A Taste of Pavement

On June 25th, I got hit by a car.>>

Here's the story...

It was 11.10pm and I was biking home from Safeway after work. I was heading eastbound through the stoplight intersection at Dalhousie drive and Dalford Road. It was dark(I was wearing black pants and shoes, and a brown hoodie. No helmet. Feel free to chastise; I fully understand how stupid that is), and the streets basically empty. The wind at my back, I was going at least 40km/hr through the stale green light. A black SUV (Hyundai Santa Fe) approached the intersection from the opposite direction and signaled to make a left hand turn (across my path).

Fully comprehending that I had the right of way, I proceeded through the light (as I did, it turned yellow....irrelevant) expecting him to yield. He slowed down for a split second and then accelerated as he turned--smashing into me and my bike. Luckily, he hit the back half of my bike, narrowly missing my legs. I catapulted forward about 8 feet and bounced along the pavement landing primarily on my left side and face. Again, this is that moment where I cringe to think about how it should have been since I had no helmet. I wish I could remember the actual flying-through-the-air part, but your brain shuts right down when things like this happen.

My bike landed on top of me, pinning my body to the ground. I couldn't move a muscle. First word out of my mouth: "OW!" in a more irritated and strained than frantic voice. I could feel my legs and feet, but the weight of the bike was too much to pull free from without extreme pain. Almost a minute later, as I laid there trying to catch my breath and figure out if I had broken anything, a white man in his early 30s got out of the SUV and walked slowly towards me.

"Hey, buddy," he said in a vaguely curious voice, "you OK?" He stops beside me, staring down.

Heck no, I'm not okay. I just got hit by a car. What a dumb question. But I'm breathing, not gushing blood, and nothing is broken.

"Yeah...can you take the bike off of me?"

I laid there trying to figure out how to move my legs without sending brutally sharp pain up to my neck. A car slows down beside us and rolls down his window. "Hey guys...did you know your car is blocking the road?"

I looked at the black SUV behind me. He had completed his turn and then stopped. Fair enough, it was blocking traffic, but could this guy not clearly see I had just taken quite the fall?! I shook my head at him. Gosh, I thought, now I feel bad since I'm blocking the road too. Pffff...idiot.

Almost as soon as I stood up, I checked my bike for damage. The handle bars wouldn't turn, but nothing was noticeably messed up. He handed me my backpack and water bottle and said "I'm sure I had my turning signal on, so I don't know how that happened. I didn't even see you. But you seem to be okay, so i'm going to head off.

This frustrated me on so many levels. First, I don't care if he had his turning signal on. That means he plans on turning left--it doesn't imply that he's planning on taking out a biker as well. Also, just because I can stand up doesn't mean I'm fine. I still couldn't stand up straight. I had lower back spasms with every step. My bike wasn't in working order. How did this guy expect me to get home?

I made a note of his license plate and car make/model, and told him he should drive me home. He said he had to pick up his fiancé from Safeway first (she worked at the Dalhousie store). I laid on the side of the road and called Darcy. I calmly told him that I was hit by a car, and asked him to look up the legal aspects of this situation. I definitely handled the whole thing with a level head. The other guy (his name is Andrew) was either in shock (understandable) or not very bright. He dropped me off at home where we inspected the damage on his car: a powdering of dust from my bike. I later realized my bike was in perfect shape; the handle bars had just been turned 360 degrees, causing them to not turn properly.

How is this possible? I was hit pretty hard with no helmet. And all I had to show for it was a tiny cut on my ankle from the bike landing on me. My bike was in perfect shape. DUST on his bumper? Granted, my body has been a mess for the last few days and only now can bend down to touch the ground. But seriously, I got very lucky.

I filled out a police report the next day. The police called in the driver (Andrew) and asked for his version of the events.

Andrew claimed I knowingly ran a red light and apologized for it after he hit me. Funny, since he offered to pay for any bike damages. The cops can't really rule it one way or the other since nobody else saw this happen. I don't really know what my options are legally, but I plan on finding out. I wouldn't be all that angry if he hadn't lied. But now it's war.

I have more to write about, but it can wait for a couple days. Congratulations for actually reading this whole post...sorry for the length. Feel free to leave a comment.

Bonus joke: "Doubly-wrong"

"Hey Josh, I saw just-born kittens today. I named one 'Cat'. "
"Of course you did, Darcy, that's just like you: simple and minimalist."
"One of the other ones was named Napoleon."
"As in the explorer, or the ice cream?"