When I ride I am always very aware of people turning into traffic because that is the number one killer of people on bikes. So last night riding home from the store I saw a guy waiting to turn into traffic. I always look right at their face to make sure they have turned and see me. He turned looked right at me then as I was about 4 inches in front of him he pulled out and knocked me off my bike into traffic.
Fortunately people behind me were paying attention and stopped before running me over. He is from MA and I live in NH so the laws are a bit different. In MA you just exchange information and go about your way unless someone requires an ambulance. In NH you always report all traffic accidents when they occur that is the law. This guy simply wanted to give me his info and take off. I told him we have to report it to the police he said he did not have time for that and as I was dialing 911 tried to get into his car to leave.
Other people who had stopped tried to block him from leaving and he started to drive backwards up the street he had come from. I was telling the dispatcher he was attempting to flee the scene and they had 3 cruisers there in about 60 seconds and caught the guy driving backwards up the road and pulled him over.
After a bit of testing turns out his BAC was 0.10 and the legal limit in NH is 0.08. Now I know why he was so desperate to leave. He got arrested. Except for a lump on my elbow and a sore kneed and shoulder I am ok. The bike itself was not damaged at all. I rode it home slowly at first then full power in the last 4 miles with no issues.
I now have over 1k miles on my ST2 and it has changed the way I drive cars. I think back to how many times I flew around a blind curve or rolled through a stop sign and now I realized if there was a bike there I would have hit them.
Stay safe.
Fortunately people behind me were paying attention and stopped before running me over. He is from MA and I live in NH so the laws are a bit different. In MA you just exchange information and go about your way unless someone requires an ambulance. In NH you always report all traffic accidents when they occur that is the law. This guy simply wanted to give me his info and take off. I told him we have to report it to the police he said he did not have time for that and as I was dialing 911 tried to get into his car to leave.
Other people who had stopped tried to block him from leaving and he started to drive backwards up the street he had come from. I was telling the dispatcher he was attempting to flee the scene and they had 3 cruisers there in about 60 seconds and caught the guy driving backwards up the road and pulled him over.
After a bit of testing turns out his BAC was 0.10 and the legal limit in NH is 0.08. Now I know why he was so desperate to leave. He got arrested. Except for a lump on my elbow and a sore kneed and shoulder I am ok. The bike itself was not damaged at all. I rode it home slowly at first then full power in the last 4 miles with no issues.
I now have over 1k miles on my ST2 and it has changed the way I drive cars. I think back to how many times I flew around a blind curve or rolled through a stop sign and now I realized if there was a bike there I would have hit them.
Stay safe.