I had a bike accident today. In the 3.5 years, I have lived in NYC, i have had a handfull of wrecks, most of which have involved cars. I have been doored (bike ok; gash in stomach). I have had a cab slam on its brakes right in front of me (bike frame totalled; landed on the trunk; no real inury). I have T-boned a cab that ran a redlight through gridlock traffic (bike ok; dislocated shoulder, which popped back into place and pain for several weeks; annoying insurance battle; late for work). I have had a car suddenly pull out from a parking spot to do a U-turn - BAM! (another bike frame totalled; tossed onto the hood; no injury). Yesterday's accident, however, was pretty much my fault and it was with another cyclist. We collided perpendicularly at a rather high speed. I was crusing down broadway at probably about 15 mph. If you ride a bike in NYC, you know that -just like for pedestrians- traffic lights are more like hints than actual dictates. Well... at this particular juncture, there was a huge construction thingy in the middle of the cross street and intersection, so while i could see that there were no clearly no cars, the construction blob blocked my view of the delivery guy pedalling westward. Once i saw him, there was no stopping. too late and i braced for a launch and roll. thankfully we both seemed ok. i have some nice bloody scrapes on my back and a general soarness that comes with hitting the ground at 15 mph after a collision. i offered to help him pu his chain back on and straighten out his wheel a bit, but he declined. after limping to the side of the road, we shook hands and were both off. oUch. and thats the story. the moral, i suppose, is to take (more) note of large construction objects and the fact that while they may not conceal moving cars... they might conceal other bikers.
merch
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