides, and a couple of months before I was back to my usual commute.

BTW your attitude is great! Hang in there!

Lazyass

I got my bike. The rear rim was totally warped, I put it on the truing stand and got it close but not good enough. It's toast. The lever on the q/r skewer was snapped off. So I think this lady just ran into the back of my bike and I must have hit her hood or something.

CliffordK

I think there is a curve where drivers get better and more attentive through their twenties, and into their thirties and forties. Then it begins to reverse somewhere in the 60's or 70's.

Of course, there is always the risk of overconfidence.

I suppose, the reality is that if a 93 year old woman got her driver's license at age 16, then she may well have not had any driver's training since 1941.

Has anything changed in the last 77 years? Roundabouts, sharrows, cell phones, cars with a zillion sensors and warnings, And, perhaps a general population growth and many changes in society.

Even for younger middle-aged drivers, perhaps a refresher on laws and driving standards would be of benefit. There may be many things that their parents didn't cover when teaching them to drive.

One thing about driving and the elderly is that changes may occur quickly. So, a 75 year old person may be fine. An 80 year old person may still be fine, but not an 85 year old person. Then again, another person may be beyond driving at 70.

Thus, a comprehensive testing program for the elderly would have to start testing at say age 70, and repeat at least every 5 years.

ptempel

Late to the party, but I hope there's some chips and beer left?
@Lazyass, sorry to hear about your accident. Get better soon. I've never had a headache like you mention, but have had a fair amount of "road tatoos".
@WizardOfBoz, your avatar reminds me of what I wanted to say for my last accident. "Mr Wizard, GET ME OUTTA HERE!"

TimothyH

LoLing at the suggestions that my family has the right to take away my keys. From my cold, dead hands...

Also LoLing at the stories about a family member selling grandpa's car. I'm pretty sure that selling another person's car without their permission is a felony. What did they do, forge his signature?

Not LoLing at the OP's condition however, but he should stop talking about what hurts/doesn't hurt and what's wrong/not wrong with his bike on the interwebz. Write everything down. Keep a journal. Leave it all there.

I-Like-To-Bike

I presume it will also not be OK with you if someone takes away your automobile from you just because you reach some arbitrary age.

InOmaha

Just require that for everyone, you won't get accused of age discrimination, and it will do everyone good.

Who's going to take away this lady's keys? Her 75 year old kids? As if they are better drivers because they are only 70-75.

Maybe it should be the grandkids and great-grand kids staging the bloodless coup against all the old people in the family at once.

AlmostTrick

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery!

I had a rare incident last week. While riding in the right tire track I was overtaken by a group of 5-6 motor vehicles. I noticed that while all other vehicles were moving left, partially into the other lane, one particular SUV continued on a straight line course. (I could see all this as it developed in my mirror) As this SUV continued to get closer without any signs of moving left, I glided right in the last couple of seconds to be out of the line of certain impact. I was passed with maybe a foot of clearance, and was prepared to go off the road if need be.

The SUV continued on without any lateral lane movement left or right. There were no honks or yells. Plus, this same vehicle passed me the next day in normal, safe, lane change fashion, so I’m guessing the failure to avoid me was not intentional, or done to teach me a lesson. Had I been hit, it certainly would not have been my fault.

But if any crash can be avoided by me, I consider it my responsibility to do so. No matter who’s at fault, or who’s the victim.

I don’t trust overtaking motorists. I watch every single one. It simply is not possible to monitor this as closely as I do without a mirror. The mirror, along with maintaining some bailout space to my right is very important to me for avoiding being hit from behind. Pedal On!

JanMM

Good luck on your recovery.

WizardOfBoz

My grandfather failed his drivers test at 90. He took his driver's license out and set in on the dash and said, "Well, that's it". And didn't drive. I'm going through some end-of-life transitions with elderly parents, and not everyone so easily gives up prerogatives and privileges that they've had for 70 years or so. But infirmities creep up on you. At 87 or so, with apologies to poetry fans, one's reach should no longer exceed one's grasp (that's what a heaven's for).

If you have a properly executed power of attorney, you have complete power to dispose of property, including real estate. Just went through that.

Concur with TimothyH in sympathy for the OP's injuries.

WizardOfBoz

Ahhh, a Tooter Turtle and Mr. Wizard fan. The sign of a higher intelligence and a probing mind.

Very well, then: "Druzzle Drazzle Drozzle Drone, time for this one to come home."

Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to watch Mr. Peabody.

jefnvk

Or, to think of it another way, when my grandpa got his drivers license sometime around 1950, all he did was to show up at the police station as a 14 year old, drive the car around the block, and was issued it. I dunno if you can call that a test, but he certainly didn't have any training.

Not uncommon for the elderly to have someone with power of attorney.

Exactly. Michigan requires license renewals every four years, I'd love to see road testing required to renew for everyone. Just watching people trying to navigate roundabouts tells me we need more continuing drivers education for all.