David Bates sent us this disturbing email last Sunday, thankfully he is OK and lived to tell us about it:
I had a rather dramatic Friday night and thought it would be of interest to the bikecommuters.com readers. Editors feel free to whittle down whatever you feel necessary. My name is David Bates and I comment under the name Jamis_Bater.
This past Friday I rode in to work like any other day. A group of guys took off early that day to go see Iron Man. It’s a sweet movie, two thumbs way up. Anyway, I rode to the theater 9 miles away. After the movie I had planned on riding home, but realized I forgot my garage door opener at work and had no other way in to my house. So I returned to the office to retrieve it.
About a mile from work I was heading down a hill and picking up speed quickly. I moved to the center of the lane as I was moving past some parallel parked cars on the side. As I was approaching an intersection up ahead I could see an SUV in the opposite lane slowing to take a left. It appeared that he saw me and was waiting for me to pass. There was also a red car at the intersection to my right ready to pull out across my path. I wasn’t quite sure if she could see me through the parked cars. So I had my attention on her as I was preparing to grab a handful of brake just in case. As I came past the cars I could see that she had seen me and was waiting, when all of a sudden out of my left vision I saw the SUV come right into my path.
I was traveling about 20-25 mph at the time. I had almost no time to react. I grabbed the brakes and stood up and a bit to the back. It happened so fast that all I thought was “this is gonna hurt bad.” I slammed into the side of his truck which was at a slight angle to me. He later admitted that he saw me at the last second and foolishly slammed on the brakes. That works OK if you are about to rear end someone, but not so much if you are crossing the path of oncoming traffic. I hit his truck midway, slid down the side of it, and was shot out the back. I landed on my rear in the middle of the intersection.
I’ve never hit anything so hard in my life, I was probably still going at least 20 mph. I think standing up on the pedals may have saved me from a closed head injury. I still slammed my face pretty hard on his truck, but it hit on the roof and not against the side where I’m sure I would have broken my neck. My shoulder, chest, right thigh, and right foot took most of the force against the side of his truck. In the photo I think you can see a dent in the roof-line that my shoulder made.
I never lost consciousness. I landed on the ground facing the rear of the truck. I watched the driver continue through the intersection and stop. I saw him jump out and saw a bunch of bystanders come running to help me out. I sat there on the ground for a while just slowly checking to see if everything was OK. I hurt, but not like anything was broken. Everything moved OK. So I stood up on my own, and was helped a bit to a corner. Someone took my bike to another corner, so I walked over to there. I couldn’t believe nothing was broken. I thought for sure just before impact that I was gonna break something, but nothing was broken. I’ve never broken a bone, so I was strangely thinking “well at last I’ll get to experience that.” I thought for sure I’d broken my nose or lost some teeth, but those were fine too. I was bleeding bad out the nose, but that was pretty much it for parts that were bleeding. I was hurt, but actually quite OK. I was pretty shocked. At some point I stood up and grabbed my phone from my trunk bag. I walked over and used the camera to take a shot of his license plate, and the damage to the side of his truck.
Now for the driver—I was obviously angry, but I didn’t want to get into it with him. But then he started in with the tired old “Are you OK man? I didn’t see you. I had no idea you were there until it was too late.” That’s when I laid in to him. I just looked at him and said firmly “I’m wearing a bright yellow vest, coming down the center of the lane, and was right in front of you. You didn’t see me because you didn’t bother to pay attention. You should try looking.” He was less than willing to accept his negligence and just kept saying “Look, it was an accident. I didn’t mean to hit you.” I got really hot at that. I told him I didn’t care if he meant to do it, he still did it. He wasn’t paying attention and almost killed me. He shot back with “you act like I meant to do it. I guess you aren’t the type that can accept an apology.” I really couldn’t believe it. My nose is gushing blood and he wants to chastise me because I’m not quick to absolve him of his guilt. I stopped talking to him and he went a few steps away.
One of the ladies that stopped to help me was a nurse. She took good care of me until she realized I was OK and the police had shown up. Paramedics also arrived and looked me over. I told them I didn’t think I needed to go to the emergency room. They couldn’t believe I was OK either. The police took our statements, to his credit the driver admitted to everything, and got a ticket. Everyone who saw it happen had this huge stare on their faces, like I should be in pieces. It was kind of funny and annoying at the same time.
I looked at my bike expecting the worse and found it to be in good shape too. The handlebars were headed in the wrong direction, so I straightened that out. Other than a nasty scratch on the right fork leg everything seemed to be fine. So I got back on it and rode to work like I had intended. That was one of the weirdest parts of the night. I was riding away from the wreck. People were offering me rides, but I figured “I’m actually OK, so why not?” I got my garage opener, then rode seven miles home. That was probably a good thing. It kept me loose and helped keep the blood flowing to my bruised up muscles. I’ve taken my bike to the shop for them to take a good look at. I think the right pedal got tweaked and the front derailler is bent.
For some added irony, that night on that road our city was having what is called “First Friday Art Walk.” All the art galleries and restaurants coordinate on the first Friday night of each month. It’s very popular in our town. This particular night being in May was being used to showcase bicycle awareness and advocacy. Advertisements were posted everywhere to encourage people to bring their bikes and ride the road I got smashed on.
It’s now a couple of days later and I feel OK. Any serious injury should have surfaced by now. I’m still very sore, but more like I feel when I do a heavy lifting workout or something. My neck hurts a bit and I have a slight headache which I will keep an eye on. But really with Tylenol I’m feeling good.
I’m a religious man, and I thank God for sparing me. Whether He miraculously spared me or just made me a rather flexible guy that can take a hit really doesn’t matter. I am just thankful that I was able to get up and ride away. Never let it be said though that roadies are a bunch of Lycra clad pansies. I slammed in to the side of a truck, got up, and finished my ride. I’m kinda proud of that.
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