First, the good news: My friend is essentially okay, aside from some bumps and bruises. His bike took some damage, but likely not catastrophic: From what we could tell, both derailleurs on his bike and the bar tape were damaged; there may be other damage we couldn’t identify immediately, such as the handlebars themselves.
We were riding on this road with two lanes, no shoulder, and there’s a light at the bottom of a hill, with a right turn lane. The light was green, so our group was cruising at a pretty high pace - probably 25 or 30 mph - in the right lane (not the turn lane, the through lane) and some driver needed to turn right, but couldn’t wait a few seconds. So, they went into the LEFT lane, then turned right in front of our group, hit one of our riders, and kept going.
(“Must get in front…oh I have to turn here…” Shitty driving habits in general, I’ll bet.)
A few other cars stopped, and someone called the police, who took a report and got an ambulance to check out the victim. Hopefully they’ll do some investigation and find the guilty party. The cross street leads into a neighborhood with no other exits, so there’s a good chance the perpetrator lives there. Also there is a camera at that light, and one person thought to note the exact time it happened, in case the camera does continuously record.
I hope they find the driver. They deserve to pay for all damages and a huge fine.
Our friend commented that his bike was likely worth more than the minivan that hit him, which is almost certainly true, given it was an older model van and his bike is a high end Pinarello. He also noted that none of us stopped his bike computer, which was good for a laugh.
The ride leader’s husband was able to come and pick up her, the victim, and another rider that wasn’t comfortable continuing after the crash (we were only about halfway through the planned route). The rest of us pedaled on, albeit a bit more subdued for a while.
Hey, your friend essentially just won the lottery. They should sue. As someone who never sued for anything in his life, I was shocked when I got older and found out how many of my friends and acquaintances received monetary windfalls from sueing over accidents. Don’t worry because he’ll be sueing the insurance company, or the city, or whomever the attorney says to sue, not the actual driver.
Well, suing the insurance company or driver would require knowing who they are. But hopefully he isn’t on the hook for the damages to his bike.
Our club has insurance as well, but I don’t know exactly what it covers.
That’s the thing about the “fuck cars, everyone should switch to bicycles” mindset. For most cities, especially in the US, it’s just not safe yet.
You can say that if more people rode, or bike friendly infrastructure was put in place, then it’d be safer, but it’s just not safe yet.
You can say it’s more healthy than cars and doesn’t take as much time or energy as people think, especially with e-bikes; but it’s just not safe yet.
After seeing my 3rd friend in Seattle (supposedly a fairly “bike friendly” city) get hit by a car and need to be hospitalized, I decided biking is not for me and may never be. Since then, 2 more friends have gotten in accidents. I don’t exactly have a large group of friends and if you widdle that down to friends who predominantly bike as their method of transportation, I’m looking at over a 60% accident rate for bikers I know.
It’s just not safe yet.
I mean, people get injured or killed in car crashes, too, or even just doing things around the house. Life is never completely safe.
On average, you’re extending your life by cycling. Unfortunately, incidents do occur sometimes.
yet
The reality of everything in this world is that if you have to wait for things to be perfect, you’ll be waiting forever.
Sure, cycling infrastructure isn’t great in North America. And some places (like, Ontario, Canada) have actively hostile campaigns against cyclists and remove any safety implements that have been established.
But if we don’t get on our bikes, it only proves that “nobody wants to cycle”, and the infrastructure will never get built.
And really, it’s not even about infrastructure anymore. We had a 13-year-old killed on cycling infrastructure because a driver ignored a stop sign.
We (like the entire world) need to make driving so inconvenient that it becomes the last choice to get around. Only then will people who 100% need to drive be behind the wheel. And because they need to drive, maybe they’ll pay attention to what they are doing.
I do sympathize with people who are afraid or put off by the risk of cycling in some places. I do get it, and there are areas where I live that I avoid cycling through. But I do cycle with the mindset that drivers are all idiots who aren’t paying attention and/or want to run me over. So even when I have the right of way, I assume that drivers will not acknowledge it.