Safe and sound

It was a long day for me. I had to leave home on my bike at 6:00 AM in order to make it to work at 7:00 to work with a colleague on some things to show later that day. After working all morning preparing, attending an on-site customer meeting in the afternoon and finishing up at the office, I finally changed and hopped on my bike for the trip home around 8:15.

Generally, my route is pretty safe. I have three flashing red lights and a two-headed three-watt headlamp. I usually set one of the headlamps to flash, and turn on the other one if I need it in order to see the road. When I leave late like this, the traffic is lower which is always a good thing. That night, I didn't strap on my backpack with my computer etc., since it was so late that I wouldn't be using it at home, so my reflective yellow vest was not covered on the back, like it usually is.

The way home takes me through a housing subdivision, Plum Grove Estates, and I exit this subdivision onto a frontage road that runs along IL Route 53, in Rolling Meadows. I have about a quarter-mile to ride on that frontage road until I cross Kirchoff Road, and onto a bike path.

It was shortly after I turned North onto this frontage road that I was hit, here

The paved shoulder of this road is pretty narrow, probably three or four feet, and there is some rock that goes a little further out, to a chain link fence to keep people from getting to Route 53. I was just outside the white line on the paved part of the shoulder, when I was hit by a car that was overtaking me from behind. The right side rear view mirror hit my left hip/buttocks, and the force caused me to dump the bike, big time. Took the mirror clean off the car, too. I went down with my hands up front, as far as I can tell, but I don't remember too many details. I don't believe that the bike was hit by the car, and does not appear to be damaged from the fall (but my own rear view mirror was broken). I do remember my hip hurting, a LOT.

When I stopped moving, I managed to have the presence of mind to sit and think about my condition, mentally going over the parts of my body and thinking about how they felt. Two passing motorists stopped their cars and came over to check me out and help. After a couple of minutes, I stood up, stretched out a little, and continued my mental inventory.

The woman who was driving the car which hit me stopped it about a block's distance beyond where she hit me, leaving the car in the middle of the Northbound lane. She came back to see me, and I think hysterical is a good adjective to describe her at that point. I, and the people that had stopped to help, had to pull her out of the road more than once when other cars were passing. She went back to her car to get her information, and returned.

The gentleman that had stopped to help called the police and before long three squad cars and an ambulance arrived, and lit the place up pretty well. I was asked if I wanted to be transported to the hospital, but I asked to be checked out in the ambulance but didn't think that was necessary. Besides my hip/butt, I had a skinned left knee and my left calf was sore. There was a small hole in my tights where my knee hit the ground. Prior to the accident I had taken off my right glove and had not put it back on yet, so my right hand had a little "road rash" on it. I stayed in the ambulance until the other officers were done getting the testimony from the two witnesses, and administering a sobriety test to the woman that was driving. She failed.

I signed my waiver (since I was not being transported to the hospital), and decided to take the police officer's offer to drive me the 3 miles home. After checking the scene one last time to make sure I had everything, we removed the front wheel of the bike and stuffed it in the trunk of the officer's squad car. I got in the back for my ride home. For those of you that have not seen the back of a squad car lately, it's not exactly not like a taxi cab. The seat in this one was fiberglass, and there wasn't a padded object in sight. Plus, once you're in you can't get back out without them letting you out. Suffice it to say that my butt didn't appreciate the ride home on that hard seat, but I survived.

I called Caryl on the way home and tried to break the news to her, partially. I was hoping to not get into any more trouble than I had to, and I thought it would be good to ease into it if possible.

The next day, I drove to work :-). It was raining anyway... I got an appointment with my doctor to get checked out, and got a tetanus booster shot, and a big hug (you sometimes get those when your doctor is also a mother). Other than being a little sore, she said I was fine. I got in trouble with her as well :-(.

The woman that was driving the car that hit me was processed at the Rolling Meadows police station, and the police are sending me a copy of the accident report. Her court date is in April, and I plan to attend.

That frontage road is the darkest part of my route at night. There is a sidewalk, although it is in disrepair in places, pretty bumpy and zigs and zags around telephone poles, so it's not ideal to ride on. It is also impassible when there has been snow, since it usually is not cleared and may even have snow on it from the snow plows on the road. There's another route through the subdivision that avoids this piece of road, and while it adds a significant distance to the route I will probably ride that way now, at least after dark.

What else might I change to be safer? I've already purchased a replacement mirror that stays positioned so I can keep a better eye on what's coming up behind me. I need to evaluate the placement of my lights, and the visibility of my jackets. My wife presented me with a schedule for this month, of daylight hours, and fully expects me not to ride in the dark, at least for now. I am hoping to come up with some other things that might help as well, and perhaps there will be an opportunity to share my experience and things I've learned with others, and maybe prevent other incidents.

In spite of my efforts to let people know about this and not have them worry more than they need to, my wife and my mother both were upset at the news, which traveled pretty fast once I posted on Facebook. I expect that will get better with time, but I'm not sure I can do this again and get away with it. Hopefully I won't have to find out.