spelger

Such a wonderful ride today but at the last 5 miles from home i got taken out by a car making a right hand turn. Some people are so completely clueless. Just kept driving off into the sunset as if nothing even happened. And we hit pretty good too.

fortunately for me no damage to the bike (drive side up surprisingly) and i only suffered a bit of rash on my left. even my clothes came out unscathed. good on that too, if my wife saw torn clothes i'm pretty sure she would kill me.

Flip Flop Rider

glad you're ok. you and the car were going the same direction?

rsbob 

Very happy to hear it was not worse. In my state that is called a hit and run.

Bmach

I feel your lack of pain. Which is a good thing.

Tony Marley

Glad you are okay. The outcome could easily have been tragic.

gthomson

Well that's not how you want to start your day! glad to hear you're OK. I find this time of the year is challenging with less day, light morning and evenings and riding at sunset is dangerous when the sun comes down low and blinds everyone, riders and drivers a like.

I've been hitting the indoor trainer more for that reason. Oh, that and it's cold outside!!!!!

grizzly59

They knew they hit you.

Daniel4

Glad you're ok. Do you have any camera footage to report to the police?

_ForceD_

Glad you’re OK!!! I had a similar incident 8-10 years ago. Car turned RIGHT, without using its turn signal, into a parking lot, right in front of me. My left arm caught the side view mirror (still have a contusion there). I flew across the hood and otherwise only suffered a slight road rash. Front wheel of my bike was “taco’s”. Fortunately for me there was a cop just two cars back that witnessed it. Driver was cited, and a few months later I received a check to replace the wheel.

Dan

CAT7RDR

So many drivers are impaired from ETOH/drugs in SoCal, I know they are not stopping.

Glad you are Okay.

Any suggestions on what you can do next time in a similar situation to prevent such an occurrence?

Unca_Sam

I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure that you shouldn't have bruising of any sort 8-10 years after an injury. You might want to follow up on that.

OP, we're all glad you weren't more seriously hurt.

John E

Sounds like a classic right hook. Too many of the new "protected" cycletracks will make these far more frequent by rendering cyclists even more visually irrelevant to motorists.

Biker395 

Sounds like the infamous right hook. What are the circumstances? Car approaching a corner or driveway to make a right turn, passes you and turns in front of you?

Chickenwings

Glad you're allright. Watch out for that SOB.....grrr

spelger

it all happened quite fast and i've had time to turn it over in my head now.

Yeah, two lane road, he just pulled out of a parking lot from the left, settled into the left most lane, saw me, slowly merged into the right lane right next to me as i was passing. light ahead was green and i proceeded to go, he then passes me and stupid me assumed he was going to go straight so i picked up speed, only a few feet ahead of the turn his damn blinker came on and he accelerated but i knew what was going to happen next.

no, i don't ride with a camera.

me less stupid and assume all drivers are dumb asses. except of course me when i'm driving and my kids that i taught.


i'm a little sore today and certainly felt it on the ride today. took the day off (coincidence) and did a nice climb but the descent was 15 minutes of sorness in my left shoulder, the impact site with the road. couldn't wait to get down and i usually really like the descent.

yes, i certainly consider myself extremely lucky. the driver just kept on driving, i saw him down the road but i was in no condition at the time to get up and yell, wave, or spit. i just laid there for a few seconds and someone had been nice enough to stop and see if i was ok and even offer me a ride home. the bike, well, further inspection showed nothing. like it never happened. simply amazing. only my clothes were bit dirty on the back and shoulder. i only have two dime sized road rash bits just over a couple of bones.

thanks all for your thoughts.

rowerek

Did you report the accident to the police?

With or without a bike camera, the description of the car should give them some initial leads. Most of the drivers and cars follow a daily routine, it is likely that the car will be in the same area again, possibly every day, or every weekday about the same time. The police should spent time and effort to review cameras on the street, strip malls to identify the car and the driver, and follow up on the hit and run. This driver can be dangerous to anybody on the road in the future and specially dangerous to bikers and pedestrians. To hit a cyclist with a car is very bad, but hit and run is criminal.

Right turn accidents might the most common accidents involving cars and bikes. I have seen myself multiple close calls and two such accidents, but the drivers stopped after. In one case the driver was an elderly lady clearly not fully aware what has happened.

From my own experience, whenever I near an intersection and see a car passing me, I slow down with my hand on the break. Speed kills not only drivers but also bikers, and it does not help much that bike has right of the way in such a situation.

gthomson

I hate these drivers when I'm riding or driving my car. As soon as I see them race ahead of me my spidey senses start tingling as I know what they're about to do next. My way of self preservation

Kabuki12

I had a Police officer in a SUV do that to me but I was going slow enough to avoid catastrophe. I went to the drivers side window after he pulled over and told him to quit playing on his computer while was driving. He apologized and I went on my way. I am hoping there is no residual injury with your shoulder, they take a while to heal.

reverborama

Exact same thing happened to me a year ago April. Some road rash and a few scrapes on the bike but otherwise unharmed. Really made me mad, though.

OldTryGuy

Guess your APRIL event last year was not too bad.

Last April was my HIT and RUN only thing is that I was hit by a wild hog that DID RUN OFF and I wound up with 2 cracked ribs, punctured lung, cracked scapula, impact trauma to my left shoulder and a broken blinky light.