Hit by car :(

[Lynne]

Um, Allison, I work in insurance. You need to turn that in. I work in commercial lines, but it's the same concept. My only concern would be if the fracture does not heal as it should and you are left with any kind of permanent impairment of use of the hand (carpal so I assume it is the hand and not a finger, metacarpal).

It's very sweet that the girl wants to help, but a fracture to someone who bikes as a significant lifestyle activity is a serious injury.

I hope the healing goes well and it doesn't impact you for too long. I truly feel for you-can't imagine being injured-out for any length of time. I'd go stir crazy!!

Oh, and if you are married or have a SO or even some pets...work it, honey! roflmao! No cooking! No cleaning!

[bikerchick68]

alison...how scary!!! I'm sure you didn't feel the fracture right away as you must've had a TON of adrenaline pumping thru you at that point... yikes! Ugh! I've had a couple close calls and my heart was racing for a good 20 minutes from it!

Hopefully it IS something that will heal well... breaks usually take 6 weeks and if casted then atrophy has to be dealt with as well... definitely take it easy for a couple weeks!!

Is the bike damaged bad? How 'bout your helmet... need to replace it now too? Was her car messed up? I understand she doesn't want to ding her insurance but I gotta agree, now that you know there IS an injury, I'd strongly consider turning it in... especially if the doc thinks there is ANY chance that there may be future negative impact from it...

dang, sure hope your better soon..

[alison_in_oh]

I have full contact info and if things look complicated we'll pursue this further. At this point though it looks like a few hundred bucks to the bike and a triquetrum fracture that will have me back in action ASAP. Didn't even hit my head, was glad not to have to replace the helmet!

I'm already going stir crazy though!

[Trek420]

alison_in_oh "Didn't even hit my head, was glad not to have to replace the helmet!"

alison, so very glad that you are ok. When I saw the thread headline I dreaded pulling it up.

Maybe in the future we can require we put in the thread title "hit by car...I'm ok!"

Don't scare me like that. You know how I worry.

I'd replace the helmet anyway, you're not always aware that you touched the floor. You said you tucked/rolled? Fabulous!

But you might have touched the ground with your head. Just to be on the safe side get a new lid.

[newbiechick]

I'm so glad to hear you were not more severely injured ... although a fracture is nothing to sneeze at.

I am about the least jaded and cynical person I know ... I believe that people are basically good and that MOST will the do right thing given the opportunity. Having said that ...

Shortly after we were married my ex-husband was hit by a car while crossing the street on foot. The cops came, a report was written, my ex was taken to the ER ... fortunately nothing serious, but bad "contusion" on leg, lost a day of work, ER bills, ambulance bill, etc. The driver was a nice young man who didn't have insurance, he promised to pay everything .... they'd work it out ... yada yada yada. He didn't pay. More promises. Still didn't pay. My ex finally filed suit in small claims court. Nothing. We paid to have papers served. The guy showed in court and made more promises. Still nothing. Another court date. This time he didn't show. We finally had to just write the whole thing off 'cause Scott was having to take time off work to go to court, pay to have papers served, etc., etc. Don't know how much we finally ended up spending on the whole mess.

I know the nice young woman doesn't want it on her insurance. But there are reasons that these systems exist. And someone else made a great point when they said that you need to be covered in case there are longer term issues with your hand.

Guess I'm just saying ... I think people's intentions ARE good ... I also think that in spite of the best intentions, you could end up with the short end of the stick. So be careful and make sure you are covering your bases from a legal perspective. Don't mean to be a downer; just want to make sure you take care of yourself on ALL fronts.

Shelley
aka newbiechick

[trigurl]

I have worked for attorneys for years now, personal injury for several years. If you know an attorney you can ask questions about this DO, if you have anything long term you will need the insurance later. This might lead to you having problems with carpel tunnel years later - you changed jobs and insurance, waaallaaa, no coverage b/c prior condition been there done that.

Chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream will fix about anything that hurts

glad you are basically ok.

[SadieKate]

I hate to be so negative also, but did you get her driver's license and car license number? A friend was recently rear-ended and only got the "name" and phone number. You can guess where this is going. He's had to pay for some very expensive damage to his car out of his own pocket. Fortunately, he was not injured.

Here in California, drivers are also supposed to have proof on insurance with them. How 'bout there?

Have you had the frame of your bike inspected? A fall like this could have damaged the fork or cracked a crank arm. Hubby was hit at a very low speed once but the fall onto the pavement cracked a crank arm. I'd make sure that the phone is real and that you get more identification. She can always change the phone number.

I always want to believe others would behave the way I would and pay up, but it doesn't always work out that way.

[Dianyla]

OMG! I'm glad you're still alive and well.

And ditto/me-three on what everyone else already said. You need to get things handled through proper channels. If this woman has an otherwise solid driving record, most likely this will not cause a huge ding on her insurance if she works with her agent. If she doesn't have a clean record, well... she deserves the ding.

[singletrackmind]

Thank goodness we don't have to put a Ghost-Bike up for you!! Hope you heal quickly and well.

[Roadie N Belgie]

Alison, (coming out of lurkdom here) another thing you need to consider... Your health insurance company may send you paperwork, down the road, asking for information relating to your injury. They don't like to pay out for care that should be covered by other means. At that point it will become an even bigger mess because they will go after the money. Any compromises you've made with the driver are not going to matter. If you didn't fill out any paperwork listing the injury as "an accident" or an "accident involving a car" they may not pursue it. To the insurance company "an accident" could be: potentially work related=workmans comp or auto related=auto insurance, etc. Best of luck with your healing! Take care.

[alison_in_oh]

Alison, (coming out of lurkdom here) another thing you need to consider... Your health insurance company may send you paperwork, down the road, asking for information relating to your injury. They don't like to pay out for care that should be covered by other means. At that point it will become an even bigger mess because they will go after the money. Any compromises you've made with the driver are not going to matter. If you didn't fill out any paperwork listing the injury as "an accident" or an "accident involving a car" they may not pursue it. To the insurance company "an accident" could be: potentially work related=workmans comp or auto related=auto insurance, etc. Best of luck with your healing! Take care.

Yup, I'm aware. I do believe that the ER visit will register as an accident. I've gotten an accident follow up form from the insurance before, and I don't intend to lie to cover for her. (Though to date it's been unnecessary to say anything beyond "I crashed my bike".) I'll cross that bridge later I guess.

[alison_in_oh]

Believe me I was kicking myself the second the shock wore off. Please no one repeat my mistakes. Proper channels, police report, info from witnesses, the whole nine yards. No matter how grateful you are for your life!

The fates were smiling on me because A) the number was real and B) the person was willing to accept liability. Further, she is a student here and she gave me her address and email. Short of dropping out of the program she can't get out of this, I can track her down.

I think we have our bases covered for now, but we so easily might not have. Next time I will have less faith in my fellow man even though that faith was borne out this time. The worst case scenario was looking really bad for a while.

[anaphase]

Glad you are okay!

[Bike Goddess]

Glad to hear you are okay. But with fractures, you never know. I'd get more info from the driver if I were you- like who her insurance company is, etc. Do you have an address? You should be able to find out her license number if you have her name and address. Also, do you have a rule about accident reports with the police since you were injured? In Calif, if someone is injured it is MANDATORY that an accident report be file with the police.

Like others have said, get as much info as you can. Even if you think you are okay!

Sorry to hear about this- cars are so unpredictable. Glad you are doing all right.

[RebeccaAnn]

I have to chime in with those who have had the "we can work it out" experience with at-fault drivers. Mine was a driver hitting my car, at least he left it in driveable condition.

I know I was just too shaken to really think clearly just after the car accident, later I couldn't believe I didn't insist on calling the police AND getting his complete information.

I've thought about writing up an accident procedure for myself:

1) CALL THE POLICE!
2) Copy driver's license info!
etc.

Of course, then I'd have to be level-headed enough to pull it out and read it after my next accident!

Glad to know you weren't seriously injured. Hope you're back on the bike soon.