yellowlemon
Active member
I'd like to share my incident over the summer. Perhaps some of you can take something from it. It's on the long side.
I was riding on a residential street following my friend ahead who was driving. The road has an strip of tall grass median that divides the road, but the grass isn't so tall that you can't see past it. Coming up to a 3 way intersection the street I was in had the right of way. A car had creeped up to the median to turn into the street I was in. She saw me and I saw her. She waited for me and we both understood each other. I saw this well enough ahead of time that I began to slow down slightly just in case. I wasn't going fast. I started at 40k/h and slowed down to 30k/h.
As I got closer to the car I saw a teenage cyclist approaching the car wanting to cross the street. He basically placed the car between him and me, blinding himself from oncoming traffic, namely me. I saw him and I knew he wasn't going to see me.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I kept the 30k/h speed but focused on the boy. I figured, much like any sane person, he would peek out and look both ways. I was wrong. Just as I approached the car the kid darted out on his bicycle. I was not pleased. I had two choices. Go straight, hit him, and maintain balance through out, or swerve and maybe hope that I had enough room to go around him. I did the latter. It was the wrong choice.
By attempting a swerve (well at that speed its more like a turn) i put myself shoulder to shoulder during collision and his impact was enough to throw me off balance. I went down right side palm out, knee down. Suffice to say I was definitely unhappy.
My friends saw this and pulled over and ran towards me. I was fine, bike was scratched (just the handle end and levers), palm was ok due to the gloves but my knee was aching. As I took off my helmet the urge to slap the kid with it was strong. I refrained but only because my helmet was new. I really really liked my helmet.
This all happened in front of a fire department of all places. They came out and attended to the boy's scratches. I just had minor bruises and a fueling rage. The lady who was waiting for me to pass said she saw it all and it was the boy's fault. I didn't involve the cops. Or my insurance. Too much paper work, and the damages wouldn't go past my deductible.
If this scenario ever happens again, I'm going to go straight through while screaming "This is Sparta!!!"
On a side note, the firemen was going over my damages for record, something about every time they come to the aid they have to report the damages and cost. So he sees my levers scratched and asks me how much are my damages. I had no idea. Are there more damages I can't see? He points to my levers and says, "my son rides a dirt bike so those levers would cost what.. $20?" and he writes that down. My rage (that was for the kid) turned to confusion. I didn't get a word in but it did ease my desire to throw my helmet at the kid. BTW I have pazzo levers so you can see why $20 was baffling.
As I rode away I looked back and saw the kid salute me. This ****** (i dont know why the forum blanked that off. it's not a bad word.. i dont think..) me off more. I'm not a soldier. I'm not an officer. Salutes are a sign of respect for these heroes. Save it for them. You want to do something for me, BUY ME A NEW PAIR OF PAZZO LEVERS!
EDIT - I keep forgetting that it's hard to denote the mood of posts sometimes. I say all this with some humour to it. I realized afterwards I could have done more to prevent it, but that doesn't mean the kid is not at fault either. In the end, that fact that no one or object was seriously damaged is all that matters and I walk away from it with relieve.
I was riding on a residential street following my friend ahead who was driving. The road has an strip of tall grass median that divides the road, but the grass isn't so tall that you can't see past it. Coming up to a 3 way intersection the street I was in had the right of way. A car had creeped up to the median to turn into the street I was in. She saw me and I saw her. She waited for me and we both understood each other. I saw this well enough ahead of time that I began to slow down slightly just in case. I wasn't going fast. I started at 40k/h and slowed down to 30k/h.
As I got closer to the car I saw a teenage cyclist approaching the car wanting to cross the street. He basically placed the car between him and me, blinding himself from oncoming traffic, namely me. I saw him and I knew he wasn't going to see me.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I kept the 30k/h speed but focused on the boy. I figured, much like any sane person, he would peek out and look both ways. I was wrong. Just as I approached the car the kid darted out on his bicycle. I was not pleased. I had two choices. Go straight, hit him, and maintain balance through out, or swerve and maybe hope that I had enough room to go around him. I did the latter. It was the wrong choice.
By attempting a swerve (well at that speed its more like a turn) i put myself shoulder to shoulder during collision and his impact was enough to throw me off balance. I went down right side palm out, knee down. Suffice to say I was definitely unhappy.
My friends saw this and pulled over and ran towards me. I was fine, bike was scratched (just the handle end and levers), palm was ok due to the gloves but my knee was aching. As I took off my helmet the urge to slap the kid with it was strong. I refrained but only because my helmet was new. I really really liked my helmet.
This all happened in front of a fire department of all places. They came out and attended to the boy's scratches. I just had minor bruises and a fueling rage. The lady who was waiting for me to pass said she saw it all and it was the boy's fault. I didn't involve the cops. Or my insurance. Too much paper work, and the damages wouldn't go past my deductible.
If this scenario ever happens again, I'm going to go straight through while screaming "This is Sparta!!!"
On a side note, the firemen was going over my damages for record, something about every time they come to the aid they have to report the damages and cost. So he sees my levers scratched and asks me how much are my damages. I had no idea. Are there more damages I can't see? He points to my levers and says, "my son rides a dirt bike so those levers would cost what.. $20?" and he writes that down. My rage (that was for the kid) turned to confusion. I didn't get a word in but it did ease my desire to throw my helmet at the kid. BTW I have pazzo levers so you can see why $20 was baffling.
As I rode away I looked back and saw the kid salute me. This ****** (i dont know why the forum blanked that off. it's not a bad word.. i dont think..) me off more. I'm not a soldier. I'm not an officer. Salutes are a sign of respect for these heroes. Save it for them. You want to do something for me, BUY ME A NEW PAIR OF PAZZO LEVERS!
EDIT - I keep forgetting that it's hard to denote the mood of posts sometimes. I say all this with some humour to it. I realized afterwards I could have done more to prevent it, but that doesn't mean the kid is not at fault either. In the end, that fact that no one or object was seriously damaged is all that matters and I walk away from it with relieve.
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We can't travel through time, but sound can. 
