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Journal Some Woman's Journal: On the plus side...I got an ambulance ride. 38

Journal by Some Woman

Nothing tops off your day like getting hit by a car.

Well, SUV actually. While riding my bike.

And, bethanie, that "helmet" was the first thing to hit the ground. It broke. My head is fine. I was actually surprise at how little I felt it through the helmet. I went two years in a high traffic area without wearing a helmet, because it was too much of a pain to carry around. Thankfully, my stupidity was not rewarded at the time. I'll have to buy a new one.

My bike is not so great. Front wheel is bent, seat broke off, pedals a little funny looking. I was going to take it in tomorrow to spend about $60 on a tune-up and repairs. Am considering buying a new bike.

My body is okay. Sore everywhere. Bruises, scrapes, but nothing broken. My left shoulder really hurts because the bike and I fell together to the right.

A witness who was driving a garbage truck stopped and called 911. The police came and took a statement. I really didn't want to involve the polic, because, while she was turning right on a red (allowed if you stopped first), I was riding on the sidewalk- flat out illegal, but, amusingly enough, I was doing it out of fear of being hit by a car. Go figure.

Then the paramedics came- I wanted to avoid going to the hospital more than anything, as even with insurance, I would have to shell out a fair bit of money. They did a cursory check for broken bones, and such. They didn't take me to the hospital, but they did give me a free ride home.

This discussion was created by Some Woman (250267) for Friends and Friends of Friends only, but now has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

On the plus side...I got an ambulance ride. More

On the plus side...I got an ambulance ride.

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  • Don't leave out the details! What did the SUV look like afterwards?

    (Good to hear you're OK. Next time be sure to damage the SUV as much as possible while going down.)

    Honest, ossifer! It wash fuggin' 'credible! My bike bounced off the ground and went right sroo hish windshield! *ptui*

    Cheers,

    Ethelred

  • I am glad to hear that you are OK. As one who has experienced a couple of bicycle/automobile incidents in my life, I can tell you they are pretty scary afterwards. As for the sidewalk. while it is illegal in some areas to ride bikes on the sidewalk, sometimes riding in the street is simply too damn dangerous. There is one stretch of road that I try and avoid on the bike, simply because it is so damned dangerous and I will ride on the sidewalk in that case. The thing to remember is that while you have to
    • This is a very busy road- you would have to be batshit insane to actually ride on the road. Everybody I've talked to agrees.
      • This is a very busy road- you would have to be batshit insane to actually ride on the road. Everybody I've talked to agrees.

        Busy doesn't bother me as long as the drivers aren't complete morons, though it helps if said road is wide enough that I can stay a bit off to the side.

        I'll ride on the street downtown, I'll ride on busy 6 lane roads with fast moving traffic. Then again I am batshit insane.

        Also consider that most drivers in the Seattle area are used to dealing with cyclists.

        Truth be told I do ride
        • This road kind of has a shoulder, but there are usually cars parked on the side. It's also frequented by mindless commuters who are just thinking about getting home, as it intersects no fewer than 3 freeways. The place where I was hit was a freeway intersection at the height of rush hour.

          I think I'm just going to avoid riding on the road, and stick to riding on designated bike paths for leisure. There's one road near me that is awesome for bikes. It has a designated bike line between the driving lane a
          • Actually from what you describe you want to ride IN traffic. In other words take enough of the lane that cars are forced to pass you like a motorcycle or car.

            Believe it or not riding in traffic really is the safest thing.

            Wear bright colors or a safety vest and always use lights front and back after sunset or before sunrise.

            The drivers may be pissed at you and honk but they won't hit you.

            Sometimes you can minimize conflict by staying to the right of the lane (roughly where the right wheel of a car would

  • Hmm... (Score:2)

    by ryanr ( 30917 ) *
    The SUV had to come up on the sidewalk to get you? The hunting must be thin, it sounds like the poor SUV was deperate.
  • 'Cause I woulda been all about picking up the EMTs, ya know.

    Seriously, though, I'm glad you're OK, and I'm glad you had a helmet. If it had been me, I woulda *needed* that ride to the ER (or do they do trips straight to the morgue?).

    Anyone else wanna chip into a "buy a new helmet for SW" fund?

    ....Bethanie....
  • Dents that aren't in your skull: Priceless.

    Glad to hear that there was no real damage. So, how's the bike holding up?

  • sorry to hear about the bike and the helmet... but i'm so glad that you weren't harmed.

    And to the SUV: Share the road, Motherfucker!!!


  • What an experience! Wow. The Woman, she has nine lives, no?

  • Wowzers! (Score:2)

    by glh ( 14273 )
    Glad you are OK, it sounds like it could have been quite a tragic event (well, I guess it was for the bike and helmet). I was actually at a store the other day- it was something like a Walmart. Anyway, they had decent looking mountain bikes for about $100. I wish I could remember where it was.

    • I wouldn't buy a Walmart bike, they are junk and assembled by the monkeys who work there.

      If you buy a bike do yourself a favor and buy it from a bike shop. (no really, it will pay for itself in the long run)
      • Yeah. The bike that I have lost was 12 years old. I was just thinking that the other day. Wow. It certainly doesn't look 12 years old, and except for the shifting problem that I was going to have fixed today, it didn't ride like it should be replaced any tme soon. My parents bought it for me from a local bike shop for $300 when I was 13 years old. If I buy a new bike, I think I will look at something around $300-500.
        • Well if you like the frame there is no reason not to just replace the broken/worn out parts. Bikes last a _long_ time even when ridden hard.

          On the other hand go ahead and buy a new one if you want to.

          I will say that 'decent' bikes seem to start at around $600 these days. That will be roughly the same price point as your current bike was 12 years ago. There are decent ones that are cheaper, but you have to be a little more careful shopper. Then again I'm enough of a bike rider I tend to be a bit picky.
  • Glad that you are alright. :) This is why I hate SUVs!!!

  • Owie. (Score:2)

    by trmj ( 579410 )
    Feel better soon, I know those bumps and bruises won't go away immediately (I still have mine from my bicycle crash [slashdot.org], although it was a bit less.. uh.. SUV related..)

    Glad to hear you're not seriously hurt, sorry to hear about the bike, hope the SUV gets a flat tire. That about covers it :-)
  • No pithy sayings or humor, just relief.
  • if only the SUV driver were ridiculously wealthy. this could have been your ticket to independent wealth.
  • (you sick of hearing that, yet)? ;-)

    So what up with the SUV woman? Did she at least get cited? After all, regardless of wear you are riding, pedestrians have the right of way...
    • There's a police report, but I'd rather not see anything happen to her legally, as she's been really nice.

      She was very concerned about how I was doing, called last night to see how I was, promised to call today to see how I'm doing, and has already reported it to her insurance. I just got a call from her insurance company.
  • Glad to hear you're ok. (mee tooo! mee tooo!)

    One of our neighbors was walking downtown, normal sidewalk headed to work from the El kind of stuff, and got hit by an SUV. She was in reasonably good shape, but did have to spend some hospital time. One leg was messed up some, but not terribly as I recall. Unfortunately, walking doesn't usually entail a helmet so they did spend some time worried about head injuries--luckily nothing bad there either.

  • And I'm glad you were wearing your helmet. It is supposed to break anyway. If it was strong enough to not break, it would just transfer all that energy through the helmet into your noggin. It's supposed to be strong enough to protect you by turning all the energy into energy used to break the helmet.
  • Count me in the "incredibly relieved that you got off with minimal damage" column.

    I have a friend who got t-boned by a truck while riding his motorcycle several years ago. He's okay now, for a broad enough definition of okay; he was damned lucky, and I'm glad that you were, too. Hearing about accidents like this always leave me feeling a little shaky in sympathy.

  • I've done enough biking and walking to consider myself very lucky that the only incident I ever had was with a parked car and completely my fault. (Who knew daydreaming while biking wasn't safe? :P)

    There is another likely good result out of this. I bet that SUV driver will be much more alert and aware of bicycles for a while.
    • Oh yeah- I did tha parked car thing when I was 9. How I missed the bright yellow pick-up truck, the world will never know. :^)

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