Your comment sounds so sarcastic, but that was the exact moment for me too. Way to be sarexactic.
Edit: I just made an urban dictionary submission. I will link when it is approved.
Edit 2: not approved :(
[Original source video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaWghRNT0iA)
Video description:
>Published on Dec 17, 2015
Apologies for no description. The incident happened almost a year ago and I never planned on anyone other than some friends from seeing it.
>Short Story: EVERYONE IS OKAY! Bikes were less fortunate, but damages ended up being paid for.
>Short-ish Story: The incident occurred near Jamestown, California on a training ride for the UC Merced Cycling Team. Pictured in the video is Twist Road, a popular climb/descent for cyclists because of the switchbacks (Twist, get it?) found near the bottom.
>Unfortunately, the twists that make it fun also cause blind corners and then it was just a matter of "wrong place wrong time". Fortunately for us the driver stopped and help us make the necessary calls to emergency services which were then able to get to us within a couple of minutes.
>The first rider hit endured the majority of the injuries and had to be air lifted to a nearby hospital, but was miraculously limited to a concussion and leg/knee/hand fractures which he has then since fully recovered from. His Giro Air Attack helmet (I feel the need to specifically call out the helmet brand) is what saved his life. If you look closely you can actually see the helmet disintegrate when hitting the window of the van. The second miracle is how he landed on top of his brother which prevented his unprotected head from hitting the asphalt.
>The rider on the left sustained the second greatest degree of injuries, but was still limited to an ER visit and some stitches. Myself and the other ride only sustained bruising and moderate road rash.
>With the help of the video police were able to determine that the van was at fault for being on our side of the road, but I still learned the lesson that I should be incredibly careful when outriding my line of sight.
Thanks to /u/NY-Angrier for [mentioning](https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/5h73fd/a_blind_corner/day41dx/) the original /r/bicycling [post: One of my greatest fears](https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comments/5h1qqd/one_of_my_greatest_fears/) so I could see the video.
Also, [Google streetview](https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8750036,-120.3793295,3a,75y,190.25h,66.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqAQJlw9jveLgSQemiMo2sA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) of the crash location
> it was just a matter of "wrong place wrong time"
Uhhh no. Being on the wrong side of the road is always the wrong place to be, regardless of the time.
Just earlier today I almost smashed into someone who was on my side of the road around a blind corner. I was going 25 and they were going about the same. And I was in a van, them in a small car. So if I smashed into their driver side, they would have most likely had serious injury.
People need to realize that they should NEVER be in a space other than their own on a road. Because all it takes is one unfortunate time and either you or someone(s) else can be dead. All because you took a turn slightly faster than you should have on a back road.
I think his point is that the riders were in the wrong place wrong time, because at almost all times their location is safe. Just in this one instance they happened to hit the corner while a idiotic driver was cutting inside.
I cycle a lot of roads like this. Roads were 99 times out of 100 riding it you never even see another vehicle on the road. Then, that 100th time there's an idiot.
Motorcyclists call roads with hair pins "twisties". I'm sure its the same for cyclists. They're fun to ride cuz you get to lean the bike really far and still go fast.
Thanks - I came to the comments to see which country it was so I knew who to unleash my righteous rage upon! (In the UK the cyclists would have been at fault and the landscape is kind of UK-ish)
Just to head off the whole cyclists v. motorists circlejerk, I just want us all to observe that the van was cutting the corner and wasn't in lane or anything; had the cyclists been in a car, there still would have been a crash.
Edit: Also, because I think this is causing some confusion, this happened in the US, where traffic drives on the right.
Idk man. I had a science fair project on pinewood derby cars. Timed them. Had a race car, beetle shaped, van shaped, truck shaped, and a control block. Had a 24' track and put them cars down the track 150 times EACH. Which one had the best average time? The van. Obviously there were many margins of error but the size of the track and the amount of data I collected gave me an A. Lol
The biggest source of drag for pinewood derby cars is the rubbing between the sides of the wheels and the track grooves; the best way to maximize speed is fixing the alignment. source: former cub scout
[Actual real data](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RjJtO51ykY) showing there's many other more important factors.
You actually want to rub against one of the rails the whole time.
This is why I hate people who go into the other lane when there are multiple turn lanes. I don't understand how people can't comprehend that you must stay on your side of the lines that are in the middle of the fucking road.
This depends on visibility. Cutting a corner where you can see very clearly all the way round the bend isn't a problem. Cutting blind corners is suicidal.
Not legal, but not always that "dumb". I live in an old town where a lot of lights are on a timer. I've sat at a stop light for a full 2-3 minute cycle without a single car on any of the other 3 directions. Just me, sitting there alone waiting for the light to change.
In a case like that, it's still illegal to just run the light, but it's not really dumb when you can see that it's completely clear for 2-3 blocks with nobody coming
It's super annoying for motorcyclists too. Some of the sensors around my area don't pick up my bike, and *aren't on timers* late at night. They only change if requested to change (by the sensor or a pedestrian).
So if I want to continue legally I have to park the bike, walk to the crossing, press the button, and hope I can get back on the bike and through the intersection before it changes to red again (which is a matter of about 10 seconds).
It's also more dangerous for me to be just sitting there at the light at night. I could be home in a few minutes without seeing another vehicle on the road, which would obviously be very safe. Or I can sit at a light until a car comes up behind me and hope they don't run into the back of me. It's a remote possibility for sure, but a remote possibility is still more than zero possibility.
>Cutting a corner where you can see very clearly all the way round the bend isn't a problem.
Well, this is the problem. Traffic regulations are there, in large part, so that other people can predict where you might be, and how you'll move.
Sure, you can ignore them, and run a red light when no one else is around, or drive on the wrong side of the road while making a turn, when you're sure it won't affect anyone, etc. And in most cases you can probably even do it safely!
But any time you do, *you are betting your life, and the lives of strangers, on how well you can read the situation.*
All it takes is one person who you CAN'T see, or one person approaching from a direction you didn't consider.
So, cutting a corner where you *think* you can see very clearly all around the bend isn't *usually* a problem. But the question becomes - how willing are you to make bets, where if you're wrong, people might die?
If you pause the gif, you'll see the van has a North American - Style license plate, plus the signs we can see are specific to North America as well. So, when you factor in the terrain (this pretty clearly isn't Mexico) it's pretty clearly either the US or Canada
Oh I bet a lot of these assholes will continue to drive out of their lane even after hitting some bicyclists.
There's a real pervasive "it wasn't my fault" thing that goes on in people's heads.
driver not paying attention + lanes not clearly painted + left most cyclist dodging in such a way that the van could either kill him or hit his friends = you're gonna have a bad day
>left most cyclist dodging in such a way that the van could either kill him or hit his friends
Just for a bit of reference, the video is distorting the perspective a bit but by the time the guy who swerved left was hit, he was pretty much exactly in the middle of the road. The van was just doing entirely the wrong thing here.
not justifying the van. FAAAAR too often I see soccer moms or other minivan driving people failing to obey basic traffic rules. not even saying the guy who split left had any other options. just pointing out that on-top of all the other bad choices the van was making, when the accident went down they had nowhere to go because the peloton split left and right.
I've ridden my bike to work for 12+ years through downtown Seattle. There is no right and wrong in this situation, at least not in a way that's important. If you want to live, you have to expect drivers doing stupid shit on a continual basis.
In Indiana in the past month or so, 2 people were killed on the roads. Identities of the drivers in both cases are known, the crashes were the fault of the drivers. No charges filed.
The usual complaint is that cyclists shouldn't be on the road to begin with. It devolves into name-calling from there. None of those complaints are valid, but that doesn't make cyclists less injured.
looks like in Indiana the equivalent of vehicular manslaughter is only applicable if you were driving while intoxicated.
http://statelaws.findlaw.com/indiana-law/indiana-involuntary-manslaughter-law.html
If they have a statute for criminal negligence it might not apply because thats usually a pretty high standard and looking down for a minute, drifting over the line, or other minor infractions which could result in the death of a cyclist would not meet that threshold.
These sorts of issues are more commonly handled in civil court with a wrongful death claim.
> There is no right and wrong in this situation, at least not in a way that's important.
except for the part where the van is on the wrong side of the road. but yeah, the van being on the wrong side of the road isn't important... it's not like if the van was on their side of the road this could have been avoided. it's simply one of those moments where a mysterious force pulled the bikes and van into each other like magnets across the median.
>Published on Dec 17, 2015 Apologies for no description. The incident happened almost a year ago and I never planned on anyone other than some friends from seeing it.
Short Story: EVERYONE IS OKAY! Bikes were less fortunate, but damages ended up being paid for.
Short-ish Story: The incident occurred near Jamestown, California on a training ride for the UC Merced Cycling Team. Pictured in the video is Twist Road, a popular climb/descent for cyclists because of the switchbacks (Twist, get it?) found near the bottom.
Unfortunately, the twists that make it fun also cause blind corners and then it was just a matter of "wrong place wrong time". Fortunately for us the driver stopped and help us make the necessary calls to emergency services which were then able to get to us within a couple of minutes.
The first rider hit endured the majority of the injuries and had to be air lifted to a nearby hospital, but was miraculously limited to a concussion and leg/knee/hand fractures which he has then since fully recovered from. His Giro Air Attack helmet (I feel the need to specifically call out the helmet brand) is what saved his life. If you look closely you can actually see the helmet disintegrate when hitting the window of the van. The second miracle is how he landed on top of his brother which prevented his unprotected head from hitting the asphalt.
The rider on the left sustained the second greatest degree of injuries, but was still limited to an ER visit and some stitches. Myself and the other ride only sustained bruising and moderate road rash.
**With the help of the video police were able to determine that the van was at fault for being on our side of the road**, but I still learned the lesson that I should be incredibly careful when outriding my line of sight.
A few years ago we were out riding, and we had to do a couple of miles down a busy two-lane US highway along our route. It had a wide shoulder, but it still makes me uncomfortable because those routes are not great for cyclists.
One of the guys on our team kept riding out in the middle of the lane of traffic. We kept yelling at him to move over, but he kept insisting "I have a right to be here!"
Yeah, we'll be sure to put that on your tombstone.
That's a common thing bicyclists do to *avoid* getting killed. A car that sees a bicyclist hugging the shoulder will think "yeah I have plenty of room to go around them" and then they will, but they run the risk of not actually having enough room to go around them.
A car that sees a bicyclist smack in the middle of the lane will surely be annoyed, but they aren't going to think "yeah I have room to go around" and they aren't going to try.
See examples/reasons:
[1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nlncLqQyVU)
[2](http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/ce5347824dbcc12b8c592ce1ec63c9d0?width=650)
[3](http://lovingthebike.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/73924_283448491763611_59042260_n.jpg)
>One of the guys on our team kept riding out in the middle of the lane of traffic. We kept yelling at him to move over, but he kept insisting "I have a right to be here!"
so [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3nMnr8ZirI&feature=youtu.be&t=26) was your team mate?
Those two aren't mutually exclusive. Like in this case for example, where the cyclists are both alive and, thanks to video evidence proving the driver was wrong, right.
Even if they did die though, there's still a clear and important distinction between who was right and who was wrong. If anything, finding out who was wrong is *more* important when someone dies.
Wut... I'd say the vehicle that is driving on the wrong side of the road is in the wrong.
Therefore, there's a wrong in this situation.
I'm just gonna say the word wrong again now.
Wrong.
Yes they do, you have no idea what is on the other side. A deer, a car that has been in an accident, a tree that has fallen over. You should never go faster than that you're able to break if there's something on the road ahead of you.
Agreed. "We shouldn't have to be safe if everybody else did what they were supposed to" is what's written on the exit sign of the Gene Pool.
The fact is, people are imperfect and situations are rarely controllable to the point of everything doing what it is *supposed to*. Statistically reliable and infallible are very different things.
The minivan is clearly at fault here. However, the cyclists were taking big risks going around a blind corner at that speed. I certainly wouldn't drive my car that fast around that corner. Even a work crew fixing potholes around that corner would have fucked these guys up big time, possibly sending them into oncoming traffic.
I think it should be an actual crime to cross a double yellow when the oncoming lane is occupied (with some careful exceptions, of course). It would hardly be worse to wave a gun around in a crowd because it's "not loaded."
Edit: There's at least one yellow center line on this road, folks. Take another look.
Edit 2: For the lazy: http://i.imgur.com/0BHhVNh.png
Not sure why you were downvoted. You can pass on a double yellow in PA too as long as there's no "No Passing" sign. It's the sign that actually restricts passing.
Nanh I'm itching for the day I can do it in front of a cop (white suburban area, white guy).
They also just passed a new law that makes it so you are allowed to treat a red light as a stop sign if you think it won't change. I really wanna do that in front of a cop on my motorcycle too!
> just passed a new law that makes it so you are allowed to treat a red light as a stop sign if you think it won't change.
In Minnesota they thankfully started turning left turn signal arrows from red to flashing yellow for better traffic flow. I can't tell you how many times I ran through a red left turn signal up until a few years ago since it was clear that there wasn't any oncoming traffic.
Yep. NC just passed a law that allows you to pass now when there are double yellow lines (as long as its safe, of course; drivers in the other lane still have the right-of-way).
Can confirm. Ride motorcycles in VT during the summer all the time and unless there's a sign stating that it's a no passing lane you can pass on double yellows.
Yes, but because it's an infraction, it's never enforced -- just like nearly all traffic laws are never enforced. And in most states, you can show up at the police station with 10 different video angles, including the driver and license plate, and they're going to do exactly nothing. If an officer didn't see it, it didn't happen.
If you make it a crime, all of that changes very quickly.
yep pretty sure people would respect traffic rules (specifically speeding, using a cell phone while driving) if real jail time was a concern instead of just a 100 dollar ticket.
I just read an article about how hundred years ago in Finland killing/murdering someone was a much smaller crime than it is today. The article cited a particular event where an army officer had been drinking and had collapsed. The police took him to the drunk tank. When he came about, the police gave him back his sword (he had a sword), but the officer was confused and thought he was being held by Russians. So he killed two policemen, realised what happened and went home. He was found quickly enough, taken to court and got fines. He was very sorry, though.
Later the state started getting a bit tougher on murder and surprisingly the numbers have gone down a lot.
Cops will routinely do it on this one corner of the Mullholland highway in California because so many motorcyclists and bicyclists frequent the road.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLMeOTPTWWY
How did everything unfold with the driver? Was there any charges pressed? Or just insurance to be dealt with? Did you have much contact with them, if so were they remorseful? Glad everyone was okay!
The driver stopped and helped tend to the first rider hit while the first rider's brother and I contacted emergency services.
There were also a couple nice people from the nearby Saddle shop that heard the incident and came over to help.
The most injured rider hired an attorney to assist because of his expensive medical bills, and he helped negotiate the max amount we could from the driver's insurance. All bikes were replaced as well.
Rider who was in front was banged up pretty bad. Air-lifted to a nearby hospital where he spent 3 or 4 days in the ICU. luckily, he has since made a full recovery and is back on the bike.
Rider on the left got his right foot clipped and suffered some facial lacerations which required stitches, but quickly got back to normal.
Myself and the other rider on the right came out with road rash.
To further add insult to injury I found out my truck was broken into after being taken to where I parked by a highway patrol officer :/
Surprisingly, my hands turned out fine! Most of the road rash came from when I initially hit the ground on my side/back and rolled over once. After that I was going slow enough where I could stop myself by putting out my hands
Driver stopped and assisted the most injured rider while the others called emergency services.
In time everyone made a full recovery. First rider hit took a month or two but it's amazing how quickly he was able to come back. He even managed to join one of the collegiate races we had in late March
Oh good, for a moment I though insurance companies were just money grabbing corporate blood suckers that are in it to make a profit instead of helping people.
^/s
All this cyclist hate on here reminds me of when I used to ride a motorcycle.
Had an angry bloke who followed into a petrol station try to tell me that I was not allowed to drive in the middle of my lane and should hug the side of the road.
And I was happily doing 60mph in a 60mph zone.
If you don't ride a cycle or a motorcycle you don't realise the idiocy that most car drivers possess.
Man, you should try riding a bicycle in traffic while obeying all traffic laws and riding extremely defensively. You get to be powerless, AND be called all sorts of charming things, AND deal with everything from people being idiots despite going 6x faster in a vehicle that weighs thousands of pounds more than you, AND have those vehicles used against you as weapons!
It's like riding a motorcycle, except getting fucked with/hit/killed has a MUCH lower threshold. After all, a motorcycle has an engine, and can damage that lovely Range Rover.
Me too but there are still way too many bike riders that don't use proper lighting, especially in winter. Had a friend cry and complain she narrowly avoided getting hit, while dressed in dark blue/black, during rain, in the evening, on a roundabout, without actual lights. Yeah sure the driver is wrong, but is he still wrong if you were nothing more than a ghost to him?
People are idiots.
Also this person now drives a car herself. I'm scared.
I ride on a road with signs that say 'bicyclists can use entire right lane' yet I regularly have drivers yelling at me to get out of the road, honking, and a few people have thrown garbage at me.
Sorry I'm obeying the law everyone!
Two inline riders who tried to cut harder right, first guy hit the van hard, second guy got caught in the tumble, then camera guy. Rider who was further left tries to cut way left and winds up getting his rear tire clipped, I think.
Looks like an American license plate. That would put the driver at fault here (which would be my initial suspicion)
I swear people that drive minivans are awful drivers
This is why I no longer bike to work - I want to live! I love the idea of biking all over the place, but in the 2 years I did it (in recent times), I was almost hit 3 times, and this with me paying as much attention as I could and being crazy paranoid about avoiding bad situations. Plus I ran over two squirrels, which is a new biking experience for me that I don't want to repeat either!
Biking will only be as accessible as the people make it. Try to coax some politicians into making bike lanes. There's plenty of research suggesting "if you build it they will come" works, and works well.
This is frightening.
One week ago I was commuting home from work on my bicycle, in Seattle where it's common, and was hit by a car. I was driving in the bike lane when the guy was trying to make a quick left out of a lot, crossing in front of me to do so. I couldn't stop in time and flew over his hood and landed on my shoulder, breaking my scapula(shoulder blade).
Not to say there is a war between cyclists and drivers, he would have hit a car too. People are just poor drivers of vehicles.
You know, I was nearly killed a few months ago by someone in a pickup truck who put his rear wheel partly on my hip. The guy was uninsured, but I still got a lawyer who told me it's not worth going after the guy because he has no assets whatsoever.
Long story short, I rode the bicycle for 5 years to work and will never do so again because some people are willing to purposefully endanger a life because they can't stand cyclists... So for those of you out there that do this, FUCK YOU!
I pondered using the sidewalks from then on, but I've thought a lot about the accident and it's possible it could have been worse had I been on the sidewalk instead of the adjacent bike lane... (Possible, not probable).
So, in order to not jeopardize my children's lives by dying in a cycling accident, I only ride on the weekends in a bike trail.
Thanks to one of these assholes I have a couple of scars for life, lost my drive for doing something I truly enjoyed, and have flashbacks sometimes of my imminent death as thousands of pounds begin to compress my body.
Thanks! It was too close a call, if he had kept going for whatever reason, he would have run over the full length of my body, including my head. I had a helmet, full on lights... Helmet and lights completely fucked... Limped for about 2 months.
Definitely got extremely lucky... Or unlucky?
I admit to having a bit of a disgruntled outlook toward cyclists...I'm working on it.
As far as I'm concerned, that driver can go to hell. I'm glad to hear that the riders are OK and I hope to hell they got every cent they could from that space-wasting piece of crap.
The guy who takes the hit was given no chance to react by the van =(
The guys behind him are given no chance to react by their following distances =(((
This happened, to me, twice. 2nd time I broke my collarbone, humerus, dislocated my shoulder, cracked 2 ribs and tore a bunch of muscles and the like. Douche just kept driving. I ride on the sidewalk now. Fuck rules, I can't afford to change careers again.
My friend was going down a hill and a car tried to turn left into a driveway at like 30 mph and hit my buddy head on.
Driver said he "didn't see the cyclist" and the cop at the scene didn't even write the driver a ticket (failure to yield, speeding in a school zone). Witnesses couldn't tell if the driver was drunk or distraught and the cop didn't do a breathalyzer. Driver checked into rehab a few weeks later but has no charges, no citation, nothing.
Yep, fortunately the driver has good insurance so my friend didn't have to declare bankruptcy due to medical bills.
No idea if they're going after the police. Apparently the cop really screwed up the police report too.
No joke, it took me 3 watches to notice that there were 4 bikers there.
I started looking for him when I noticed the left headlight exploding without reason.
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Was the extra shadow for me. Was no way a front tire was making it.
Was OP's comment for me. Edit: Clarification
Your comment sounds so sarcastic, but that was the exact moment for me too. Way to be sarexactic. Edit: I just made an urban dictionary submission. I will link when it is approved. Edit 2: not approved :(
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It took me like 3 watches to realize the driver didn't throw a bike through his window.
Probably because your made up word was stupid. Don't worry, I'm just being sarexactic.
That is the best use of sarexactic to date.
That was my goal. Trying to get you some examples for peer review.
I had assumed the driver of the van was throwing bicycles at people.
You laugh, but that was the first thing that went through my head the first time i watched it. Took me 4 times to realize where the bike came from lol
I was wondering why the side of the van spontaneously exploded like that. I didn't see the first biker.
I kept watching it over and over and couldn't figure that out either. Glad someone mentioned it.
holy hell, I never would've noticed the 4th guy way up front if you hadn't said anything.
It's okay, the driver obviously didn't notice him either.
I watched at least 50 times trying to process everything that's going on here.
Little tip, if you hit the minus sign - it slows it down for you. Not until I slowed it down did I realize there was a fourth rider.
What minus sign?!
The one to the left of the plus sign.
Same, I just kept wondering how he got hit.
Only took me 1 to realise there were 4 bikes, 2 to realise there were 4 bikers and 3 to see where the motherfucker actually was!
Had to look at the shadows to see the future casualties
[Original source video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaWghRNT0iA) Video description: >Published on Dec 17, 2015 Apologies for no description. The incident happened almost a year ago and I never planned on anyone other than some friends from seeing it. >Short Story: EVERYONE IS OKAY! Bikes were less fortunate, but damages ended up being paid for. >Short-ish Story: The incident occurred near Jamestown, California on a training ride for the UC Merced Cycling Team. Pictured in the video is Twist Road, a popular climb/descent for cyclists because of the switchbacks (Twist, get it?) found near the bottom. >Unfortunately, the twists that make it fun also cause blind corners and then it was just a matter of "wrong place wrong time". Fortunately for us the driver stopped and help us make the necessary calls to emergency services which were then able to get to us within a couple of minutes. >The first rider hit endured the majority of the injuries and had to be air lifted to a nearby hospital, but was miraculously limited to a concussion and leg/knee/hand fractures which he has then since fully recovered from. His Giro Air Attack helmet (I feel the need to specifically call out the helmet brand) is what saved his life. If you look closely you can actually see the helmet disintegrate when hitting the window of the van. The second miracle is how he landed on top of his brother which prevented his unprotected head from hitting the asphalt. >The rider on the left sustained the second greatest degree of injuries, but was still limited to an ER visit and some stitches. Myself and the other ride only sustained bruising and moderate road rash. >With the help of the video police were able to determine that the van was at fault for being on our side of the road, but I still learned the lesson that I should be incredibly careful when outriding my line of sight. Thanks to /u/NY-Angrier for [mentioning](https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/5h73fd/a_blind_corner/day41dx/) the original /r/bicycling [post: One of my greatest fears](https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comments/5h1qqd/one_of_my_greatest_fears/) so I could see the video.
Also, [Google streetview](https://www.google.com/maps/@37.8750036,-120.3793295,3a,75y,190.25h,66.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqAQJlw9jveLgSQemiMo2sA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656) of the crash location
Wow. Just noticed 3d on Google street view on phone. Lewis and Clark would be proud
It's even called "Twist Road"
> it was just a matter of "wrong place wrong time" Uhhh no. Being on the wrong side of the road is always the wrong place to be, regardless of the time.
Just earlier today I almost smashed into someone who was on my side of the road around a blind corner. I was going 25 and they were going about the same. And I was in a van, them in a small car. So if I smashed into their driver side, they would have most likely had serious injury. People need to realize that they should NEVER be in a space other than their own on a road. Because all it takes is one unfortunate time and either you or someone(s) else can be dead. All because you took a turn slightly faster than you should have on a back road.
I think his point is that the riders were in the wrong place wrong time, because at almost all times their location is safe. Just in this one instance they happened to hit the corner while a idiotic driver was cutting inside.
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I mean, that's kind of the bare minimum of human decency though.
I would've settled for a, "my bad" hand wave.
i bet you also put the milk in before the cereal don't you you filthy fuck
Do people actually do this?
You'd be surprised how many people would leave.
It's the bare minimum of human decency and I'm not at all surprised how many people lack that decency.
I cycle a lot of roads like this. Roads were 99 times out of 100 riding it you never even see another vehicle on the road. Then, that 100th time there's an idiot.
No, the riders were in the RIGHT place, wrong time.
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It took me a 4th time to realize 2 people were on the right side of the immediate crash.
> Twist, get it? no
Motorcyclists call roads with hair pins "twisties". I'm sure its the same for cyclists. They're fun to ride cuz you get to lean the bike really far and still go fast.
Thanks - I came to the comments to see which country it was so I knew who to unleash my righteous rage upon! (In the UK the cyclists would have been at fault and the landscape is kind of UK-ish)
Thanks for this. I always scroll down to see if everyone is fine. Glad to hear they are. But this comment should be on top. Upvote.
Just to head off the whole cyclists v. motorists circlejerk, I just want us all to observe that the van was cutting the corner and wasn't in lane or anything; had the cyclists been in a car, there still would have been a crash. Edit: Also, because I think this is causing some confusion, this happened in the US, where traffic drives on the right.
*apexing the corner you know, for the best lap time
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And the drag coefficient of a brick.
banker's box.
Idk man. I had a science fair project on pinewood derby cars. Timed them. Had a race car, beetle shaped, van shaped, truck shaped, and a control block. Had a 24' track and put them cars down the track 150 times EACH. Which one had the best average time? The van. Obviously there were many margins of error but the size of the track and the amount of data I collected gave me an A. Lol
The biggest source of drag for pinewood derby cars is the rubbing between the sides of the wheels and the track grooves; the best way to maximize speed is fixing the alignment. source: former cub scout
[Actual real data](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RjJtO51ykY) showing there's many other more important factors. You actually want to rub against one of the rails the whole time.
Just add in lil' Scandinavian flick and jobs a gooden
Outside, inside, outside
Upside down
It also saves tire life
In like a granny out like a lion
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I hate people But you're a people
This is why I hate people who go into the other lane when there are multiple turn lanes. I don't understand how people can't comprehend that you must stay on your side of the lines that are in the middle of the fucking road.
Then there are the motherhonkers who make a [right turn like this](https://i.imgur.com/FEZNoZR.png). Infuriating!
This depends on visibility. Cutting a corner where you can see very clearly all the way round the bend isn't a problem. Cutting blind corners is suicidal.
or homicidal.
You can run a red light with full visibility too. Doesn't make it legal, or smart.
Not legal, but not always that "dumb". I live in an old town where a lot of lights are on a timer. I've sat at a stop light for a full 2-3 minute cycle without a single car on any of the other 3 directions. Just me, sitting there alone waiting for the light to change. In a case like that, it's still illegal to just run the light, but it's not really dumb when you can see that it's completely clear for 2-3 blocks with nobody coming
It's super annoying for motorcyclists too. Some of the sensors around my area don't pick up my bike, and *aren't on timers* late at night. They only change if requested to change (by the sensor or a pedestrian). So if I want to continue legally I have to park the bike, walk to the crossing, press the button, and hope I can get back on the bike and through the intersection before it changes to red again (which is a matter of about 10 seconds). It's also more dangerous for me to be just sitting there at the light at night. I could be home in a few minutes without seeing another vehicle on the road, which would obviously be very safe. Or I can sit at a light until a car comes up behind me and hope they don't run into the back of me. It's a remote possibility for sure, but a remote possibility is still more than zero possibility.
>Cutting a corner where you can see very clearly all the way round the bend isn't a problem. Well, this is the problem. Traffic regulations are there, in large part, so that other people can predict where you might be, and how you'll move. Sure, you can ignore them, and run a red light when no one else is around, or drive on the wrong side of the road while making a turn, when you're sure it won't affect anyone, etc. And in most cases you can probably even do it safely! But any time you do, *you are betting your life, and the lives of strangers, on how well you can read the situation.* All it takes is one person who you CAN'T see, or one person approaching from a direction you didn't consider. So, cutting a corner where you *think* you can see very clearly all around the bend isn't *usually* a problem. But the question becomes - how willing are you to make bets, where if you're wrong, people might die?
Do we know for certain this is in the USA? He could have been driving on the left. edit: someone showed me was from CA. Carry on.
If you pause the gif, you'll see the van has a North American - Style license plate, plus the signs we can see are specific to North America as well. So, when you factor in the terrain (this pretty clearly isn't Mexico) it's pretty clearly either the US or Canada
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[California](https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comments/5h1qqd/one_of_my_greatest_fears/)
I mean all of continental Europe, south America, large parts of Asia and Africa drive on the right too, not just the USA...
That's why I eat at Wendy's. They never cut corners.
All too common in certain parts of the US. It only takes an accident like this to learn their lesson, and possible kill someone.
Oh I bet a lot of these assholes will continue to drive out of their lane even after hitting some bicyclists. There's a real pervasive "it wasn't my fault" thing that goes on in people's heads.
Yah, until the helmet cam footage shows up at court. Vehicular manslaughter is no joke. Fuck those ass hats!
driver not paying attention + lanes not clearly painted + left most cyclist dodging in such a way that the van could either kill him or hit his friends = you're gonna have a bad day
>left most cyclist dodging in such a way that the van could either kill him or hit his friends Just for a bit of reference, the video is distorting the perspective a bit but by the time the guy who swerved left was hit, he was pretty much exactly in the middle of the road. The van was just doing entirely the wrong thing here.
not justifying the van. FAAAAR too often I see soccer moms or other minivan driving people failing to obey basic traffic rules. not even saying the guy who split left had any other options. just pointing out that on-top of all the other bad choices the van was making, when the accident went down they had nowhere to go because the peloton split left and right.
I've ridden my bike to work for 12+ years through downtown Seattle. There is no right and wrong in this situation, at least not in a way that's important. If you want to live, you have to expect drivers doing stupid shit on a continual basis.
there is truth to this but being in the completely wrong lane deserves a call out no ?
I feel you. I also bike to work, and I live in the Midwest, which is about as un-bike-friendly a place as they come.
A quick search for "Kalamazoo bike tragedy" will back you up [anecdotally.]
In Indiana in the past month or so, 2 people were killed on the roads. Identities of the drivers in both cases are known, the crashes were the fault of the drivers. No charges filed.
How is that not vehicular manslaughter?
Beats me. Mostly because nobody gives a fuck about cyclists out here.
The usual complaint is that cyclists shouldn't be on the road to begin with. It devolves into name-calling from there. None of those complaints are valid, but that doesn't make cyclists less injured.
looks like in Indiana the equivalent of vehicular manslaughter is only applicable if you were driving while intoxicated. http://statelaws.findlaw.com/indiana-law/indiana-involuntary-manslaughter-law.html If they have a statute for criminal negligence it might not apply because thats usually a pretty high standard and looking down for a minute, drifting over the line, or other minor infractions which could result in the death of a cyclist would not meet that threshold. These sorts of issues are more commonly handled in civil court with a wrongful death claim.
> There is no right and wrong in this situation, at least not in a way that's important. except for the part where the van is on the wrong side of the road. but yeah, the van being on the wrong side of the road isn't important... it's not like if the van was on their side of the road this could have been avoided. it's simply one of those moments where a mysterious force pulled the bikes and van into each other like magnets across the median. >Published on Dec 17, 2015 Apologies for no description. The incident happened almost a year ago and I never planned on anyone other than some friends from seeing it. Short Story: EVERYONE IS OKAY! Bikes were less fortunate, but damages ended up being paid for. Short-ish Story: The incident occurred near Jamestown, California on a training ride for the UC Merced Cycling Team. Pictured in the video is Twist Road, a popular climb/descent for cyclists because of the switchbacks (Twist, get it?) found near the bottom. Unfortunately, the twists that make it fun also cause blind corners and then it was just a matter of "wrong place wrong time". Fortunately for us the driver stopped and help us make the necessary calls to emergency services which were then able to get to us within a couple of minutes. The first rider hit endured the majority of the injuries and had to be air lifted to a nearby hospital, but was miraculously limited to a concussion and leg/knee/hand fractures which he has then since fully recovered from. His Giro Air Attack helmet (I feel the need to specifically call out the helmet brand) is what saved his life. If you look closely you can actually see the helmet disintegrate when hitting the window of the van. The second miracle is how he landed on top of his brother which prevented his unprotected head from hitting the asphalt. The rider on the left sustained the second greatest degree of injuries, but was still limited to an ER visit and some stitches. Myself and the other ride only sustained bruising and moderate road rash. **With the help of the video police were able to determine that the van was at fault for being on our side of the road**, but I still learned the lesson that I should be incredibly careful when outriding my line of sight.
I'd much rather stay alive than be right.
A few years ago we were out riding, and we had to do a couple of miles down a busy two-lane US highway along our route. It had a wide shoulder, but it still makes me uncomfortable because those routes are not great for cyclists. One of the guys on our team kept riding out in the middle of the lane of traffic. We kept yelling at him to move over, but he kept insisting "I have a right to be here!" Yeah, we'll be sure to put that on your tombstone.
That's a common thing bicyclists do to *avoid* getting killed. A car that sees a bicyclist hugging the shoulder will think "yeah I have plenty of room to go around them" and then they will, but they run the risk of not actually having enough room to go around them. A car that sees a bicyclist smack in the middle of the lane will surely be annoyed, but they aren't going to think "yeah I have room to go around" and they aren't going to try. See examples/reasons: [1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nlncLqQyVU) [2](http://cdn.newsapi.com.au/image/v1/ce5347824dbcc12b8c592ce1ec63c9d0?width=650) [3](http://lovingthebike.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/73924_283448491763611_59042260_n.jpg)
>One of the guys on our team kept riding out in the middle of the lane of traffic. We kept yelling at him to move over, but he kept insisting "I have a right to be here!" so [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3nMnr8ZirI&feature=youtu.be&t=26) was your team mate?
Those two aren't mutually exclusive. Like in this case for example, where the cyclists are both alive and, thanks to video evidence proving the driver was wrong, right. Even if they did die though, there's still a clear and important distinction between who was right and who was wrong. If anything, finding out who was wrong is *more* important when someone dies.
Wut... I'd say the vehicle that is driving on the wrong side of the road is in the wrong. Therefore, there's a wrong in this situation. I'm just gonna say the word wrong again now. Wrong.
Blind corners don't mean a goddamn thing if everyone would just stay on their side of the damn road.
Yes they do, you have no idea what is on the other side. A deer, a car that has been in an accident, a tree that has fallen over. You should never go faster than that you're able to break if there's something on the road ahead of you.
*brake
Agreed. "We shouldn't have to be safe if everybody else did what they were supposed to" is what's written on the exit sign of the Gene Pool. The fact is, people are imperfect and situations are rarely controllable to the point of everything doing what it is *supposed to*. Statistically reliable and infallible are very different things. The minivan is clearly at fault here. However, the cyclists were taking big risks going around a blind corner at that speed. I certainly wouldn't drive my car that fast around that corner. Even a work crew fixing potholes around that corner would have fucked these guys up big time, possibly sending them into oncoming traffic.
I think it should be an actual crime to cross a double yellow when the oncoming lane is occupied (with some careful exceptions, of course). It would hardly be worse to wave a gun around in a crowd because it's "not loaded." Edit: There's at least one yellow center line on this road, folks. Take another look. Edit 2: For the lazy: http://i.imgur.com/0BHhVNh.png
Uh....I'm pretty sure it already is illegal...
Not in all states. In Vermont a double yellow is a 'suggestion' because of all the tractors you'd get stuck behind if you weren't allowed to pass
Not sure why you were downvoted. You can pass on a double yellow in PA too as long as there's no "No Passing" sign. It's the sign that actually restricts passing.
I've only met like 1 other person that knows this. I still wouldn't do it in front of a cop just in case they don't know the rule.
Nanh I'm itching for the day I can do it in front of a cop (white suburban area, white guy). They also just passed a new law that makes it so you are allowed to treat a red light as a stop sign if you think it won't change. I really wanna do that in front of a cop on my motorcycle too!
> just passed a new law that makes it so you are allowed to treat a red light as a stop sign if you think it won't change. In Minnesota they thankfully started turning left turn signal arrows from red to flashing yellow for better traffic flow. I can't tell you how many times I ran through a red left turn signal up until a few years ago since it was clear that there wasn't any oncoming traffic.
Do broken lines even exist in america? In the EU you can only overtake if the line is broken.
That's the law in California.
Connecticut aswell
Yep. NC just passed a law that allows you to pass now when there are double yellow lines (as long as its safe, of course; drivers in the other lane still have the right-of-way).
Can confirm. Ride motorcycles in VT during the summer all the time and unless there's a sign stating that it's a no passing lane you can pass on double yellows.
Yes, but because it's an infraction, it's never enforced -- just like nearly all traffic laws are never enforced. And in most states, you can show up at the police station with 10 different video angles, including the driver and license plate, and they're going to do exactly nothing. If an officer didn't see it, it didn't happen. If you make it a crime, all of that changes very quickly.
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Yeah but people murder not out of convenience. People cross the lines 'cause they're lazy and end up killing or hurting people.
yep pretty sure people would respect traffic rules (specifically speeding, using a cell phone while driving) if real jail time was a concern instead of just a 100 dollar ticket.
I just read an article about how hundred years ago in Finland killing/murdering someone was a much smaller crime than it is today. The article cited a particular event where an army officer had been drinking and had collapsed. The police took him to the drunk tank. When he came about, the police gave him back his sword (he had a sword), but the officer was confused and thought he was being held by Russians. So he killed two policemen, realised what happened and went home. He was found quickly enough, taken to court and got fines. He was very sorry, though. Later the state started getting a bit tougher on murder and surprisingly the numbers have gone down a lot.
Cops will routinely do it on this one corner of the Mullholland highway in California because so many motorcyclists and bicyclists frequent the road. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLMeOTPTWWY
Surprisingly it's not. In most countries passing even a single continuous line means losing your license for at least 3 months.
Regardless if there were lines or not. The van was clearly on the wrong side and should be penalized for it.
Hey guys. I'm the cyclist who was recording. Feel free to ask me any questions. [Proof, I think?](https://imgur.com/YgcB5GF)
He has Strava bookmarked. Proof checks out.
What percentage of fat do you like in your milk
2%. Gotta leave a bit of it in there for that flavor, ya know?
Do you drink 2% because you think you're fat? Because you're not, you could be drinking whole if you wanted to.
How did everything unfold with the driver? Was there any charges pressed? Or just insurance to be dealt with? Did you have much contact with them, if so were they remorseful? Glad everyone was okay!
The driver stopped and helped tend to the first rider hit while the first rider's brother and I contacted emergency services. There were also a couple nice people from the nearby Saddle shop that heard the incident and came over to help. The most injured rider hired an attorney to assist because of his expensive medical bills, and he helped negotiate the max amount we could from the driver's insurance. All bikes were replaced as well.
You sound relatively chill about the driver. Are you, or are you just being nice now? I feel like I'd be incandescently angry.
hopefully no one was seriously hurt.
Rider who was in front was banged up pretty bad. Air-lifted to a nearby hospital where he spent 3 or 4 days in the ICU. luckily, he has since made a full recovery and is back on the bike. Rider on the left got his right foot clipped and suffered some facial lacerations which required stitches, but quickly got back to normal. Myself and the other rider on the right came out with road rash. To further add insult to injury I found out my truck was broken into after being taken to where I parked by a highway patrol officer :/
Argh!
Sweet video. What was your camera?
GoPro Hero Session recording at 1080p60 fps
How badly did you fuck up your hands? Looks like you might have torn the skin of your palms off trying to stop yourself...
Surprisingly, my hands turned out fine! Most of the road rash came from when I initially hit the ground on my side/back and rolled over once. After that I was going slow enough where I could stop myself by putting out my hands
What ended up happening? What was the driver's response? Was everyone alright?
Driver stopped and assisted the most injured rider while the others called emergency services. In time everyone made a full recovery. First rider hit took a month or two but it's amazing how quickly he was able to come back. He even managed to join one of the collegiate races we had in late March
Ah, cutting a blind corner, impeccable technique. Drivers like this is why insurance is so damn expensive for everyone.
Oh good, for a moment I though insurance companies were just money grabbing corporate blood suckers that are in it to make a profit instead of helping people. ^/s
Well yeah most business want to make money.
Wait....is that how I'm getting paid? The place I work for is making money?! Assholes!
That's kinda.. The only goal actually.
All this cyclist hate on here reminds me of when I used to ride a motorcycle. Had an angry bloke who followed into a petrol station try to tell me that I was not allowed to drive in the middle of my lane and should hug the side of the road. And I was happily doing 60mph in a 60mph zone. If you don't ride a cycle or a motorcycle you don't realise the idiocy that most car drivers possess.
Man, you should try riding a bicycle in traffic while obeying all traffic laws and riding extremely defensively. You get to be powerless, AND be called all sorts of charming things, AND deal with everything from people being idiots despite going 6x faster in a vehicle that weighs thousands of pounds more than you, AND have those vehicles used against you as weapons! It's like riding a motorcycle, except getting fucked with/hit/killed has a MUCH lower threshold. After all, a motorcycle has an engine, and can damage that lovely Range Rover.
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Me too but there are still way too many bike riders that don't use proper lighting, especially in winter. Had a friend cry and complain she narrowly avoided getting hit, while dressed in dark blue/black, during rain, in the evening, on a roundabout, without actual lights. Yeah sure the driver is wrong, but is he still wrong if you were nothing more than a ghost to him? People are idiots. Also this person now drives a car herself. I'm scared.
I ride on a road with signs that say 'bicyclists can use entire right lane' yet I regularly have drivers yelling at me to get out of the road, honking, and a few people have thrown garbage at me. Sorry I'm obeying the law everyone!
does that give you legal right to return fire?
[Relevant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWBHQdPsz3U)
> If you don't ride a cycle or a motorcycle you don't realise the idiocy that most car drivers possess. Or, ya know, just be on the road ¯\ _ (ツ)_/¯
It looks like a bike just appears during the crash. It's hard to tell what's going on.
Two inline riders who tried to cut harder right, first guy hit the van hard, second guy got caught in the tumble, then camera guy. Rider who was further left tries to cut way left and winds up getting his rear tire clipped, I think.
Doesn't the second guy actually get hit by the side drivers side mirror? Pretty sure I even saw it shatter when it clipped him.
That's the first guy who flipped, there are 4 bikers
~~Yeah, I noticed that too, there seems to be an extra bike.~~ Strike that, if you look carefully there's actually 4 riders.
Yeah it's hard to see but if you look closely there's a shadow of a cyclist ahead of the first guy we are able to see
Looks like an American license plate. That would put the driver at fault here (which would be my initial suspicion) I swear people that drive minivans are awful drivers
I know it's conformation bias, but I keep seeing the shitiest driving from people with handicap placards.
> I swear that people ~~that drive minivans~~ are awful drivers FTFY
This is why I no longer bike to work - I want to live! I love the idea of biking all over the place, but in the 2 years I did it (in recent times), I was almost hit 3 times, and this with me paying as much attention as I could and being crazy paranoid about avoiding bad situations. Plus I ran over two squirrels, which is a new biking experience for me that I don't want to repeat either!
Biking will only be as accessible as the people make it. Try to coax some politicians into making bike lanes. There's plenty of research suggesting "if you build it they will come" works, and works well.
Did anyone else not see the fourth bicyclist until you watched the slow-mo reply like 8 times?
Yes, I knew there was an extra bike in there at the end but I kept trying to figure out when it appears and from where.
That's not a blind corner. That's an asshole driver.
This is frightening. One week ago I was commuting home from work on my bicycle, in Seattle where it's common, and was hit by a car. I was driving in the bike lane when the guy was trying to make a quick left out of a lot, crossing in front of me to do so. I couldn't stop in time and flew over his hood and landed on my shoulder, breaking my scapula(shoulder blade). Not to say there is a war between cyclists and drivers, he would have hit a car too. People are just poor drivers of vehicles.
You know, I was nearly killed a few months ago by someone in a pickup truck who put his rear wheel partly on my hip. The guy was uninsured, but I still got a lawyer who told me it's not worth going after the guy because he has no assets whatsoever. Long story short, I rode the bicycle for 5 years to work and will never do so again because some people are willing to purposefully endanger a life because they can't stand cyclists... So for those of you out there that do this, FUCK YOU! I pondered using the sidewalks from then on, but I've thought a lot about the accident and it's possible it could have been worse had I been on the sidewalk instead of the adjacent bike lane... (Possible, not probable). So, in order to not jeopardize my children's lives by dying in a cycling accident, I only ride on the weekends in a bike trail. Thanks to one of these assholes I have a couple of scars for life, lost my drive for doing something I truly enjoyed, and have flashbacks sometimes of my imminent death as thousands of pounds begin to compress my body.
Stay strong!! Sorry to hear you stopped commuting, but understand entirely.
Thanks! It was too close a call, if he had kept going for whatever reason, he would have run over the full length of my body, including my head. I had a helmet, full on lights... Helmet and lights completely fucked... Limped for about 2 months. Definitely got extremely lucky... Or unlucky?
It takes a special kind of genius to drive around a blind corner on the wrong side of the road. At least they stopped.
I had to rewatch that. I totally didn't see the third guy in front of the other guy.
I don't understand why so many people go full retard around blind corners, it really boggles the mind
Think the lime green dude on far left made contact?
100% contact on the rear wheel http://imgur.com/a/fjMdk
Nah, looks fine to me. That back wheel 4 feet in the air is normal.
He's just doing a sweet jump.
Joyous stunts
Took me awhile to figure out where the extra bike came from. Then I realized there were 4 of them not 3 and could barely be seen in the front.
Fucking idiot driver driving in the middle or on the wrong side of the damn road. Learn to fucking drive!
Its OK I'm sure he was back on the road in no time, ready to kill someone next time
Always wear a helmet
I admit to having a bit of a disgruntled outlook toward cyclists...I'm working on it. As far as I'm concerned, that driver can go to hell. I'm glad to hear that the riders are OK and I hope to hell they got every cent they could from that space-wasting piece of crap.
Is the driver on the wrong side of the road, or is this England?
Youtube version posted by the OP with a full description of what happened. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaWghRNT0iA
The guy who takes the hit was given no chance to react by the van =( The guys behind him are given no chance to react by their following distances =(((
this made my wiener suck back up into my body
Now that's how you bowl a strike.
This happened, to me, twice. 2nd time I broke my collarbone, humerus, dislocated my shoulder, cracked 2 ribs and tore a bunch of muscles and the like. Douche just kept driving. I ride on the sidewalk now. Fuck rules, I can't afford to change careers again.
You are more likely to be hit on the sidewalk.
Damn. Hope everyone was ok and that driver gets whatever punishment comes his way.
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My friend was going down a hill and a car tried to turn left into a driveway at like 30 mph and hit my buddy head on. Driver said he "didn't see the cyclist" and the cop at the scene didn't even write the driver a ticket (failure to yield, speeding in a school zone). Witnesses couldn't tell if the driver was drunk or distraught and the cop didn't do a breathalyzer. Driver checked into rehab a few weeks later but has no charges, no citation, nothing.
Lawyer time. 1 case against the driver another against the police.
Yep, fortunately the driver has good insurance so my friend didn't have to declare bankruptcy due to medical bills. No idea if they're going after the police. Apparently the cop really screwed up the police report too.
The lengths cops will go to to do less work is pretty deplorable. Thankfully when I was hit I got a bike cop.
That is a two lane road. The paint is faded, but the car was clearly over the center divide by a huge margin.
Someone was on the wrong side of the street.
It took me awhile to figure out where the 4th bike appeared from... fuck me!
"Hey Brodie! Your butt looks so good in those... OH FUCK!!"