[Reactor]

Arizona needs to stiffen the penalties for hitting bikes. This is getting out of hand.

I was hurt in a Bike Vs. Car Wednesday night on the way home from
work. While I was traveling south, in the bike lane, on Kyrene
about a quarter mile north of Elliot, a young woman decided to turn
in front of me at a range of about five feet.

I was doing 20-21 mph and couldn't avoid hitting the side of her
car, in fact I couldn't hit the brakes at all an my hands were on
the levers. I went up and over, did a 270 forward with a 60 twist
and landed on my left side on the pavement, half in the bike lane
half in the right lane of traffic.

After landing I was stunned but someone started honking a horn and
it was enough to bring me around, and I stumbled dragging my bike
onto the grass. The young woman comes out of her car, runs up to me
and says, I'm not making this up, "I don't know where my head was
at". There were several witnesses, and they called the police and
paramedics. The paramedics examined me and the police wrote her one,
and I think multiple tickets.

My K2 Mod3 is nearly totaled. The front wheel is good but just
about everything else is damaged. The handlebars are scratched up
and bent, the shifter pods, pedals, computer are all gouged. The
rear wheel has something wrong with the hub, sounds like the bearing
race in the hub is dented. Seat is torn and the CF seat post is
gouged.

I have a separated shoulder, brusing and road rash on my shoulder,
hip, and elbow on the left side. My right wrist is mildly
sprained. My helmet, camelback, jersey and shorts are all damaged.
Speaking of helmets, my helmet took one hell of a beating and my
head took none.

I can't ride, at all, for at least two weeks. It will probably be
four weeks before I can take long easy rides and about six before I
can ride the rough stuff. Right now I'm on major painkillers and
can barely stand without help.


It really tweaks me that I can be on the street, in a bike lane, following the law, with two extremely bright blinkies, and I still get hit by someone who just plain isn't paying attention.



Sleeping it off,

Mike

 

[Pau11y]

Damn man, hope you heal up well and fast.
I swear that 50 - 70% of drivers on the roads should have their license revoked, especially morons who like to drivers who like to chat on the cell while behind the wheel. Hell, I think drunk drivers might be able to drive better than phone driving. I swear that for many, when they get in a car, common sense is left in the trunk.

 

[H8R]

GET A LAWYER.

Glad to hear you are alive.

 

[Jayridesacove]

One word:

Lawsuit.

 

[Jayridesacove]

Damn man, hope you heal up well and fast.
I swear that 50 - 70% of drivers on the roads should have their license revoked, especially morons who like to drivers who like to chat on the cell while behind the wheel. Hell, I think drunk drivers might be able to drive better than phone driving. I swear that for many, when they get in a car, common sense is left in the trunk.

Do you know what else is interesting? While talking on cell phones and driving, drivers ages 16 to about 24 have the reaction time of elderly people.

 

[Reactor]

I read about that study. Talking on a cell phone gives a person in their prime the reaction time of a 70 YO, or somone with about two drinks. Anyone who thinks talking on a cell phone doesn't affect their driving is in denial.

 

[stinkyboy]

Glad to hear you survived!

I do a lot of city miles (on a freeride bike) in PHX and I get cut off and/or treated like a second class citizen way too much. Some people are apologetic, but reading someone's lips saying "sorry" every mile get's freaking old...

 

[Reactor]

Thanks for the sympathy, I hear ya. It's starting to get really irritating.

When I ride the streets I can usually spot the trouble before it happens. When you see someone talking on a cell phone, and smoking at the same time, well you got to wonder "how are they steering?". If you see someone agressively cutting through traffic you know to stay clear, ditto for someone with three screaming kids in the back. On a bike you have to drive defensively.

But there is just nothing you can do about somone who is oblivious, turning through the bike lane five feet in front of you. I get madder every time I think about it. I was doing about 20 MPH, she passed me in the street, already braking, and just turned right five feet in front of me, without even a turn signal. If I were a half a second faster, or she a half a second slower I'd be dead.

Until this happened I was of the opinion most of the motorists around Phoenix were getting better. It's been months since I was harrassed, or told "get on the sidewalk" by a clueless motorist.

The whole thing has been really scary, I'm 41 and have a 4 year old daughter (a wonderful accident, my wife and I thought we were infertile), and a stay at home wife. What is going to happen to them if I get killed by some dumb motorist? I have good life insurance, but it's never enough. I'm careful and minimize my risks, have blinkies refelctive strips, dress in bright colors, ride bike lanes most the way. I race XC and endurance not DH, and I only recently got a 5" trail bike. I don't ride big gaps and drops, I just wanted the plush suspension for some of the rougher trails. What good is being careful if someone can just run me over because they weren't even looking?

Sorry for the rant, but I needed to vent.

Mike.

 

[stinkyboy]

No problem. I'll throw ya a toast tonight at the bar.

 

[blue]

Yeah...lawsuit.

What did they write her up for?

I've been in a ton of near misses, one in Salt Lake probably would have killed me. Going about 45 down a hill (Yes, I was in the speed limit) and going through a green light at an intersection. Some idiot thought it would be cool to turn left in front of me. Locked up both brakes, slid sideways almost perp to the ground to about 2 feet from the car. scraped my leg on the pavement, but luckily didn't wreck.

IMHO, it's only a matter of time until I get nailed by some moron on my roadie. The only questions is when and how badly.

 

[Reactor]

I'm not sure what they wrote her up for, I just saw them filling out the citation as I was being driven away to the hospital. There are about a dozen things thay could have cited her for. In Arizona , at least, the bike lane is a lane, like any other, so it could have been unsafe lane change, failure to yield, unsafe passing....

Also In Arizona there is a section in the ARS that states if you pass withing 3 feet of a bicyclist and an accident results you are at fault and can be fined up to $1000

Here it is:

28-735. Overtaking bicycles; civil penalties

A. When overtaking and passing a bicycle proceeding in the same direction, a person driving a motor vehicle shall exercise due care by leaving a safe distance between the motor vehicle and the bicycle of not less than three feet until the motor vehicle is safely past the overtaken bicycle.

B. If a person violates this section and the violation results in a collision causing:

1. Serious physical injury as defined in section 13-105 to another person, the violator is subject to a civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars.

2. Death to another person, the violator is subject to a civil penalty of up to one thousand dollars.

C. Subsection B of this section does not apply to a bicyclist who is injured in a vehicular traffic lane when a designated bicycle lane or path is present and passable.


13-105 defines serious injury as:

"Serious physical injury" includes physical injury which creates a reasonable risk of death, or which causes serious and permanent disfigurement, serious impairment of health or loss or protracted impairment of the function of any bodily organ or limb.


Basically any thing that you'd go to the ER for.

 

[Changleen]

Wow I can't believe the fine for killing someone is only a grand, and not even a criminal offence.

 

[stinkyboy]

Does vehicular manslaughter come into play or is that just car on car action?

 

[Potroast88]

*sniff*sniff*......do you smell that? Smells like a big fat insurance settlement to me.
Seriously, hope you heal up soon.