someone's leftover beans and rice
(tl;dr - I had a crappy morning but I'm okay.)
This morning on my way to work I was party to a moving vehicle collision. It was at N Vancouver & Broadway, where some guy decided to turn right from the center lane, without signaling, in a intersection marked "No Turns." I slammed at speed in to his passenger side.
Thank you to Carol, Ray, Eryn, and Tom, who stopped and offered support or witness, and to the kind woman (whose name I have forgotten) who let me stay in her car out of the rain until the emergency responders arrived.
And thank you, Mr. Terrible Driver, for not fleeing the scene and also waiting for the police.
My X-Ray and CT scan both came back fine, but I'll be pretty sore and stiff for a while, and have a minor concussion to recover from.
The bike doesn't seem too bad off at first glance. Both Upcycles and Bike Central seem to be on holiday though, so hasn't been to see a mechanic yet.
There's probably some paperwork I need to follow up on. I didn't leave with the driver's insurance information, but I was assured that the officer on the scene got it and I could get it from them. Anyone have advice for what to do, given that I have no auto insurance, in a situation like this? My primary concern is that the ambulance ride and hospital visit gets covered.
Oh, and other data points for the bike equipment safety debate:
- I was wearing my clipless pedals today. I ended up a few feet away from my bike, my feet are still attached to me, and don't seem to be any worse off than the rest of me.
- I was wearing a helmet. The back of my head hit the ground, and the helmet is cracked pretty good (edit: photos). I don't appear to have suffered any torsional spinal damage. I'm very glad the helmet took that crack instead of my skull.