One has to exercise reasonable care and the bar for this is quite high when we drive a 2 ton vehicle at speeds far above what is normally human.
That said, we live in an imperfect world and no one, I repeat no one, can expect to be fully alert all the time and in every circumstance. That is why I said "reasonable" care. We all make mistakes and, yes, we should pay the price for them, but we should not, and others should not, violently blame ourselves for the inevitable error. I have, very inadvertently, done what in retrospect were very stupid things, both as a driver and as a cyclist, and God, or Providence, or Karma has kept the results from being worse than they were. The results were far, far less than they could have been. I think one needs to add to the immediate responsibility of exercising care, the duty of cultivating habits of awareness -- generally speaking, to do everything with the care and attention it deserves. We in the US, at least, are far, far, far too casual about the responsibilities of driving, and far, far, far too casual about due awareness and care about all the things we do daily. On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 10:26 AM, Allingham II, Thomas J < thomas.alling...@skadden.com> wrote: > Chris said: *“Thanks everyone for the kind words. It's a bit sad we live > in an adversarial sort of culture, because it's really easy to see this > incident from both sides. That said, I *was* going straight and the car > entered my space, so...”* > > > > I haven’t felt like posting much lately, because I was recently on the > other side of this scenario, and have been going over and over and over my > recollection of the facts to try to diminish my very powerful feelings of > guilt. I was driving home from work, with bright sun and a dappled > shoulder on the left side of the road caused by shade from large trees > lining the street. I needed to make a left turn across traffic (two lane > road, wide shoulder on both sides), but there were a couple of cars coming > from the other direction, so I stopped to wait for the cars to go by. Once > they passed, I began to turn into my street (slowly, thank God) when a > cyclist appeared seemingly out of nowhere immediately in front of me. I > stomped on the brakes, but didn’t stop in time and hit the cyclist, who > cartwheeled off her bike. She remained conscious but suffered a broken leg > and cuts and bruises. > > > > I wish that I could share Chris’s generosity toward the motorist in this > circumstance (“it’s really easy to see this incident from both sides…”), > but honestly I can’t, and it’s been tearing me up. She had the right of > way; she was riding entirely lawfully; she was just out for a training ride > when two tons of steel knocked her off her bike and broke her leg. I had > decided not to share this information with the group (at least in part > because of the shame of it), but Chris’s message changed my mind, and > perhaps something good can come from it. I am typically quite a careful > driver – much more so since I began cycling again 7 or 8 years ago – but > I’ve redoubled my vigilance since this accident, and I urge others who > drive cars to do the same. I still can’t reconstruct how I didn’t see the > cyclist, and it frightens me to realize that a driver highly conscious of > cyclists and their rights like me could still make such a horrible > mistake. But I’m determined to make sure it will never happen again. > > > > It’s also scary from my perspective as a rider. I have taken to wearing > nothing but fluorescent or at least extremely brightly colored cycling > clothes (the woman I hit was all in black) since the accident, and I ride > with high intensity flashing lights front and rear in the daytime (equally > high intensity but not flashing at night). I don’t really know whether > these measures help, or whether they would have helped me see the cyclist I > didn’t see in my case, but I am scared enough that I’m prepared to do > anything I can to potentially increase visibility. Everyone makes their > own decisions, of course, but I would urge you all to give some new > thoughts to visibility questions as you go forward. I remain very nervous > and skittish, both as a driver and a cyclist, but I’m trying hard to keep > riding, and not let fear control what I do. > > > > Tom > > > > > > > > > > *From:* rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com [mailto: > rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Chris Chen > *Sent:* Sunday, September 07, 2014 5:54 PM > *To:* rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com > *Cc:* mason-hill-rabble-rousers-fan-c...@googlegroups.com > *Subject:* Re: [RBW] Re: Well, Damn > > > > Thanks everyone for the kind words. It's a bit sad we live in an > adversarial sort of culture, because it's really easy to see this incident > from both sides. That said, I *was* going straight and the car entered my > space, so... > > > > In any event, I'm going to spend a few minutes today to take parts off the > bike to get at the frame and I'll have it looked over. > > > > Actually I just looked at the downtube and it's fubar. > https://www.flickr.com/photos/lumachrome/15148900746/in/photostream/ > > > > Ibuprofen is one hell of a drug and I'm back on my feet today. > > > > I have a new business idea though. The gauze the hospital gave me is > white, and it picks up cat hair like a moogerfooger, so I propose a custom > gauze service where you send in pictures of your cats and it makes a custom > colored gauze that matches your cat/dog's coat. You can specify up to 4 > different cats by submitting pictures and hair length + size for each, and > it will do a simulation to provide the exact match, like camo. > > > > On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 2:07 PM, Jon in the foothills of Central Colorado < > row.n.2nowh...@gmail.com> wrote: > > People just can't wait 3 seconds for a bike to get through an > intersection.I hope you recover quickly. > > Inspect your bike for hidden damage: > > Feel under the down tube and top tube just behind the head tube for any > bulges that may have ben caused by the impact. Have the bike shop remove > the fork and inspect the fork crown and steerer tube for bends and > cracks.Have them put the fork in a fork jig to check the alignment .Have > them service the headset while the fork is out. Have them give the bike a > total inspection *The V-DUB guy will pay for it.. You don't want > something to happen later down the road that was caused by the accident.* > > Hope you are feeling better and back out on the road soon. > > Jon > > > On Saturday, September 6, 2014 9:01:26 PM UTC-6, Christopher Chen wrote: > > My Hilsen is out of commission for a little while. > > > > Heading on NW Broadway towards the bridge, at Flanders, when a silver VW > Golf making a left turn hits me. I go up and over and make a nice dent on > the windshield. Roll back down when the car stops and land on my feet (like > a cat!) and walk away, a bit dazed. > > > > Cops show up, we have a party with the firefighters, ambulance comes and > leaves. Witness gives his story, all the data gets swapped. > > > > Front rack is bent, front fork is askew, wheel is tacoed, but everything > is fixable. > > > > Police officer gives me a ride back to my apartment (hey it turns out cops > carry bikes on their cars all the time, by fitting the wheels between the > grill and the big external bumper on the front). > > > > X-rays turn out okay, no fractures. Everyone at the hospital was great. It > was about 8 hours ago and I'm just coming down from the endorphins. I got a > malt milkshake (horchata cookie!) to celebrate. > > > > Oh yeah, and my helmet is all cracked up. I'll be fine though. > > > > Anyway, keep an eye out there... > > > > Cheers > > > > cc > > > > still picking pieces of windshield glass out of his hair > > > > -- > "I want the kind of six pack you can't drink." -- Micah > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > > > > -- > "I want the kind of six pack you can't drink." -- Micah > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > **************************************************** > > This email (and any attachments thereto) is intended only for use by the > addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or > confidential information. 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