Hit and Run - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-01-2004, 04:25 PM

I was coming down Dearborn at about 20 mph in to work this morning, 8:45 AM,
full morning daylight, and was right hooked by someone turning in to
Chinatown. He didn't use a turn signal. I could see him angling in to make
the turn, so I was braking hard.

I nearly managed to miss him. I hit the back of the guy's car at a pretty
low speed considering, then hit the ground. Me, I'm fine, just a scrape on
the elbow. Bike appears fine. Water bottle is totaled, though -- rolled out
into the street and got run over by a truck.

The driver didn't bother to stop to find out what might have gone thump on
the back of his car. Instead, he high-tailed it out of there. I filed a
hit-and-run police report this morning: license number 275 LUM. Police
seemed to take it pretty seriously.

There was a witness, another cyclist right behind me on Dearborn. He was a
young fellow, long hair and beard, pant legs rolled up with bright red
socks, beater bike. I was ahead of him, then he passed me, then I passed
him. I was thinking that if he had been in front, maybe he would have been
more likely to have gotten seriously whacked -- a beater bike might not have
the same braking power; he might not have noticed the car starting to make
the turn. Better my scraped elbow than his brain like jelly on the pavement.
A construction worker was another witness, and confirmed my license plate
ID. The police have the witnesses' names and phone numbers.

When I went to get my bike to ride home, I had pangs of irrational panic. I
had no problem completing the ride in to work after the accident, but I was
still on adrenaline. By the afternoon, all that wore off, and I approached
the bike with a very weird feeling. But my life is structured on using the
bike to get home, so I got on. Then, I was sure to ride through the same
intersection as the accident, just to affirm that I was not going to be all
freaked out, and it was okay.

I rode in sort of a "letting it all go" mode in the afternoon, feeling very
easy-going about traffic and cars. Maybe that's the head space I really need
to be commuting in these days.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
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P.S., don't tell my mom. She freaks out enough about me on the bike as it
is.