Whatever happened to the eyewitness who stood over me and promised to hang around to tell the police what she saw? Officer Friendly explained that she didn't really have anything to add, so he didn't take her statement. This was obviously an open and shut case of a 215lb. cyclist failing to yield to a 2,000+ lb. car. I'd still like to talk to her. Maybe she can shed some light on how my bike got the mysterious dent in the top tube that looks like it might have been caused by my own body landing on it. Was I separated from my bike on impact with the car or did we fly through the air together and come crashing to the pavement like some sort of X Games routine gone horribly wrong?
Speaking of missing pieces, what happened to the rest of my collar bone? I can see it in the X-ray, but when I look in the mirror it looks like it was stolen from my body by aliens straight from Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Hmmm. Maybe that's what happened between impact with the car and impact with the ground. Maybe aliens caught me in mid air, removed part my collar bone, and placed me back on the pavement flat on my back. Maybe they accidentally warped the aluminum frame of my bike while beaming us up into their flying saucer. And maybe the eyewitness was an alien who hung around just to make sure nobody else saw what really happened.Or maybe I hit my head on the pavement harder than I thought :)
Daren
I find it interesting that the officer didn't take the witness's statement. Especially in an accident where obvious bodily injury has occurred. I was reading the Colorado Bike Manual and it has CRS 42-4-1412 in the appendix. That statute states that every person riding a bicycle shall have all of the rights and duties applicable to the driver of any other vehicle under this article. Based upon the phrase any other vehicle, I don't know how Officer Friendly says that bikes are not vehicles. I know some people who have received tickets from police in Boulde while riding bicycles so there are some vehicular responsibilities, at least up there. - Terrance
ReplyDeleteThis same thing happened to me! I was going down a hill and the car turned into me leaving nothing but the car to hit! I flew onto the roof and had fifteen stitches in my face and tore my ACL in the process. The little old lady didn't even get a ticket!
ReplyDeleteOf course as the saying goes, you have to get back on the saddle. Keep cycling away!