Got Hit By A Car Last Night

e-beach

10 MW
Joined
Jan 10, 2012
Messages
3,524
Location
Any Los Angeles area beach I am at. Or Santa Monic
I knew that it was a dangerous crossing because I have had close calls there many times before. Where you might ask? On the sidewalk where the patrons of the Bowlero Bowling alley in Mar Vista exit onto Venice blvd. Yep I was on the sidewalk slowing down to try to get a look to see if any cars were trying to exit and I got the answer when a women slams into me....T-bone style. OK, let me say up front: No, I was not wearing my helmet and yes I did hit my head. :oops:
That never happens again!!!

My injurys: Cuts to my left temple, scrapes on my face and deep bruise over my entire right big toe and pain in my mid back and jaw.
Glued together.JPG


I don't recall if I was knocked out but I do remember the impact and a bunch of people picking me up and one told me he called 911. The paramedics arrived very quickly as the station is only two blocks away. But here is the thing. I have read that accident victims get billed after they are taken to hospital. Although I was bleeding a little, I felt I could have gotten home, got cleaned up a bit and then gone to an emergency room of my choice. But they basically coerced and kind of threatened me saying the police would take me if I didn't go with them. Something about a policy when someone had a head injury. So I locked my bike to a post, not knowing the full condition it was in and I got into the ambulance. By this point LAPD had arrived and were interviewing the women hit me. I spoke to them later when they came to the hospital. The LAPD officer took my statement and gave me the women's information, phone number, insurance etc.
I never got a chance to speak to the driver.

So after a looooong wait the doctor came around and ordered a CT and x-ray. After another looooong they finally gave me a CT brain scan an x-ray and the the emergency room doctor "glued" the cut on my temple back together. When I was released it was around 3:30am and the buses had stopped running. So I had to walk most of the 3 miles back to where my bike was locked up. That hurt. About 1/2 mile from my bike the first bus of the morning finally came by and I caught the ride.

So I got to my bike and both rims were badly bent. I was able to limp home on the bike with break pads squealing every time the s shape rubbed the pads every revolution. I check out the electronics and they seem to be ok and it is now charging.

So the question is what to do next? Should I contact her insurance company? Contact her? Get an personal injury lawyer?

All thoughts welcome.

:(
 
If you'd been wearing a helmet, you'd likely have busted up your mouth or chin instead. If that had happened, would you be saying, "I'll never wear one again"?

The "never again" we should all be focusing on is cars, not some pathetic and ineffectual armor against cars.

Edit:

If you don't care how well your losses are covered, contact her insurer-- but DO NOT accept their first offer. The first offer is almost without exception a lowball figure that represents the insurance company's wish as to how cheaply they can get away from their obligation.

If you want to get a real settlement that gives you something for your distress and discomfort, get a lawyer. Ideally, get a referral from someone who had a satisfactory settlement in another case.
 
Similar thing happened to me.. Their insurance took care of all my medical expenses (ambulance ride, physio, leg brace) They also somewhat covered my time off work. They did not cover anything to do with my bike though. It only needed a new front wheel and brake rotor but they wouldnt pay for it. Also, they would only reimburse me for my expenses, so I had to pay up front then they paid me back.

I had a broken knee so I was out around 6 weeks.

I suggest you contact her insurance asap and get the stuff started. Good luck to you!
 
Lawyer up.
 
Not letting that 'guard' down, is key imo. Glad you're alright, coulda been much worse right?

I think if you're conscious and ambulatory/alert there's no legal precedent for taking the ambulance ride. However that is not only the safest route when injuries are potentially more severe, but the best route for dotting all I's and crossing all T's should you need to sue for medical stuff. Especially in a case where excessive treatment would wind up being necessary. Looks like you came thru ok tho, for getting t-boned by a car!

Anyway, call the insurance to get ball rolling but don't share ANY unnecessary info that they might want to use in their defense should there be need for courts. You could do after if necessary, or consult a lawyer first. Imo a bike's damage should def be covered too. The issue with a bike VS car accident is you don't have any type of insurance to hash it out with the other company. . . And as noted make sure they're not going to short you before going too far on your own, if that's the way you start the procedure.

Very good they had insurance!!! I'm curious, what company was the driver with?
 
+1 with "lawyer up", but you need to locate a good one. All of your expenses should be covered and you should get an additional sum for lost work, suffering etc, LEFT OVER AFTER THE LAWYER GETS HIS CUT. You might try to see what the insurance carrier offers up front first. Probably they'll try to ameliorate their responsibility by saying that you weren't wearing a helmet. My last accident (passenger in a car that was rear-ended), had to threaten the insurance company with a court trial to finally get them to comply.
 
At the very least, tell them you are going to lawyer up. Drop a name sure to scare em. Ask for replacement cost of the whole bike, etc. You may have to actually lawyer up, since you don't have your insurance lawyer working it.

And of course, improve situational awareness, somehow even though you knew it was a danger spot, they got you. That's YOUR fault, entirely. Stop completely if you must, to peek around a blind spot. Whatever it takes, don't let a car hit you again.

Some will disagree, but in ALL cases, if a car hits you, you let it happen. You put yourself where it can happen.
 
Not so bad IMO. I mean, could have been worse. Being hit by a car can lead to very bad injuries.

Insurance of the car driver will pay, only because it is less expansive than going to court. I don't believe the court would rule in your favour though, unless it is legal to ride a bike on the sidewalk where you live.
 
http://www.losangelesbicycleattorney.com

And here's another:

http://www.pocrass.com/practice-areas/bike-accident-attorney.html

And here's a big list:

http://bikinginla.com/bike-lawyers/

These guys are well recommended by LA Bicycle Coalition members.
Praying for your complete and speedy recovery. :wink:
 
Hey all. Thanks for getting back to me. I ended up in the emergency room again this morning as my face became very swollen over night. My left eye was nearly shut, shooting pains in my back and my toe throbbing really bad. The docs told me that the extra swelling and pain is normal for an injury like mine and that it sometimes takes as many as 4 days to reach the full pain threshold before it starts slowly diminishing. They did, however take x-rays of my back to be sure that nothing had been missed. They also burned a hole it the toenail of my injured big toe and boy did it juice out!! :shock:

They have a device that looks like a thick handled marker with a very thin tip that lights up red-hot. Took the doctor about 2 seconds to burn a small hole in the toenail. And when all the fluids drained it did relieve the pressure and some of the pain. I still don't know how I get hit on the left side of my body and also end up with an injury to my right big toe. Accidents are weird. :evil:

So now I am on the Norco (an Opioid) and ibuprofen for a dopy rest of the rest of the week. I don't think I will be riding much this week. I suppose I will have time to sit an slowly comb through my bike to see what is damaged. The good news it that it seemed to charge just fine. Tomorrow I will check the balance of the cells and for other physical damage.

As for who's fault it is, well, I won't comment until I speak to a personal injury attorney,..... but I get what you are saying. And guess who will be stopping there more often. :( Just another place to stop in a city of stop and go traffic.

The thing about that corner is that even if I did stop I still couldn't see around the corner of the building without getting at least my front tire past the building to peak around the corner. It is just a blind spot both ways. And, to hit me as hard as she did she had to be accelerating through the sidewalk without being cautious about pedestrians or cyclists.

And yes, riding a bicycle on a sidewalk in Los Angeles is legal if the cyclist rides cautiously. In reality, the city knows that if riding on the sidewalk was fully outlawed then more cyclists would get splattered and the city would get sued more.

I did look at http://losangelesbicycleattorney.com/, looks interesting. I will definitely consider them. I didn't really want to lawyer-up, but then I got to thinking, .....the insurance company knows everything about insurance payouts and I know nothing. So what are my chances?

So, good advice taken and I am going to lawyer-up. I am talking to everyone I know to see if they have a good personal injury lawyer. I will find one.
 
I've had to slowly bore a hole in a finger or toe nail by gently and continuously twisting the point of an Ex-acto knife to relieve the throbbing, staying clear of the lunula or whitish half-moon part which is the live portion of the nail. Don't think I could handle the hot-foot method myself, but the Dr. must know what they're doing. Have nearly ground toes down to the bone years ago while riding in sandals when I ate it in a solo stack. Now I always wear shoes, gloves and a helmet, just in case. Fingers, toes, and head of mine hurt and bleed the most. :wink:
 
e-beach said:
The thing about that corner is that even if I did stop I still couldn't see around the corner of the building without getting at least my front tire past the building to peak around the corner. It is just a blind spot both ways.
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I would also recommend NOT posting anything specific about the incident in this or any public forum until the matter is settled.

You do need legal representation for the exact reason you mentioned. The insurance company has the experience of 1000’s of cases. You only have the one you’re dealing with now as an injured person.

At the very least do a consultation with a lawyer.
 
i am glad you are okay. you are very lucky there were some concerned people around. and you are very lucky the police took your statement. its not a perfect world but atleast it was documented. better that than hit and run. i am glad you are on here enjoying the forums, thats good. and i hope you have a speedy recovery. feel free anytime to drop a line off here about your healing process...i am assuming if legal allows it.....i dont know.....after its settled please let us know how it works out. if your bored there was some thread called best dressed ebiker,,think it was started like 5 years ago.....i just posted some random online stuff i saw, it was a first for me to think about basically football pad like equipment. i guesse kinda like motor cross gear/body armor...i think its something to consider on some of these streets today. and its sad to say if you took that ambulance ride the city would of billed you 300 bucks probably. in addition to your grand of medical expenses above.... you know not to pry into your diet but i have read online that if you get some cheap big store/grocery store protein powder and a cheap multivitamin this is supposed to speed up the healing process.
 
If you wear motorcycle racing gear on an e-bike on the street, you will have uncomfortable conversations with law enforcement. Do it if you like, but my advice is to get plated and insured if you go that way.

You also become an anti-cycling advocate by wearing conspicuous safety gear, teaching others who might be interested that cycling is too dangerous for their tastes. Research has already shown that car drivers take more risks with your safety if you wear a bicycle helmet; what do you think the effect of wearing racing gear would be?
 
oh man.......wow...that is kind of mind blowing.... never thought of it that way.... you know youare not supposed to ride on sidewalks but when you do most cars treat you like a pedestrian if you are going around a jogging speed. you know they can see you. yeah never thought of it that way. you just can't win.......
 
You asked what to do next. Speaking as someone having gone through it. Document everything! Pictures of your injuries, pictures of your bike, collect receipts, invoices, etc. Build in some time - there's no rush, unless you're cash poor. Your injuries may be more than first appraised, so time will let you and your doctor access the long-term prognosis. And to get your bike fixed. Also draw out and describe the accident from your perspective. Get copies of the police reports. Make sure they jive with your recollection of what happened.

Write, don't call, the insurance company to file an initial accident report. It can often be done online. Don't talk to the driver - just deal with her auto insurance company - don't settle until you're ready. When you are, provide a copy of the above.

A fair settlement check should be in the range of 2-5 times the bottom line cost, to accommodate pain, suffering & time.

As to involving an attorney - I'd wait. At least until you've gotten a first settlement offer. It could be fair and satisfactory. Many companies just want to settle and see the end of it before their costs mount. If not, then that's the time to call in an experienced attorney.

I managed my own case without an attorney. The trick was to sue in small claims court, which can be done without lawyering up. As soon as I did, the insurance company tune changed immediately and they provided a fair settlement fairly quickly.

Good luck!
 
It always makes me uncomfortable to read about bike accidents. Even if you ride like a Granny, it can still happen. Been there a few times. I am happy for you that you're still ambulatory, your guardian angel was on duty. Fwiw, whenever the back is injured do not settle the personal injury part of your claim quickly, even if you feel okay. Related pain and problems often appear months later. The insurance company will badger you intensely to settle because they know this, but don't cave.
 
The big question is, are you more or less okay at this point? Bad fall close to a year ago saw me getting worse for the next 3 weeks, back went downhill. Getting to the chiro sooner could have spared me a lot. I'm more accustomed to deciding in a few days it's not as bad as I'd feared. Much preferred experience.

About those blind corners: The farther from your side the building is, the easier you can see around it, plus you have ducking space to that side. Don't know that spot, but assuming from your left side pic that the building was to your right; if it's six feet to your side not only can you see around sooner but you can pull to that side to stop from going into the driveway. Think of how police are trained to go around buildings by staying beyond arms length so that if there IS a guy with a gun around the corner they can see sooner and duck closer to the building.

Sometimes I think I'm the only driver in my immediate neighborhood who sees bikes. Not that all cyclists bother to look at what's coming around here.
 
D. Thanks for asking. The answer is no. Yesterday I tried to get off the perception pain killer the ER doc prescribed. They were making me so groggy I wanted to try to clear my mind, but by 5pm my body started to ache in known hurt places and a couple of new places. I couldn't take the pain so I am again taking them as proscribed.

I got a good look at my bike today. One big problem is that the battery box is broken on both sides of the controller (the top third of the triangle) allowing the top of the batter box to flex back and forth. That allows one of the 12v sets of my Headways to vibrate up and down on the BMS. This is obviously unexceptionable and means that the whole system will have to be dissembled to make a new box for the frame as that box is now useless. That is going to be many-many hours of work. Getting those big 15ah Headway cells into a triangle like mine took a lot of time to get all the angles right. I have no idea how to handle that one with the insurance company.

As for that blind corner, the car hit me from the left side causing me to either get air-born and land on my left side or forcibly washed out my front tire from the impact and I landed on my left side. That is the best way I can describe it. Other people were there but I haven't seen any police reports of any field interviews that were done.



:(
 
Yeah, painkillers. There's a way to get off them, doctors often don't explain. You basically go through withdrawal literally if you've taken them more than once. To cold turkey you have to understand you're not ready for sensation and what you're feeling at first is exaggerated --- As in that's not really the current pain, it's old pain messages catching up. If you're taking two at a time every four hours, you could try one every 3-4, etc., weening is the preferred method.

My dislocated elbows and swollen hip last fall got no painkillers as much because of the family issues with drugs as because they're more trouble than they're worth. As much as I was struggling to walk I'm sure that would have been worse with painkillers. I might have slept better at first. . . .
 
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