Bike vs truck

[Melalvai]

17 year old kid, 55 mph speed limit. (The neighbors have already said they're going to city council to get the speed limit lowered.) He drove off the road because he swerved to miss Nell, then lost control. He actually went back across the road and ended up in the ditch on the other side. He ran up to us saying "I'm sorry I'm sorry" and he said she turned in front of him. I wonder if perhaps he saw me signaling and was looking at me thinking "Why is she pointing left?" and maybe didn't see Nell at all. Turns out he is the nephew of someone I work with.

As far as Nell's cycling, she has had Bike Pro and although she has not had the formal Traffic Cycling 101 class, she knows all the material and has extensive cycling experience with me. Therefore I know her common faults and I know how she contributed to this wreck.

1. She didn't scan again before that left turn. Making the turn means you scan, scan, and scan again. She was tired & hungry at that point, and she is not very good about scanning. I think she relies on me to scan for her and alert her. Since I had said "Wait for this white car," I think she thought I meant that after the white car it was clear. In fact, I scanned and saw the truck in the distance and thought we had plenty of time. I would have been able to make the turn ok, but she takes her turns more slowly than I do. Even though he was going faster than I realized, I think I would have been able to make the turn--or I would have scanned that last time and not committed to the turn.

2. She didn't signal her turn. Again, I think she relies on me to do her signaling for her.

It's possible if she'd been biking by herself that she would have done those things instead of relying on me.

What I learned from this is that I think children are safer BEHIND the parent instead of in front of us. We like to keep them in front of us so we can see them. Well, I saw her all right. I saw it all happen right in front of me and nothing I could do about it but scream and scream. Which I did. But it happened so fast the first scream didn't come out until it was all over!

I think the driver is a good kid and as far as 17 yr old boys go, he is not a reckless driver. I think he was within the speed limit, but he should have slowed down to let us finish the turn.

Yeah, this might be a little traumatic for the parents!! Certainly has made for a memorable week.

They're keeping her here another night. The skull fracture is not a concern but there is a hematoma and some swelling.

[kimikaw]

Wishes to Nell for a speedy recovery!

Same to you...seeing your child get in an accident like that has to be terrifying/horrifying. So glad it sounds like the injuries aren't too bad, and that she'll be home soon.

[jessmarimba]

Seeing the age of the driver...he was probably just clueless as far as how to deal with bikes on the road. How to read them, what to look for, what you're doing when you take the lane, and even what a signal looks like from a cyclist. He's also probably not a good judge of speed yet - yours or his own. I'm sure he'll take a big lesson away from this. I just hope his parents or his insurance don't try to turn it against you guys.

I hope you and Nell are doing better!

[crazycanuck]

Holy Sheep!

I wish your daughter a speedy(yet careful) recovery.

[jelee1311]

My heart goes out to you,I read your post and cried. I ride with my 9 yr old daughter and I cannot imagine seeing her hit I'm sorry. You seem very calm and forgiving I'm not sure I could feel the same way so soon afterwards. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your daughter

[Catrin]

OH MY, I am not a parent and can only imagine what this must have been like to have to watch. I hope Nell has a quick recovery and there are no problems with bruising - the fracture sounds bad enough. Sending healing thoughts to both of you!

[Crankin]

I hope Nell is feeling better.
You probably have a good feel for what actually happened. But, an accident is an accident... it sounds like the young, inexperienced driver contributed a good deal to this, no matter what you or your daughter did. Most adults don't know what to do where a bike is concerned.
Oak, I do the same thing when I am turning left! My friend calls it the "mean schoolteacher finger." I signal forever and wag and shake, pointing my finger, to emphasize my intent to turn. Sometimes I am actually shaking my whole arm.

[Melalvai]

They ended up keeping her an extra day. This morning they say discharge today! Not eating yet but it's been several hours since she last threw up.

I don't know about calm & forgiving, but I know the driver's aunt.

I know that even with all this bicycling is still a safe mode of transportation and the health benefits vs safety. But it's going to be difficult to bike on that road again. And difficult for me to bike with her on any road. Of course the road is the one that our house is on. No way to avoid it!

I am going to get her bike fixed and get a new helmet. Then I will tell her, once she is able to, that she needs to get back on her bike right away no matter how scary it is, so that she won't be traumatized for life and never be able to get on a bike again. Not on that road--we'll go to a trail.

I'll have to think about how I want to present certain info when we teach the bike class in the spring. I was taught, and I believe & teach this, that since only 3% of collisions involve an overtaking car that we should be more concerned about traffic in front of us. I've also told students that it is different on rural roads, that overtaking cars are more of a concern than on urban roads. I guess my feeling now is to emphasize that difference more.

My neighbor said he's going to talk to City Council about how to get the speed limit lowered on that road. There's a lot of runners, hikers, dog walkers and cyclists there. I've always been concerned about the 55 mph speed limit since we moved here in June.

[redrhodie]

(((Melavai))) I literally felt nauseas reading that. How scary! I hope Nell is okay. Watching your daughter go through that--I can't even imagine how horrible it must have been.

[sfa]

OMG, how scary for everyone involved!!! I'm so glad your daughter wasn't more seriously injured! I'm also really impressed with your ability to look at the situation logically and see what could have been done to avoid the accident, and also about how you can incorporate this into your teaching. I know I learn a lot from experience, but I think at this point I'd still be shaking all over and the learning would come AFTER my daughter was home safe and sound!

[Cataboo]

This is me just being vaguely paranoid - but in case there's any issues with the truck's insurance company and assigning fault, maybe we should all edit our posts in this thread and make sure your daughter's name isn't mentioned?


I hope she gets discharged today!

[PscyclePath]

Mel:

Somebody has to be that 3%, I guess... and for the record, I'm one of them too Bad things sometimes happen to even the most experienced riders when they let their guard down.

I like your approach to the lesson, though. Probably the best teaching point from this experience is to remind your students never to move left or right on the roadway without scanning behind you to make sure the coast is clear.

There is a greater hazard with this on rural roads, because the speed differential is going to be much greater than on the downtown city streets. I live on the same kind of road down here, and there have been a couple times I've had to stop and make a "box turn" to get in my own driveway because of the traffic.

Hope all gets better...

Tom

[Melalvai]

Thanks, Tom, I was really hoping you'd weigh in on this. That makes me feel a lot better to know that you've been one of the 3%. This is a little crazy but one of my initial reactions was that my daughter's crash damages my credibility as an LCI! (I'm laughing at myself now.)

To tell the truth I'm kind of scared of going out on that road now. But I will make myself do it anyway. I might always do a box turn to come home. That's ok!

[Melalvai]

Yesterday my neighbor emailed me and said, sorry to hear about this and I'm going to ask City Council next week what we need to do to get the speed limit lowered on this road.

[redrhodie]

To tell the truth I'm kind of scared of going out on that road now. But I will make myself do it anyway. I might always do a box turn to come home. That's ok!

I had a really minor brush with a car this summer, and I for sure had some PTSD afterward for a few weeks. I had intense anger come up any time a car did anything stupid. Stuff that I was always able to brush off, suddenly really bothered me.

You've been through a huge trauma. Give yourself some extra care and time to heal. Be aware that you could have PTSD from this.