On August 29, 2017, I planned to do a through ride from Chattanooga to Huntsville, Alabama. My riding buddy, Bob, planned to ride with me to Stevenson, Alabama, where he would turn around and return to Chattanooga. We made plans to meet at a McDonalds in Tiftonia, just west of Chattanooga, to start our ride together.
I was on my bike enroute to meet Bob, and was on West 40th Street approaching Pirola Street that intersected from my right. Pirola Street has a stop sign and traffic on 40th Street has the right of way. West 40th Street has a designated bike lane on it, but since I was approaching an intersecting street, I moved left into my lane of traffic so I would be more visible to any approaching vehicles. I had checked my rear view mirror and knew there were no vehicles approaching me from the rear. There were also no vehicles approaching from the intersecting street. The only vehicle in sight was an approaching minivan heading in the opposite direction on West 40th Street with no turn signal on. So I thought everything was cool and there would be no problem passing by the intersecting road.
We'll, was I ever wrong. About the time I got almost even with Pirola Street, the van that was approaching me in the opposite direction decided to turn left, and headed straight for me. I commenced to shouting and veering right to hopefully get his attention and give him time to avoid me. All my attempts to avoid a collision failed, and the front passenger side of his van struck the front of my bike.
I and the bike both hit the pavement hard. I jumped up and gave the van driver a "What the heck?" sign with both my arms raised. He got out of his van and apologized for hitting me. He stated he could not see me because the sun was in his eyes. My right thigh was bruised from hitting the pavement, and was sore for a few days. The bike had about $600 damage to it, and his insurance paid for the repairs. Below are pics of the bike damage.
I called my wife, who was in Huntsville, and told her, "I'm fine, but I got hit by a car and would not be making it to Huntsville." Of course, she was ready to jump in a car and return to Chattanooga, but I was able to convince her that I really was fine. I called Bob, who was waiting on me at McDonalds, and he came and picked me and the bike up and took us home.
All in all, it could have been a lot worse. A police report was filed, and to my knowledge the van driver was not cited for anything. I have a feeling he would have been cited for something had the accident involved another vehicle. Oh well.
No comments:
Post a Comment