I hit a car today.

General
1

Everyone should read this and learn from my mistake. I have been riding my 26er to work for the past month. I had my first real accident this morning. I was not paying enough attention to a blind intersection and at the last second a car pulled out. I copuldn’t grab the brake in time and hit the ground. My uni hit the ground, bounced and hit some poor man’s plymouth. My uni cracked his hubcap.

He looked at me shocked, he thought he had hit me. Sore from the fall I slowly got up and I explained to him what happened. I apologised and told him I wanted to pay for a new hubcap. He refused, he was very cool about it and just seemed happy that no one was hurt.

I feel like a total @sshole right now. I’m not that unstable on this particular uni, I can ride fairly well. I’m not Kris Holm, but I can get around town no problem. I wasn’t paying attention and I scared the hell out of some poor old guy.

Please everyone here like I said earlier, learn from my mistake. Pay attention, ride safe, let this be a reminder to us all.

… and no I wasn’t drinking.

-Joe

2

stuff happens. i have “hit” a car (not uniing) and the person flipped out and threw the door open just missing my friend who was flying past on the other side. nothing was damaged so when he turned around to get a peice of papaer i left.

3

I don’t think I would feel the same way if I was riding and a car pulled out in front of me at a blind intersection. Were you riding on the road, or a path to the side? If you were on a path, was there a crosswalk? I think I would be a little angry at the driver.

4

I see your point and you are right. He was moving and stopped very abruptly, but if I was paying better attention I KNOW I could have stopped in time. I know what my limits are riding uni. I know how fast I can go and still safely stop and how much distance it takes me to stop.

So yes, I probably should be angry (somewhat) at the driver. My point was I am disappointed with myself for not paying better attention.

-Joe

5

It’s a tough situation we have most of the time with drivers. Unicyclists should, of course, always be extra careful, particularly because drivers are NOT careful most of the time (not sure if this is the case this time).

Sometimes I get so mad at them that I almost want them to hit me so I can play the role of the pedestrian and get my own revenge just for spite; but that wouldn’t really accomplish anything in the end.

But hey, compliments on your handling of the situation. Could have been easy for both parties to fly off the handle, but it sounds like everyone went home happy.

6

Well thank you for the compliment. I try to keep my cool and put myself in the other guy’s shoes for a second before I react or open my mouth. I don’t want to be a total jerkoff.

In this case I’d say we were both at fault and since there was indeed some damage to his wheel, I had better offer to make things right. That’s why I offered to pay for it.

You’re right it is a common problem. Motorcycles, bicycles and unicycles are totally ignored by most drivers. I have had close calls in the past, but nothing before that was my fault.

-Joe

7

Only one thing to say about this

Regardless to who is at fault…

You got up and where ok.

Thats the only important thing to think about.

Ride safely and enjoy your uni.

Best regards

8

You survived unhurt, which is great.

You can see the other guy’s point of view, which is unusual.

You accept responsibility for your own actions, which these days puts you in a tiny minority.

You learn from your mistakes, which is almost unique.

Were you unhurt because you are in fact a saint?:slight_smile:

9

I’m an extremely competant rider when is comes to biking. I’ve ridden on roads every day from the age of 7, although drivers complain a lot about riders for the most part it’s the driver who’s in the wrong.

I’ve been hit by cars far to many times when riding, I think I’m nearly at 10. All of the accidents were the drivers’ fault and always at junctions.

I’ve has the experience of slamming into the side of a car because the drivers didn’t check properly quite a few times and it’s hard to avoid even when using brakes. Luckily for me, in all the drivers were quite sound with it and realised that it was their fault.

The one occasion that really pissed me off was riding around a roundabout. Naturally I have right of way going around, as I was riding round I kept in line with a car also going the same way as me just so that drivers could see me better because they’d see the car. Unfortunately, this driver was going too fast for me to keep up and he pulled away a bit. Going past the 2nd exit some toer came flying out, luckily I spotted him and realised that I needed to speed up or I’d go through his windshield. He did however hit my rear wheel…hard…I went skidding across the floor…into the road and that fuwit drove off! I’m just glad I didn’t suffer anything worse than bad grazes and bruises.

We can’t always avoid these things, we’ve just got to keep alert and try to read what drivers could do.

10

Oh dear, least it turned out okay,

Some willy once pulled up so close to me so that his kid could have a close-up view that my rotating pedals scrached his car :roll_eyes: He gave me a mean stare (I returned one) and drove off.

11

Most of the times cars have almost hit me the driver has been mad at me and yelled at me or honked, even though he/she was clearly the one at fault. I am definitely a defensive rider and I know the areas on my commute where people are idiots. Someone once drove by me and flipped me off and tried to force me off the road and then when he stopped at a light up a head I got off my bike and looked at him through his open window and asked what the problem was. It was at that point where 2 people got out of his car and started to threaten me. This may only happen in Northern Virginia…but people hate cyclists here. The department of transportation hates cyclists, the Virginia government hates cyclists, and so do the rich idiots driving huge SUVs everywhere.

12

Joe_sixpack: That’s a pretty unusual reaction - I think most of us would blame the driver, and some will do so even if it’s their own fault. Myself, I often first get confused and apologize, but later realize that I’ve done nothing wrong (from my point of view, of course ;). Heh, that’s when I start blaming others.)

Well, I’m glad that you’re safe and the driver seemed very nice - trying to learn from one’s mistake is something everyone should learn to do.

Now it’s time to share my own experiences. I’m a relative new rider, bought my first uni more than a month ago. I know my own limits (and sometimes test them when there’s no one around), but riding “normally” isn’t any problem for me.

Some weeks ago, when I was riding to the right on a small path, I heard someone shouting “OooOOooOWooaaah!” behind me. Thinking it must be someone trying to scare me, I just ignored it. But suddenly, a postman on a bicycle appeared right beside me, riding pretty fast (much faster than me on my uni). When he’d pasted me, he turned around and yelled “Watch out!”. I was perplexed. Today, I still haven’t figured out what he meant.

This evening another strange thing happened. Here, unicycling is considered as walking - the cars should stop when you’re crossing a road (when there’s a crosswalk). Even if I know that, most of the drivers obviously don’t - and that’s why I often jump off the uni before crossing a road. But there are drivers that are nice and stop.

Today when I was going to cross the road the car on the left side slowed down. I took the opportunity to cross the road, but then the car (which hadn’t completely stopped) suddenly honked. To me it didn’t seem like a nice honk nor an attempt to scare me - it was more like “Hey stupid guy on stupid bike, what the **** are you doing making me stop?!”

It seems some people get angry just because I ride a uni. A bicyclist a while ago muttered something about “Well, can’t you at least ride on the right side?”. Yeah right, says the person who forced me to give way and rode where bicycles aren’t recommended…

Conclusion: Even if you know you’re right, you can’t be sure how others think. Be on guard when riding in traffic and always put your safety first.

13

I’m still trying to figure out what Joe was going to do if he’d gotten hold of his brake in time… :thinking:

Glad nobody was hurt, especially in the case of a polite cyclist colliding with a polite driver.

14

hubcap? i thought plymouths were GOOD cars.

15

Well, as far as fault goes, it breaks down like this:

Were you riding in the street or on the sidewalk?

If on the sidewalk then it’s your fault. Street then it’s the car’s fault. He could have just as easilly pulled out in front of a car or a semi as he did you. Who pulls blindly out onto a road without looking? He’s lucky it was you and not some soccer mom with 20 kids in her van.

Unless you were on the sidewalk - and if that’s the case stop riding on the sidewalk, it causes accidents. :slight_smile: Or, I suppose, if you were riding on the wrong side of the street. That would also be silly, and would also cause accidents.

16

Joe dossen’t know that there actualy spinners

17

I’m glad everyone has been talking about this so much. I hate to sound like a tool , but safety is a real concern for all of us.

Thanks to everyone for your compliments on how I handled the situation. I try my best to keep cool. To answer the big question: Yes, I was indeed on the road when this happened. By law, all bikes are supposed to be on the road in this area.

Lastly, yes plymouths are good cars. You just don’t always have a good driver. Not to mention the highway/road system could use some serious work (I live in Pennsylvania, some of the least maintained roads in America).

-Joe