brothersbutler

Warning: I describe my accident in full detail below, don't read if you don't want to hear about injuries. Skip to the second paragraph

Or rather, I hit it. I was riding with my best friend in the rightmost lane of a pretty busy street. I looked back to see where my friend was and when I turned around, all I saw was a red Nissan sedan stopped in front of me. I was probably going about 17 mph. My first thoughts were pure confusion as to why there was a stopped car in front of me. Somehow I instinctively turned right to try and dodge it, but my momentum threw me at the car. Boom! was all I heard. My face hit something, I went up on the trunk, then fell back down. Somehow I was unclipped, and I stood up right away and walked my bike over to the sidewalk. The adrenaline was keeping me up, but my mind was still trying to comprehend what had happened. I looked at the bumper of the car and saw a big dent, a broken taillight, and a shattered rear windscreen with a hole in the bottom right corner. I felt wetness on my face and a big drop of blood went passed my eye. I followed it to the ground where I saw multiple blood droplets falling and hitting the floor, my bike, my clothes, everything. My buddy arrived and told me to sit down. Someone yelled get an ambulance, someone brought me water, a policeman was there, a firetruck, an ambulance, my dad. It was all so fast. Anyway, long story short, the car was turning right, thats why it stopped. My bike literally doesn't have a scratch, unlike my face. Turns out I shattered the rear window with my face. 30 stitches to the left side, and bike lacerations all down the cheek and chin. Its ugly. It could be a lot worse though, as glass completely missed my left eye, and the corner of my mouth is cut free, which is good according to my surgeon. I also cut my throat right next to my jugular, so that's super lucky.

The weirdest part of the day is reliving what I did prior to the accident and how I had no idea how the day would end. One concentration slip and now I'll probably never look the same again. It's a lot to take in. Really, everyone, you don't need me to tell you this, but be careful out there. One slip and you can be changed forever. In a battle between a car and a bike, the car will always win. And I am extremely lucky that this day didn't end very differently.

brothersbutler

Really guys, just be careful

banerjek

You are obviously still in shock as the minimum approved self reported speed in the 41 is 25mph. Glad that this didn't work out worse. Heal up and be safe.

RT

Wow. So sorry to hear about your incident. Heal quickly and thanks for the reminder.

Flash

Gripping tale, glad you made it out OK. I think I'm most troubled by the seriousness of the cuts. I always thought safety glass was designed to shatter in such a way as to minimize injuries eg, the tiny, uniform square blocks rather than pointy shards. Hope you heal up quickly. Take care.

DropDeadFred

I crashed once...totalled out the car and walked away scratch free...HTFU


i keed...glad to hear you are relatively ok. I myself have a scar running down my cheek (9 stitches). makes you look tough...Hope you recover quickly and are able to get back on the road soon.

John_V 

Sorry to hear about your crash and I hope that you have a quick recovery. As a retired paramedic of 25 years, I have seen more than my share of bike vs. auto crashes and although it may not seem like it to you, you came out better than most cyclists that I have attended to.

Back in October of last year, while riding in the neighborhood, and although I had a mirror on my bike, I turned around to see if a dog was about to jump a fence to come after me and my wife. Before I knew it, I drifted into her rear wheel and did a perfect face plant. My injuries certainly weren't as bad as yours, but I did split my lip wide open and chipped a tooth, along with other abrasions to the face that caused me to be out of work for several days. I now use my mirrors since it's much quicker and safer to glance at a mirror than it is to turn your head away from the road. Having a mirror may look Freddy, but I don't turn my head any more than to look from left to right.

amps

I wish you the best of luck in recovering, it sounds horrendous but it's something you can walk away from and that's what's important.

So you don't feel too terrible, I did something very very similar and have had large permanent scars on my arm and neck for 12 years now. I was 16 and riding my mountain bike home after a long 80+ km ride with a friend. I had left my buddy and while going downhill pretty darn fast, I had a momentary loss of consciousness and came back to my senses as I was a bout a foot from flying into the back of a minivan that was parked on the side of the road. I hit the glass going about 20mph and only had time to throw up my arm to protect my face. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground in a rapidly spreading pool of blood as a woman from across the street ran over and tried to keep me calm until the ambulance came. They were only able to give me 3 stitches total as there wasn't any skin left on my arm or right side of my neck to stitch together.

What I learned...women find scars sexy and mysterious. My wife was initially attracted to me because of my scars. Also I forget I even have them anymore, the only time I notice is when I'm shaving my neck as there's one nasty long hair that keeps growing in the middle of scar there.

Again, best of luck to you!

Doohickie

Chicks dig scars.

renton

I wish you a speedy recovery! Like you said, could have been a lot worse.

rollin

Well done on being alive.

MegaTom

The thing is, when you go Through the glass, even those tiny little squares can cut you up really bad.



Heal up and ride on, dude.

Nexx11

Glad you're ok.


Thread title is misleading, though. You weren't hit by a car, you ran into one.

tagaproject6

It's a good thing you took the time to check on your bike!


Great to know you survived to write about your experience. Now heal quickly!

fiataccompli

Glad you can talk about it. I hit the side of a truck (basically it the driver came over on me and my choice was to body slam the bed of the truck or dive off the road into a guard rail & down a ravine....I apparently chose to slam the truck with the side of my body) a few weeks ago. The driver didn't even stop as I was sliding across the pavement with glasses, bike, small mirror (which gave me some warning of what was about to happen...I have nothing to prove with how I look other than I'm smart enough to know I can benefit from a mirror with the amount I ride in traffic), water bottles, food, etc....It's interesting how adrenaline kicks in. I got up quickly, assessed the fact I was still alive & apparently unbroken & went on to catch the group I was meeting for a ride. For a week I felt like I'd been hit by a truck (which was appropriate) and have various points of bruising & road rash & ripped gloves/socks to go with it.

You can not say enough to be careful & be vigilant. It does not take much of a lapse of concentration or judgement to really change your life on a road bike. In my case, I spent a week kicking myself for "trying to be nice" and riding too close to the fog line on a rather narrow road.

Hope you continue to heal well!

RT

Amen. I have referred to this over and over in the Commuting forum as hyper-awareness. You can do everything right, see everything, but that won't stop a motorist, headphoned pedestrian, or a wild animal from doing something crazy. You eventually develop a sixth sense that allows you to see about 5 seconds into the future.

mikepwagner

It sounds like you were inattentive for a minute and hit the car. Am I reading that incorrectly?

I am not judging - several months ago I did the same thing while driving a car - but I am not clear about how the car hit you.

When driving a car, running into the back of a car in front of you for any reason is considered the fault of the driver who did the rear-ending, not the fault of the driver who was rear ended.

In my case, the car in front of me stopped unexpectedly (to me) to let some ducks cross the street, while I was distracted by some unexpected antics in the car to my right.

I got the ticket, as I expected to. It's my responsibility to maintain a safe distance between the car in front of me and my car - at all times. The "he came over on me" defense doesn't work.

When I was being taught how to drive, the instructor explained that my car hit the car in front of me anywhere behind the back of the front door, I would get the ticket.

fasthair

Dude you just made my morning commute crash feel a whole lot better! I've got a good bit of road rash on my right knee and my shorts are trashed. But the worst part is I chipped the beautiful black paint on my bike

How did it happen? Going just a touch too fast on a wet trail. Just as I was about to enter a turn I was thinking I might be going just bit too fast. I didn't even get a chance to tap the brakes and wham I'm on the asphalt sliding and into the mud I go.

Really glad to hear that you are going to be ok in time. Heal quickly. You youngsters can do that much faster than old guys like me

fasthair

nhluhr

I understand that you're concerned about your face not looking the same afterward but be thankful you didn't get a concussion on top of it all. I'd rather look like frankenstein's monster than think like him. Heal up and get back on!

DinoShepherd

I was going to say that.

I met my wife while recovering from a big bike wreck. Stitches, cast, bruising, etc...
She probably thought I would look better when I recoverd. Her mistake.


- Z

Runner 1

Aack! That sounds very painful. But I kind of lol'ed.

Hope you recover well! You'd be surprised how well things heal up -- to the extent that any scars may be much less visible than you'd think.

Drag

Scary stuff. Glad to see you're around to tell about it. I live in an urban setting and I HATE riding the streets. Too many idiots txting and on cell phones.

ahsposo 

Did I miss something? How's the bike? Did you hurt it?

JAJ0404

[QUOTE=mikepwagner;13158645
When driving a car, running into the back of a car in front of you for any reason is considered the fault of the driver who did the rear-ending, not the fault of the driver who was rear ended.

[/QUOTE]

Not in every case. I just had a lady try to sue me because I hit the back corner of her van, but once she agreed with all other accounts of the accident, that she was in a right turn only lane, then without signaling didn't turn right but instead went into my lane and then came to a complete and sudden stop (no stop sign), her attorney dropped the case. Police didn't cite me at the scene either.

Zei

Legs and bike are okay? That's all that matters. Whenever something happens to a cyclist's legs in a crash I can't stand thinking about it. Always be cautious whenever you're on the right side and there's streets there to turn into, lots of drivers won't signal for cyclists.
I once had a guy from the opposite side of the street in a residential area make a left turn, blowing a stop light with no turn signal and going right towards me while I was passing the intersection. Luckily I was commuting with toe clips and was able to put a foot on his bumper and raise myself up as he drove right up to me and slammed his breaks. I had myself and my bike lifted up like this and was able to put it back down as soon as he came to a full stop and keep riding.
Had I been clipped in or had he not looked up and stopped, I would normally have had to bunny hop and lay myself across the hood of the car.