Comments on: Rider Down: Why it’s always the cyclist’s fault http://bikeintelligencer.com/2010/05/rider-down-why-its-always-the-cyclists-fault/ All bike, all the time Tue, 21 May 2013 03:33:44 +0000 hourly 1 By: Brent http://bikeintelligencer.com/2010/05/rider-down-why-its-always-the-cyclists-fault/comment-page-1/#comment-1401 Brent Fri, 28 May 2010 14:40:04 +0000 http://bikeintelligencer.com/?p=3225#comment-1401 I crashed into a car once — I was inspecting my toe clip straps (remember those?) or something while slowing to a stop, only to look up too late and rear-end a car. The driver never even noticed, and the bumper wasn’t scratched.

While Maureen’s story proves her point, putting a dent in a door, unlike a bumper, takes hardly any force at all. It doesn’t take a cyclist at 25MPH — I’ve crashed at that speed, and never managed to keep my slurpee intact — to leave a big dent; a well placed punch to a door panel will do the same. The big difference is that fragile car parts and fragile bodies are worlds apart when it comes to repair.

]]> By: Maureen Sklaroff http://bikeintelligencer.com/2010/05/rider-down-why-its-always-the-cyclists-fault/comment-page-1/#comment-1394 Maureen Sklaroff Fri, 28 May 2010 00:06:00 +0000 http://bikeintelligencer.com/?p=3225#comment-1394 I see your point and as a bicyclist, admit that cars can be insane to be around. In fact, I try to stick to trails. At the same time, I once had a bicyclist crash into me, literally. He was actually okay, but my friend’s truck that I was driving wasn’t. I had entered the intersection at a 4-way stop, when this teenaged boy came barreling down a steep hill, around a blind turn, never slowed down, no helmet, no hands on the handlebars – one hand holding a slurpee, the other a newspaper. I tried to avoid him, but he slammed into the side of the truck, probably going 25 mph, but I was barely moving as I had just started to proceed. I was so freaked out that I killed him or something, but all he had was a scraped knee. He was still holding the stupid slurpee – he didn’t even spill it. The truck had a massive dent in it. We had tons of witnesses tell me they saw it all and he was 100% at fault (I was19 at the time and hysterical that I hit a bicyclist). Well, he gave us bogus contact info, so we had to pay for all of the repairs ourselves.

I do get your point about headlines BTW, I just wanted to share that sometimes bikes actually do crash into cars, as crazy as it seems.

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