Hit by a van!
Today, while driving to work (in the velomobile), I got hit by a van.
I needed to take the second exit of a roundabout (i.e. I was keeping on the same road) which has a separate bike path on the outside.
This bike path has right of way on all traffic going on to and out of the roundabout.
As I was about to cross the first exit, a white van was on the roundabout and I had seen it.
It was not signaling that it was leaving the roundabout and as I know I have the right of way, I sped on happily on my way.
However, I noticed that the white van was leaving the roundabout and not slowing down to give me the right of way.
Applying the breaks would have stopped me somewhere in the middle of the road, so I took a hard right turn to avoid being crushed immediately.
The van didn't stop or try to break (as far as I could determine) and it impacted with the side of my velomobile at a narrow angle, a little behind the left front-wheel opening.
It was mostly a scrape but the impact was violent enough to be heard inside the cabin of the van that was driving behind it. And he had music on!
I cursed loudly at the white van but it drove on as if nothing had just happened. Fucking asshole!!
I was not wearing my prescription glasses so I did not manage to read the licence plate of the van. Nor did the driver of the van behind him see it.
He was kind enough to pull over and check whether I was OK as I took a moment to stop and recover from the shock and anger.
After a cursory check on the velomobile, I did not find any serious damage and continued on to work.
I did some more checking during my lunch break but still found no serious damage. There are some superficial scrapes but nothing that needs immediate attention.
Some people seriously deserve to have their driver's license revoked.
I needed to take the second exit of a roundabout (i.e. I was keeping on the same road) which has a separate bike path on the outside.
This bike path has right of way on all traffic going on to and out of the roundabout.
As I was about to cross the first exit, a white van was on the roundabout and I had seen it.
It was not signaling that it was leaving the roundabout and as I know I have the right of way, I sped on happily on my way.
However, I noticed that the white van was leaving the roundabout and not slowing down to give me the right of way.
Applying the breaks would have stopped me somewhere in the middle of the road, so I took a hard right turn to avoid being crushed immediately.
The van didn't stop or try to break (as far as I could determine) and it impacted with the side of my velomobile at a narrow angle, a little behind the left front-wheel opening.
It was mostly a scrape but the impact was violent enough to be heard inside the cabin of the van that was driving behind it. And he had music on!
I cursed loudly at the white van but it drove on as if nothing had just happened. Fucking asshole!!
I was not wearing my prescription glasses so I did not manage to read the licence plate of the van. Nor did the driver of the van behind him see it.
He was kind enough to pull over and check whether I was OK as I took a moment to stop and recover from the shock and anger.
After a cursory check on the velomobile, I did not find any serious damage and continued on to work.
I did some more checking during my lunch break but still found no serious damage. There are some superficial scrapes but nothing that needs immediate attention.
Some people seriously deserve to have their driver's license revoked.