IMPORTANT REMINDER - Safe Cycling

[Ashley]

This is an important reminder to BE CAREFUL when bike riding on roads open to traffic (and while running, too). I was hit by a car yesterday while riding home from work. I was unlucky that I got hit, but lucky that I was able to leave the scene with only minor cuts and bruises.

How it happened: I was riding down a 4 lane road in Livonia when a car traveling in the same direction, in the same lane, decided to make a quick right turn onto a residential street without the use of a turn signal. The front end of the pontiac sunfire hit me and my bike and I was thrown down onto the pavement and into an intersection.

The elderly driver was turning right only because she was lost and was turning around to go in a different direction. Had she not been turning around, I don't know if she would have even stopped. After I got up quickly, I went over to the driver who was now waiting at the light to turn left out of the residential street and asked: "Do you realize you just hit me?!" She was clueless. She admitted to me that she didn't use her turn signal, but didn't even realize that she had hit me. She said she thought the car behind her hit me, because she didn't see or hear the impact. Her story changed a bit when the police arrived and she told the cop that she did have her turn signal on and that she always uses her turn signal. Her passenger also advised that they didn't have a lot of time, because they had an "appointment at the chinese food restaurant." Yup. They did not receive a ticket.

I told the police officer that I didn't want to make a big deal about the accident, but felt the need to make a police report in an attempt to create awareness, because of all the stories I've heard this year of cyclists getting seriously injured and even killed by motorists.

Anyway, the moral of the story is be more aware of stupid drivers and even smart ones, because they make mistakes too.

Be safe out there!