I had a Tesla try and take a left turn into me, honking the whole time, as I was headed straight (I had a green + crosswalk sign on) through an intersection. I was inconveniencing them with my existence.
I had much the same from a van driver trying to take me out on left through a segregated bike path (thankfully no crash). “I had a green light” he angrily said to me. “Yeah so did I” I said.
I also almost daily have someone trying to turn right through the curbside bike lane and many of them truly don’t think they have any responsibility to yield.
For me, it’d probably be the lady in a van backing her van into traffic without looking, then yelling at me to watch where I’m going when she finally noticed she’s about to back into me.
I credit having lights running on my bike (even though it was daytime) for preventing me from getting hit by this idiot.
was stopped at a stop sign at the intersection of 10th and Pine. 10th has more traffic than Pine so Pine has stop signs but 10th doesn’t.
anyway, i was stopped with two feet in the ground. looked right down tenth, saw a car coming. looked left and saw it was clear from that direction and thought when the car passes, I’ll cross.
When i looked back right, i saw the grill of the car with about five feet before impact.
the car turned onto the wrong side of the road where i saw standing
I had someone who didn’t yield while turning right at a 1-way only stop sign in a fairly remote area. I was going essentially walking speed on the sidewalk. He was looking for oncoming traffic and didn’t start looking where he was going before initiating his turn. I braked, going slower and slower, waiting for him to look where he was driving, but instead he just casually ran over my front wheel, and I had to bail.
He was moderately apologetic about it, and ended up paying for a new wheel, but the whole thing could have gone a lot worse if I was less cautious.
Edit - Bonus accident that was completely my fault: I was late for school, biking standing up and pumping hard. I thoughtlessly took one hand off my handlebars to check the time, lost balance, the wheel locked out, and I went flying over the handlebars. Thankfully, no injury asides from my ego.
That’s why we don’t rider in the sidewalk where I live.
Yeah, this was out in the boonies where the biking infrastructure sucked. Biking on the roads is dangerous there, and there are very few pedestrians, so typically it’s safer to just go on the sidewalks in some places. This bridge in particular was a bit notorious.
In any case, I could have just as easily been a pedestrian. If I was some old lady crossing, dude would’ve smoked her.
Good on him for not doubling down on being an idiot shitbag.
In your bonus story, what do you mean your wheel locked out?
Since I took one hand off, and was putting forward weight on the handlebars, the front wheel swung 90°.
Thanks for the clarification!
Had been cycling to uni next to the canal. Was about to overtake some lady. Lady decided to strafe to the right. My left had and/or handlebar hit her elbow. The next thing I remember is sky, the one after that - feeling cold. I was fine in the end. Phone died, laptop was incapacitated, but lives on till this day (shoutout to dell!). I had a broozed knee, although I can’t recall hitting the gravel. Must’ve bounced off it into the canal. The bike, luckily, stayed ashore. Needless to say I was late for lectures that early september morning.
Damn, that sounds like a concussion. I hope you were able to get checked out by a doctor!
I’ve not hit my head at all, helmet was not even scratched. I think it’s just brain blanking out high stress moments.
You can get a concussion without damaging your helmet.
I got a concussion in a car accident when some kids hit me: I was scratched up and bruised, but no injuries to my head - still had a concussion though.
Concussions come from your brain hitting the inside of the skull: Any change in movement of sufficient force might cause one.
