Have you been hit by a car?

MTB with semi slicks.
30kms round trip commute 5 days a week (except mega heavy rain).
From suburbs to central business district (Melbourne Vic Aust).
70% on bike paths or bike lanes with little interference with motor traffic.
30% on roads, close to traffic where no bike lane exsists.

Last incident was on road with no bike lane, central bus district, rolling down a steep hill close to parked cars & driver of parked car opens door, no time to brake to stop & no space to swerve (alongside traffic). Over the bars.
Light grazing & bruising – hip, upper left leg & right shoulder.
Bike not badly damaged, just scratched & spun bars in steerer.
Rode the rest of the way.

Mine was over 5 years ago, so I didn't vote and skew your results. However when I was in Junior High I was taking a ride on a nearly new (about 2 weeks) 10 speed. A guy in a car coming the other direction stopped to ask me directions. Since it was a windy day, I moved over into the middle of the street and told him how to get where he needed. Just as I got back to the shoulder I heard tires squealing and got thrown forward off my bike.

I'd been hit from behind by a pickup truck. He would probably had missed me if his brakes hadn't locked. Anyway, I just wound up with skinned knuckles, a bruised tailbone, and hair & ears full of sand from the road shoulder. My bicycle wound up beneath the guy's truck totally destroyed.

This happened on a date that doesn't occur too often. It just so happened that it was both Good Friday, and Friday the 13th.

Living in Toronto, Canada pop. 3 million+, at least 15 near misses with a car turning left in front of me at an intersection and I have to brake hard, about 8 with a car turning right in front of me and two with a car pulling a U in front of me and 2 with a car pulling off of the curb after being parked, 1 where a car passed me with his mirror about 6 inches away from my left shoulder and he had all the space in the world to pass, 7 or so pedestrians who I almost hit and one of which I did, and I hit a motorcycle which pulled out of a laneway and knocked him over while I remained upright although hurting. I like it better here in Jyvaskyla, Finland it's been much safer although already I've had two cars turn left in front of me, very close. I also crashed when I endoed and clipped the back wheel of a cyclist that turned left in front of me on a bike path. My shoulder still hurts, 6 weeks later. My brakes had worn out a bit, I think I need to get them replaced again.

90% of these incidents have occurred at intersections with the remaining 10% being cars pulling off the curb, pulling a U or people walking or running out in front of me. In Toronto I was at about 200 km a week, now I'm at about 400 km a week as I'm training seriously. I don't ride when it's cold so that's during April-October.

Ride safely. :-)

Randybaker99 said:

After nearly 400 posts to the thread "getting hit by a car - is it just a matter of time" I really don't think the question has been answered. I think it is time for a poll to try and get some real statistics!

In the past 5 years, have you been hit by a car, or had a near miss? If so, please provide some details about the circumstances (city, country roads, intersection, car, truck, bus, etc) and how many miles per year you ride.

OK, so this is not going to be very scientific, but maybe it will give us a sense of how much risk we are undertaking.

A truck. Going through a round-a-bout and had right of way, he never saw me and hit me. Only buckled my back wheel, I got taken off in an ambulence, no major damage. Just a decent scar to show for it. My helmet saved a lot, it got a good thump. The dude had no licence, warrent or rego so got 2k of fines. I got none of that towards my bike >_<
I played cricket the next day and got man of the match. :P

Both times I was on a "True Marked Bike Path" crossing a street with a stop sign or stop light. A car slides through the intersection taking the "American Free Right on Red" and tags me at a very slow speed. Taco'd the front wheel the second time.

escii_32 said:

Both times I was on a "True Marked Bike Path" crossing a street with a stop sign or stop light. A car slides through the intersection taking the "American Free Right on Red" and tags me at a very slow speed. Taco'd the front wheel the second time.

i have been hit several times, head on, side swiped, and pulled out on 😄 i would hate to have to state the number of near misses, but i'm still going. its mainly due to cars presume cyclist travel slowly, and they don't give me the same time to pass as cars. 23mph head on doesn't half make a mess of a front wheel, luckly the car was only doing 10mph but was on the wrong side of the road coming around a corner.

ohh i failed to mention one occassion i crashed into a speeding parked car :eek: and a round about whilst intoxicated.

I have had several minor accidents when I started cycling many years (decades? OMG🙁 ) ago. But then for years I went on safely until 4 years ago I was riding a main road when a car hit me near an interchange. I did not see it, just heard the breaks and knew I was going to get it in a second... I suspect the driver was manouvering dangerously but I don't know for sure. I was dragged with the bicycle on the road, nothing but bruises, but I did get myself checked up. I am much more careful now, still in this country - the drivers are the most dangerous enemy, cyclers are completely ignored.😠

ItsikH said:

I have had several minor accidents when I started cycling many years (decades? OMG🙁 ) ago. But then for years I went on safely until 4 years ago I was riding a main road when a car hit me near an interchange. I did not see it, just heard the breaks and knew I was going to get it in a second... I suspect the driver was manouvering dangerously but I don't know for sure. I was dragged with the bicycle on the road, nothing but bruises, but I did get myself checked up. I am much more careful now, still in this country - the drivers are the most dangerous enemy, cyclers are completely ignored.😠

Same here, only difference being you run me over, i'll come around and burn your house down, "only joking". car drivers here have no consideration for cyclists either, a number of times i have had near misses, from cars pulling out, and i have been told on one occassion after a car pulling out that i was going to fast as a cyclist, erm! whats the speed limit for a cyclist? is it not 30mph same as that of a car?.

anyway the guy told me it was my fault, i just stood there dumb struck as he tryed to tell me i was going to fast.

Never been hit in the USA - but lots of close calls.

In two years riding in Singapore, was hit by two buses, 3 mercedes and toyota. No major injuries, but two wheels crunched, lots of frame scratches, skinned knees and a torn up saddle. I was lucky these were all low speed - high traffic type crashes.

I was going straight, the Saturn was turning left across two lanes, I flew over his hood. I'm mostly OK except for some bruising and one hand in a splint. The bike, bought this past spring, obviously needs a new fork, a new front wheel, and maybe more. The LBS is looking at it now. I'm going to try to go to work tomorrow, but expect to be pretty sore.

Does anyone know who pays for dmaages to me and my bike? Is it my health care and home owners, his auto, or something else?

--Ken

P.S. Irony note: the driver is a nurse and he blamed me for "passing a car in the bike lane." There is no bike lane there and I was going no more than 25.3 MPH in a 35 zone so I wasn't passing anyone.

1993 Rhone Valley in Switzerland. September. Grape harvest time. Guest worker from Portugal who didn't speak anything but Portuguese (convenient) made a right turn in front of me, changed my direction of travel 90 degrees to the right. When I lost contact with the side of her car, I fell over at low speed and bloodied my knee. Panniers cushioned my fall. She stopped, but with the language barrier problem, our attempts at communication were going nowhere, so I just re-mounted and rode on.

The only time I was ever badly banged up was when an irate motorist who had almost hit me lay in wait for me after I cursed him roundly. He parked his car out of sight down the road a piece and then ran out into the street and grabbed my handlebar from the right, bringing me down hard at about 20mph as I tried to sprint away from him. Lesson learned: don't say things to people in cars.

I almost became a hood ornament for some bluehair's Cadillac Fleetwood when she blew right through a residential intersection stop sign. The only reason that I avoided making contact is that I slid the bike sideways just as she sped past. We were damn near parallel she was so close. I just sling-shotted out of that upright slide and kept on going without even missing a beat. I couldn't do that again if I tried it a thousand times. 😎

This happened almost seven years ago (October 25, 1997). I was proceeding eastbound shortly after sunset. My headlight and rear LED flasher were on. I was riding "as far to the right as practicable" when I was struck from behind by an unknown (to this very day) hit and run vehicle. My red Fuji Absolute was totaled. I have no direct recollection of what transpired over the next five hours. I had to reconstruct everything through the police report and medical records. I was hot loaded onto a medical helicopter, given lab tests (0.0% blood alcohol for me), given a CT scan, and sutures on my left ear lobe. I was discharged four hours after arrival at the hospital. I missed one week of work. I was numb on my right side, but the feeling gradually returned by Christmas, as well as my mental clarity. The helmet was my last defensive line, and only luck prevented that line from being breached. The assailant almost won the trifecta, but no cigar this time.

At the end of may this year I was hit by a car on the wrong side of the road. She was parking up and 'didn't see me'. I think she should - I was wearing enough flourescent gear. Ended up wth my shoulder going into her windscreen; breaking the collar bone and requiring surgery to right it. Still - worse things happen at sea.

Jon L

I ran into a car and smashed his tail light with my bar end not long ago. The bars got twisted from my hands and I went over the bars into a head first slide like sliding into second base, on my belly, hands out in front. I got hit by cars too maybe 6-10 times, nothing in last 5 years maybe.