Hit by car :(

[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.

[Saxa82]

So sorry about the car plowing into you. Drivers really do not pay attention. Most people who drive cars have NO CLUE as to pedestrian/cyclists in the road. As a driver of a car as well as a cyclist/runner/walker, I have really learned to avoid cars and not trust them one bit. Please make sure you get insurance info so that you pay no out of pocket expenses for medical bills or bike repair/replacement.

[CorsairMac]

{{{{{{{{{{{{ alison}}}}}}}}}}
Sorry I've been absent for a few days hun and I Just now read about your accident! I wanted to post instead of trying to catch everything up - but.....you're in my thoughts and I'm hoping I'll read that you're doing ok!!

[xeney]

Yikes, I am really glad you are mostly okay.

And I guess I am just cold and mean enough to think that woman SHOULD get dinged on her insurance if it was her fault. Or by the Dept. of Motor Vehicles. I have a couple of relatives who seem to always being paying for accidents out of pocket -- because they have a LOT of them and don't want reports filed! My cynical hunch is that most people who have their first accident go ahead and let insurance take care of it; the people who are so eager to pay out of pocket have been through it all before.

Then again, I guess if hitting a person and injuring them won't make you shape up and drive better, probably having to pay higher insurance rates won't, either.

Good luck with your recovery!

[emily_in_nc]

Alison,

I'm coming in late as this has been a crazy week, but I just wanted to add my wishes for a quick recovery. Please keep us posted as to how you are doing!

Emily

[alison_in_oh]

Thanks, guys. I have to admit it was a huge bummer not being able to race this weekend. And then thinking of that gal whose life hasn't been affected one little bit! (She's getting sketchy about communicating with me which is super annoying.) I'm strongly considering going to a lawyer even though with no police report and no witnesses I have no idea what kind of recourse I have. I really bunged things up.

xeney, you're not cold, you're practical! It's just that I've been in a handful of fender benders, mostly when I was learning to drive, and though they were totally my fault, a couple of the other drivers were so kind and understanding that I wanted to repay the favor by being a gracious "victim" myself. I wasn't angry at her, there aren't enough bikes on the road for her to expect to see one and she was probably fuzzy headed so early in the morning -- not excusing her, but understanding that she's human and made a mistake. Now though I'm realizing that injuries are a different beast altogether, she really didn't learn her lesson, she probably really thinks it was my fault for being in the roadway at all (grr), and car/bike (and dog/bike! Poor Emily!) interactions really need to be reported more if we're going to make a dent in the poor cyclist education in this area. Not to mention it was a mistake that could have been SO much worse -- what if another car had been in the lane I was thrown to? What if a body part had gone under the tire with my wheel? It doesn't bear thinking about.

Anyway, I feel like a real whiner in the face of your injury, Emily, and I'm so glad to hear you're back on the road. Out of curiousity, how are the liability details being handled in your case?

[SadieKate]

there aren't enough bikes on the road for her to expect to see one

I'm sorry, Alison, but I have to ask how many cars would it take for her to expect to see one? Or how many pedestrians? She should have been looking before she made any changes in direction.

[slinkedog]

Alison, I'm coming in late to this, as well. I just wanted to say that I hope you're feeling great soon and that everything works out well for you.

[emily_in_nc]

Alison - I pm'd you....

~Emily