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Cycling accidents
Last Post 09/16/2013 01:10 PM by 79 pmooney. 7 Replies.
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Ride On
Posts:537
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| 09/11/2013 04:51 PM |
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I'm sitting here in the hospital waiting for surgery. A week ago Saturday I went on a local group ride. Nice sunny day. 50 people. Should have been a nice day. Some of us trading pulls on the front. Not race style or anything just pull for awhile then let the next guy over take you. I am taking my turn on the front. That is when it all goes bad. This guy comes by me on the left and get his back wheel even with my front. Now he decides to make a right hand turn down a side street. Mind you this ride has been in place for 15 years going the same way, straight down this road. I get taken down. He comes over and says " I thought someone said right. I'm sorry my fault ". He of course didn't go down and is fine. Me now I've got a broken bone in my wrist that needs a screw put in it. It got me to thinking the differences between a bike accident and a car accident. I have insurance, don't get me wrong, but as most insurance is now a days this is going to cost me. If it had been a car accident his insurance company would have picked up the bill. Same thing would happen if I tripped over the guys bike if he left it on his sidewalk outside his house. His homeowners would have covered me. I understand why bikes don't have insurance. What baffles me is how cars got insurance in the first place. In the beginning it must have been the same way. You ran your car into framer Brows fence by accident, framer Brown was out of luck wasn't he? Who decided that insurance should cover your mistakes. If I sued this guy for damages would I win ? Some how I doubt it. It was a risk I took, is the way most people would view it. I don't know, to much time on my hands right now. I've given up 2 days of work so far. More to come I'm sure. I'm going to have pain, I'm going to miss a race I was training for. In general this sucks and all I got was a " sorry dude, you ok? " Guess I'm just a little biter right now. Makes me think twice about riding. It is kind of dangerous |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/11/2013 05:47 PM |
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Hmmm, sounds like the guy passed you and then cut you off in the turn, which is a no no IMO, although it would certainly not be above my uncle the almost professional cyclist, yelling "left" and then turning right for the fun of it, but those were different circumstances (he was known to pull these stunts to keep everyone sharp). That said, I am no fan of suiing and its part of risk of group rides as far as I am concerned.
Accident rates for cycling are no worse than driving or pedestrians so this should not hold you back.
I had "one of those days" on my training ride today, a lady trying to shoot with her Olds across the road in the opposite lane without looking my way (left), hard brake and swerved around the back of that one (the look of horror on her old wrinkly face was kinda funny); then 10 minutes later a guy pulling out from a parking spot just as I was in his blind spot, hard veer left avoided disaster (we kinda just smiled at each other and he said sorry). City riding, oh well, gotta be sharp. |
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vtguy
Posts:298
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| 09/12/2013 10:33 AM |
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| Sorry to hear about your accident. The guy who took you down is a moron, but like OC says, that's one of the risks of group rides. |
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THE SKINNY
Posts:506
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| 09/12/2013 10:37 AM |
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| our bike club's insurance wants us to sign a waiver every time we go on a group ride. of course that doesn't happen but it could come back to bite us one day. insurance is one of those necessary evils and i guess if there end up being 300 million cyclists on the road, insurance will be required just like for cars. glad it's 'only' your wrist and not something cranial. |
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| How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. |
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Ride On
Posts:537
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| 09/12/2013 11:47 AM |
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Thanks guys.
Surgery went well but man it hurts like hell. Who would have thought a small crack in a small bone could be this much trouble.
Doc said keep my hand above my heart at all times. He said best is to rest my hand on the top of my head for the first 2 weeks. Great fun. |
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zootracer
Posts:835
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| 09/12/2013 02:18 PM |
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I'm leery of group rides because you are at the mercy of perhaps an inexperienced rider. That being said, all of my crashes have been solo (unless you count hitting a dog). Knock-on-wood it's been over two years since I've gone down. Hope your surgery went well, and you mend fast.
When I broke my hip in 05, the doc gave me a shot to 'relax me'. Next thing I knew I was in the recovery room. No recollection of anything. Thats the kind of surgery I like..recovery was horrific though.. wrist should not be too bad, unless you have a cast. Once the swelling goes down it will be o.k. (broke a wrist and my hand at the same time).... my hand still bothers me, but I did not have surgery... |
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vtguy
Posts:298
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| 09/12/2013 05:00 PM |
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| Glad to hear that your surgery went well. Hope you heal fast. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 09/16/2013 01:10 PM |
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For me, that crash would probably have been yet another concussion. (I've concussed without hitting my head. Too many hard head injuries does that.)
I rarely ride in groups now. Last week, I spent easily 90% of my time riding alone at Cycle Oregon. (That was easy in such beautiful country.) I was going to see about riding on one paceline I started with after a stop. About a dozen riders with two sets of club kits and several fit looking women. Looked like it could be a fairly fast, fairly sane paceline. But then I saw a rider fixing a flat who was there before the turnaround, so I stopped and asked if he needed help. By the time he said he was OK, the line was well up the road and my work for the day was trying to catch them. Got halfway and all the way to the heartrate, etc. i was willing to do. More to my liking was following two tandems for miles where they don't even want me to pull!
In Oregon, I believe my car insurance covers liability while I am on the bike. If that is the case for you, his auto insurance should cover your medical. If you know his name. you might ask your medical insurance if that is the case in your state. (Your auto insurer will certainly know the answer to that question.) Your medical would be happy not to have to pick up the tab and therefore to do all the footwork.
Ben |
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