Remember that "should bicyclists have to carry insurance" thread--I'm starting to favor it now.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

I was strongly opposed to it back then, but now I'm viewing it more favorably, although I still feel I'm against it.

I went to Kroger this afternoon when I got off work, and as I pulled up to the parking lot exit and stopped when leaving, I very drunk bicyclist rounded the corner from the street I was about to turn on and hit my car. I pulled out onto the street and parked the car on the curb and got out to see how he was. Turns out he was wasted--and eager and ready to sue me for putting my car in his way.

First he refused to let me call an ambulance, then he told me I ran over his foot and crushed it. When I suggested we call the police he begged me not to, and then tried to get me to give him 20 bucks. It's Spring Break here, and the parking lot was crowded with people coming to and from the beach across the street, and at about this point in the conversation these very large guys come over, saw he was drunk, and then asked him why he was hassling me when he was the the one that ran into me. At this point he kind of slunk away, picked up his bike, and walked off.

The guys that had come over asked me if I was okay and told me they saw the whole thing. They told me to leave and I decided it was probably for the best. As I got in my car and started to pull away, I heard them yelling and turned around to see them chasing the bicyclist. Turns out he had yelled something insulting and possibly racist to them, (or so it seemed from what they were yelling to him). They started to run across the parking lot in the direction he had headed and so I left.

I got home and remember that I hadn't looked at my car. He left a huge scratch down the back door all the way to the gas tank latch. Guess I'll be paying for that one...

[soothsayer]

1. how many drunk cyclists are out there

[JeffreyWilliamson]

2. No clue, but this guy was wasted...

That may even be too light a word. Maybe obliterated works better.

[MattBaggins]

5. Shitloads

and that's an empirical fact.

[paulsby]

29. in some states, drunk bicycling is illegal

fwiw.

[Marrah_G]

30. Many drunks who have lost their licenses ride bikes instead.

[Mika]

3. Funny thing happened to me.

A drunk driver knocked me off of my bike and destroyed my Shimano Dura Ace 7850-SL Scandium Wheelset.

About $1000.



Think his insurance covered that?

[JeffreyWilliamson]

4. I'm guessing it didn't...

That actually really sucks that it happened.

What happened to the driver?

[Mika]

9. DUI.

We were out for an early morning ride, he was driving home after a night of partying at the clubs on Miami Beach. Tried to flee. My cycling buds stopped him and called 911.

Not to mention my banged up knee and shoulder. Ok now. (A cyclist's first question after a crash is "is my bike OK?").

[Noodleboy13]

16. Funny thing happened to me too..

Hit and run from a presumed drunk driver put me face first into a parked SUV. I now have titanium holding my face together. I don't have health insurance.
I understand that there are some rude cyclists out there, and that often secondary roads would offer a better route. This guy in the OP sounds like a total ass.
But because I can't, through inattention, indifference or simple spite kill a car driver on my bike, complaints that someone was inconvenienced for a moment or two because of a cyclist tend to fall on pretty deaf ears.


peace
Noodleboy

[AZ Criminal JD]

17. Why wouldn't his insurance cover it?

Any standard auto policy would cover it.

[Riley18]

6. Until all cars are insured we can't make bicyclists pay for insurance.

My brother was hit by a car trying to beat another car out of a parking lot. All he go was a busted up head, a runny nose, and a hospital bill. The driver got a ticket for no insurance. My brother was exercising, and he doesn't drink. His own car insurance did not cover his care because he was not the primary insured on the policy. More than a year later he is still suffering from his injuries, and I bet the driver forgot all about him.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

8. Good point...

I've always thought that we shouldn't require it of bicyclists because we should be encouraging greener methods of transportation.

We have tons of bike cops here, I wonder if they stop bicyclists as regularly as motor officers stop cars. Perhaps better policing is an answer.

Sorry to hear about what happened to your brother.

[FreakinDJ]

7. Which way do the bicyclist want it

First their a vehicle and want full right of way
then they want to ride up on the side walk/in the cross walk and their a pedestrian

I don't have any respect for the assholes who sit in 5:30 friday night traffic doing 20mph in a 45 mph zone blocking everyone trying to get home looking to cause problems / seeking a lawsuit

There is a reason why diesel exhaust stinks so bad and I like to remind them

[Mika]

13. Same goes for the cagers (dickheads in cars).

Not that all drivers are dickheads, just some - that I have no respect for. They drive w/2 wheels in the bike lanes, use bike lanes as turn lanes - if there are any lanes. How many cagers actually give us a little room - even when a cyclist is riding an inch from the curb? Have you any idea how many times I've been passed by a car and then the driver makes a right turn 15 feet after passing me - causing me to crash into the side of the car of be forced to lay it on the ground?

Diesel does stink, and I wonder why someone would drive a car that stinks.

[Marr]

25. Yep.

That's happened to me more than once. God, it pisses me off. I think people do it because they're just plain stupid and oblivious to everything they perceive as non-threatening. A car, they'd consider. It'll dent their own car. A person on a bike is invisible.

I get the same thing on my motorcycle. I just assume everyone around me has an ancestral grudge against motorcycles and that keeps my paranoia at safe levels.

[Igel]

28. Sometimes it depends on the jurisdiction.

And what's safe. For serious bikers. When I bike, I'm a vehicle, thank you. I stay off the sidewalk, walk when I decide to use the crosswalks, and do my level best to turn left from the turn lane. I also signal without fail and stop at all stop signs and stop lights, and yield right of way.

It was a shock to change states and find that I was actually legally authorized to ride on the sidewalks. Of course, I was still to yield right of way to pedestrians. Didn't have much cause to ride when I lived there.

Then there are bikers that aren't serious and don't know the rules of the road. Since bikes are still for kids and non-serious riders as well as for serious bikers, that's the breaks. I figure it makes up for the idiots that ran into me because they assumed that bikers always had the legal obligation to yield to every steel-cladded driver, and the times I've nearly been decked by people opening car doors into a bike lane.

[Warpy]

10. File a police report just in case

Just go to the police station and write down what happened. Instead of calling him drunk, say you smelled alcohol and that he was unsteady. Describe the scratch. Describe the hit for money. Describe his ability to ride his bicycle away.

It's a shame you didn't get the names of the witnesses, that would help.

This is to protect you should he have been sober enough to remember your license plate number, about as likely as the Pope on a pogo stick but you just never know what will jump up at you in the future.

I'm sorry this happened to you. Just protect yourself and be very glad the bastard was on a bike instead of in another car.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

11. Good points...

I will do this, thanks.

[babylonsister]

12. Well, congrats on finding a job, Jeffrey.

And if the guy was riding a bike, he might have been a local. If he's a local, there might be a very good reason why he's not driving. Like, perhaps previous run-ins with the law because he's an irresponsible drunk? :shrug:

I'm glad nothing worse happened to either of you.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

15. Thanks for the congrats!

It's just a waiters job, but I've been surprised at how well it's gone. I've been out of training for 1 1/2 weeks, and today I had the highest sales and most tips of anyone else. Not bad after a 9 year break between this and my last restaurant job, although I have discovered that I'm not nearly as young as I was in the 90's. Back then I used to pull doubles 4 days in a row and then take 3 days off. My feet would usually be pretty sore by the end of the fourth day. Today I worked from 11:00 to about 4:00, and I'm in agony. Arms, legs, back, feet--you name it. I'm hurting in places I didn't even know existed...

I hadn't considered that there might be a reason this guy was on a bike. If his demeanor was any indication of his usual state, then I agree with you completely. I'm pretty much under the impression that he really didn't need a car to be in his way to fall off his bike. A nice breeze might have been enough to do the job.

[BlooInBloo]

14. I don't give a fuck what they do, but I wanna clothesline the next one I see on a sidewalk.

[taterguy]

18. Do you want to physically injure the next motorist you see that breaks the law?

Just checking to see how consistent you are.

And it might not even be against the law to ride on the sidewalk, depending on where you live

[BlooInBloo]

19. hahahaha!!!!

Hint: Don't get into "consistency" arguments with logician.

[taterguy]

20. I'll take it that's a "no"

And I have no idea what the hell a "logician" is

[BlooInBloo]

22. I know you don't.

[taterguy]

23. Well that's not very helpful now is it?

[kestrel91316]

21. As I responsible cyclist who has on occasion been close to run down

(and deliberately I might add) by car drivers, I have to disagree. The cars do far more damage to bikes and cyclists than the cyclists do to them.

[SmileyRose]

24. you can probably fix it yourself

inside one of your doors is a code to the exact dye lot of paint used when they painted your car. Go to the dealer of your make, ask for a little spray bottle of the paint code, you'll also want the kind that's like a bottle of fingernail polish with a little brush inside. Make sure the car is clean within an inch of it's life, pick a windless day in the shade (not in the sun) cover the entire side of your car except the part you need to paint (several layers of newspaper may work but plastic or canvas is better) and go slowly with the spray paint with very thin coats. Make sure you concentrate on the scratch area and feather it out as you get closer to the taped off part, you don't want a texture line when you pull the painter's tape off (get the really low stick kind)

Don't do this in the spring because of the pollen (especially if you live in pine country) when it's good and dry, hand wash your car, dry it good and put two good coats of wax (not polish or silicone but wax)

I have a 12 yr old car and you'd be hard pressed to find all the little dings and scratches other people have left over the years. Between careful work with the little brush and the little spray cans, I have managed to cover all of them. My paint job looks as good as the day the car came off the line.

two good coats of wax at least twice a year are your friend once you start hand painting your scratches.

[originalpckelly]

26. So there's no method of transportation that's free and faster than walking now?

I mean, aside from the bike, you don't have to spend a ton of money constantly to bike somewhere. Perhaps you should think of the poor people who might not be able to afford insurance and only have bikes.

[JeffreyWilliamson]

27. Actually I'm not advocating it--I'm actually against it...

I thought it was an interesting story after participating in the earlier thread.