I've had a variety of accidents involving traffic while commuting on my bike. Usually, this involves moving traffic, which generally doesn't hurt to badly because I'm moving as well and I've only had 1 head-on, but after the initial bump, I was in the air for that one (and hitting the ground isn't bad).
Today, I got cut off by a school bus while I was trying to change lanes. I slowed down, then cut behind the bus to get over to the next lane. Just then (good 'ol murphy) the bus stopped abruptly as the driver had missed the fact that the light was red. I glanced off the rear bumper of the bus with such force that my handlebars broke off, my wheel got demolished, and the trunk attached to the back of my bike ended up in the intersection. I also caught some of the bus. My shoulder took the full impact, knocking me off my bike, in the air, and landing me flat on my back. Fortunately for me, the SUV behind me was able to brake quickly enough to avoid running me over. Parts of my bike were scattered for 20-30' from behind the bus to the intersection. I picked myself up, quickly collected the pieces of my bike, then hobbled to the side of the road where I reassembled my bike. I made it in to work only 10 minutes late, searched for 20minutes to find a first aid kit, then treated my wounds and started the day. My socks are a little bloody. My shoulder and ankle are swollen. Overall, I'm doing quite well. If the bar-ends on my handlebars hadn't been there, I would have received a debilitating wound as my fingers were crushed at 23 MPH against the bus' bumper. Thank God for small favors.
The moral of the story is: Don't underestimate the affect of differential velocities.
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When traveling fast, the bigger object wins.
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Bar-ends aren't just for looks.
1 comment:
I like all three morals.... do you get covered for anything like this with insurance or anything?
Oh! And how do you enable the "Email follow-up comments to my Google account address"??? I need to put that on mine!!
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