So I Got Creamed by a Pathfinder

So I figured this was going to happen eventually, I just didn't think it would occur 9 days into my experiment. It involved a little more than a "love tap". I was hit by a car. Half a block from my house. While I was stopped at a Stop sign. And the lady told the responding police it was my fault.

I was at the corner of 12th and Yale stopped in the middle of the right lane (my lane), looking left to check the traffic heading north. When I looked up I had a Pathfinder grill baring down on me. My guess is she took a tight left hand turn, turning the car into the her left, my right, hand lane, my lane, and hit me head on between the headlights.

Damage to my bike, as far as I can tell, includes: scratch on the rt side fork down to the carbon, front wheel totally out of tru, water bottle holders crushed and seat knocked askew (seat is not busted but in my opinion that indicates a hit), the plastic on the back of my helmet is pealing off.







Damage to me: nasty bruise/welt/scratch on my left leg, bruised inside rt knee (maybe from the top tube), no bruise yet but pain on my rt calf where the initial hit was.




I think it would have been worse save a few mitigating factors: I was wearing a helmet (head is ok). My rt foot was clipped into my pedal and my foot was raised for the push off, thus maybe bringing my ankle above the bottom part of her bumper (speculation on how my water bottle holders are totally knocked in and my ankle isn't broken). I had a small bag stuffed with my work clothes on my back. So what hit the asphalt besides my left thigh was the back of my helmet and a fairly cushy pack.

Long story short i called the police, they came with an ambulance, bleh, and took statements. My statement was I was in the correct lane and she turned into me. Her statement was I was stopped in the middle of her lane and she didn't see me--I wound up in the other lane post impact, but I didn't start there. I did have my lights on, one officer even commented on what a good light it is. They then told me that because she had moved her car and they could not verify who was where, no one was at fault. If my bike is busted and I want her to pay, I have to take it through a civil process but the report is going to show conflicting statements.

Right now I'm annoyed at the situation. I'm annoyed at the lady for hitting me, moving her car, and then passing the blame onto me. I'm annoyed at the police who kept saying they saw no damage to my bike. That I probably hit the asphalt harder than she hit me--um i hit the asphalt hard because she hit me hard. That the area "is dark" even though the corner is lit by a street light. That although I was correctly stopped with my required light on and a car turned into me--it was determined to be a no-fault situation. I know it's not their fault and they see things a lot worse every day, but I'm still annoyed.

So on my to-do list for tomorrow: try to get my bike to the shop and I guess I'll be riding what we refer to as "The Beast".