Crashed - who screwed up?
I was tooling along on the Green Bay Trail in Winnetka (Illinois) yesterday at maybe 12-13 MPH. Coming up on a bench, the rider ahead of me moved to the right and slowed down. I moved left. I expected the rider was stopping, but rather hung a U-turn without signaling and without looking back. The rider saw me and panicked but did not stop. I panicked and braked, but we collided and both of us went down.
I got road rash, but my bike was fine. I had to do first aid because I'm on a blood thinner, and blood was flowing, but the first aid was effective. I also lost a hearing aid, which is annoying, but I'm insured against loss - one of the benefits of a Costco HA.
The other rider kept saying, 'You didn't say 'On your left'!'
Very few people around here give any warning at all. I'm usually one of them. I'd bet a lot the 2 guys who passed this rider 200 yards ahead of me didn't give any warning, because they didn't give me warning. I know the rider didn't signal or look back before turning.
Obviously I'd be better off if I had trusted the other rider and/or my assumptions less than I did, but how much of a beef do I have against a rider who apparently assumed it's OK to do a U-turn on a MUP without checking the environment?
TIA.