ScottCommutes

This all happened to my brother last Winter.

He saw me commuting on the bike and decided to buy himself a brand new bike. He was riding down the shoulder of a quiet suburban street in the middle of the afternoon when a car randomly veered into the shoulder and hit him. The bike was damaged and although he did an awesome Ninja roll off the bike, he still broke his collarbone. He watched the driver slow down to look, and then drive away.

The next car did stop to offer assistance. His greatest assistance was giving his dashcam video of the accident to the police. The police used the plate number from the video to get the owner of the car into the police report.

My brother called his car insurance to report the accident. Turns out that the other driver had the same insurance. The insurance company was very interested that their driver had left the scene and also not called them to report it.

My brother lawyered up and got the money for the collarbone. The lawyer warned him that he would only get a "used" value for the bike, but my brother produced a receipt - the bike was only 16 days old when it died. The lawyer got the full value reimbursed and didn't even charge my brother.

My brother is all better now. I don't know what happened to the offending driver.

Alan K

Normally when a bicyclist is involved in an accident with an automobile, the bicyclist is the one who is injured or worse.

Looking at the title, I was very curious to see a story where an automobile hit a bicyclist and the bicyclist remained unscathed but some strange coincidence, the car/SUV was totaled. But alas, it’s one more bicyclist getting injured.

It’s a good thing that some/many car drivers are responsible and helpful people otherwise the hit and run driver may have gotten away with it. [Hit and run is supposed to be a serious offense in most states but I’m not sure if it involves a mandatory jail time.]

Steve B.

In NY State, it is a felony to leave the scene of any accident where there is an injury. With somebodies dash video, the police can arrest that driver. The police often don’t give a **** when it’s a cyclist and often will not follow thru when they are legally required to, see it all the time. There was a cyclist killed a few years ago on a local service road. Security cams know the car was an older model, silver Dodge Caravan. You would think they would investigate and maybe find that vehicle with some potential body damage, instead the local police did no follow up, that killing went unsolved.

Leisesturm

I don't know, did anyone else's bullshizzle detector go into the red when the Lawyer didn't charge for his services? C'mon Scott you are better than this. Also, this is NOT an example of a cyclist 'winning'.

zandoval 

Charge Extra I am sure... That's a WIN!

Alan K

Ambulance chasers often make a deal with the victim where they might not charge them directly but get a substantial cut from the settlement money paid by the insurance/offender.

ScottCommutes

Sorrry - to be perfectly clear the lawyer got paid. The only thing he did for no extra charge was sending the receipt for the bike to the insurance company.

Bald Paul

Hit and run type of collisions involving drivers and cyclists seem to be happening more often. I think part of the thinking of the driver is that there is very little chance of being caught and charged, especially if the collision occurs on the type of quiet rural roads that many of us enjoy riding. If there are no witnesses, ZOOM!

I was struck several years ago under just such conditions. Sunday morning, very little traffic on a quiet stretch of road, and a vehicle passing me way too closely clipped me with the windshield pillar and sent me (and the bike) over head first. The driver never even slowed down. Luckily, on that morning, there was ONE other car driving a short distance behind the offender who did witness the collision and chased the driver down. Only when he was told that she had seen him hit a cyclist and his tag number was recorded did he decide to turn around. I was lucky - 12 stitches and some bad road rash, but no broken bones or internal injuries.

Now I ride with a Varia radar/camera to record what's coming, and a GoPro on the handlebars to get what's going. In SC, front tags are not issued, so the GoPro is vital in trying to grab a tag number. I also seldom ride solo anymore - more of a mental thing than anything else, but I do believe that drivers may be less likely to drive aggressively towards cyclists, or take off knowing that there are others in the group as witnesses.

Paul Barnard

It's not a win until the driver is charged and jailed.

zandoval 

Yep... Unfortunately we consider that being lucky. I do short solo rides in my AO. I really should consider having some cameras. If nothing else to document my last ride...

JW Fas

Most personal injury lawyers work on contingency and only take a portion (typically a third) of the pain and suffering settlement. I've been hit twice, and both times the lawyers settled the property damage claims first and without charging a retainer or sending a bill. They took money at the very end when the medical portion was settled.

tomato coupe

If someone punches you in the face, then pays to replace your broken glasses and fix your broken nose, I wouldn’t call that a win.

Iride01 

I had a lawyer do some property title work for me that was just an acquaintance in my circle of friends at the time. He never charged me for that work. So maybe it does happen more than you think.

ScottCommutes

I see your point, but if someone punched me in the face and walked away smiling, only later to be surprised by some official with a video of the incident demanding an explanation and a payment (and also probably dropping/jacking his insurance), I'd think he got what he had coming.

As a teacher, I learned early on that when a kid messes up, you don't need to hit him with every possible consequence you possibly can or else he will hate you and rebel more. The proper consequence is usually just enough to show him that he lost and you triumphed.

The way I see it, the only bigger win here would be if nothing had ever happened. Even then, my brother would only have one bike, not one and parts.

tomato coupe

That still doesn't make it a win for the person that got punched in the face.

Leisesturm

Apparently, and this is not urban legend. In China, there have been a growing number of incidents where cyclists have been hit and then obviously deliberately hit again after they are down because the driver wants to make sure they are dead so only their side of the story gets heard if they are caught. I have ridden on roads in the US that are that lonely where there are no witnesses to a collision, but it is not yet a built in part of driver culture to do anything worse than flee the scene.

Still, I think there is way too much fatalism in the cycling public. And also a very low bar for good outcomes from a ride or commute. I hate to be the one to say this but the odds of being seriously hurt in an interaction with a car are very low. Some of you manage it multiple times in a single lifetime! I just don't see how. ONE time and I would seriously question how I have been riding. TWO, and I would be done with riding on the street. A third (more?!) would not be possible. Nor is the other extreme of car topping a bike to a State Park or Rail Trail every time you want to get your ride on. That makes a bicycle into an expensive toy.

In just about every other multi-topic discussion forum I know of, cycling is usually under the Recreation sub-forum and I don't have much to say on the topic of purely recreational cycling. My bikes (and tandems) are my transportation. Anywhere a bike can legally go, I'm there, and have been since the late 70's. In some of the worst urban blight you can imagine, but also some fine rural roads which have their own challenges. With decent roadcraft and good defensive riding skills a long career riding on the roads can happen without incident. Make it so.

Leisesturm

Correct. You were made whole, but its hardly a win given what you had to go through. Especially if you have a permanent limp or disfigurement, or other artifact from the incident. Only uninvolved observers really derive much satisfaction from knowing the offenders insurance was tapped or that they got their license suspended for 60 days, spent the weekend in a holding cell or whatever. They are NOT going to jail, especially if they didn't kill anyone. They are going to go on with their lives much like before. It is a sad fact of life in this American life that way too many of us are just looking for that Game Changer Windfall from being seriously impacted by another's carelessness or malice. It proves that none of us are being paid enough or have enough distance from the edge to not be anxious about how its all going to shake out.

Ajenkins

That's not "ambulance chasers." By law, in many states, the attorney gets 1/3 of the value of the settlement. They cannot charge an hourly fee, although they do have to pay multiple expert witnesses, who do charge by the hour. That comes out of the attorney's pocket.

It's a gamble on the attorney's part.

Classifying all PI attorneys as "ambulance chasers" is ********. They provide a service, and charge a reasonable fee.

Yeah, everybody hates attorneys, until they need one.

Pratt

Charged, jailed (for life) and executed several times.

Chistophe516

I have had the GoPro Hero 4, since it came out.(hey are up to the 12 now)