Another rant about cyclists
 

I agree, it's the small number of bad ones that give the rest a bad name. Just like motorcyclists.

Anyhow, had one cruise through an intersection while I had a green, plowed into my door. Got some nice scrapes and dimples in the sheet metal. So, off to a body shop to get the damage assessed.

And yes, they were OK. They kept insisting they go about their way and I kept insisting on medical attention. As soon as they had my contact and insurance info, off they went. I hope they went and got checked out regardless.

Did you get their contact & insurance information? They are the one that caused damage to your vehicle by running a red light.

I guess he will get their info when they make a claim.

So if cyclists are not required to carry liability insurance, and they damage your vehicle, who pays for repairs?

I'm sorry to hear about that, Brando.

We're not all like that - I don't know anyone that I regularly ride with that wouldn't have taken responsibility for the damage to your car...

What a maroon.

When I'm on a bike, cars always get the right-of-way.

Even if I legally have it, it doesn't make sense-

Me plus bike, less than 250 lbs, vs. 4000lb car. Yup, car get to go first, every time!

Any time that gets brought up here, they usually say that their homeowners policy covers it, or they have some special rider to their auto policy, or whatever sounds good to shut you up. In the end, you'll probably just have to fix it yourself - yet another subsidy for their hobby.

Did you get them to admit on record, ie via smartphone, that they ran the light and smashed into you?

I once had someone back into my car, so to prevent any issues where it turned into a he said/she said kind of story, I recorded them admitting guilt.

Seems like the police just leave it up to the people to work it out in situations like this. When i was hit riding my bike the police didn't even show up, they told me to come in and file the report. When i did they told me they wouldn't do it and it was a private matter. Fortunately i had witnesses, gps data, and the driver, who was clearly at fault, cooperated so it was settled.

I dunno.

When I'm on my bike, I blow through stop signs. Because I'm morally superior. And then when I'm driving my car, I don't move over when bicyclists swerve out of the bike lanes. Because I'm morally superior. See how that works?

Spoke with insurance today. They are sending me a list of places to check out. My car's metallic so my concerns are 1. NO BONDO!!! 2. Quality spray to match the tone.

Any places y'all might be able to recommend in OC? I get to choose...

Worth the trip to the San Fernando Valley to see Mr. John Esposito. Trust me on this.

Back in the 70's when we started bike racing and eventually were riding 400+ miles a week I learned what some have already said.....the car will always win. I also had a copy of the CA bicycle laws I used to carry since it basically said the bike was supposed to adhere to all the laws of the road as a car was supposed to. The biggest one was "bikes stay to the extreme right unless a bike lane or you are going the same speed as the vehicles since after getting warmed up I could zip along the same speed as the traffic on regular streets. I was stopped several times by SDPD officers and they said I had to stay out of the traffic lanes until I showed them the copy I had?! They would also ask for my drivers license and I never carried it, only my military ID card and was ticketed once for not having a drivers license! I went to court and the judge threw it out and chewed out the officer for not knowing the rules of the road!

I was lucky I guess as I never got hit or hit a vehicle but I was with groups that would run through stop signs or red lights and those guys had several accidents where cars were hit. In all of those cases, the car's driver made the cyclist provide contact info so they would have to cover repairs. If I had been you, I would have gotten their contact info and put them on the spot for the repairs. I will be guessing that in a couple weeks you will be making a post about getting sued for their injuries and bike damages!

funny, people in cars do the same thing, run red lights.
had a lady in a car pull out in front of me while i was on my bike. i plowed into her. woke up in the ambulance....i was in a bike lane BTW, not someplace i would normally ride.
she bought me my 930.
had a guy in a pickup pull out in front of the group i was riding with. no other traffic, no reason not to wait. 3 went in the bed (with tools in the back), one into the door and one over the front hood. me? i managed to miss the tailgate that was down. pretty scary because of not knowing if he was going to stop, then i would have hit the tailgate.

maybe there needs to be a rant about drivers??

sorry to hear that. sounds like you will have an uninsured motorists claim.
been there done that. it did not turn out well for us. we had to fight our insurance company. (allstate, you know, the ones with their hands cupped and held out. well they pulled them back when they saw us coming).

i dont know why you put someone on a bicycle and all of a sudden they deserve less respect than a rapists or murderer.

Smart.

It's always better to choose the laws of physics before the laws of man.

San Diego Union Tribune recently posted a related article on cyclists vs. cars. Back in the '90s I used to ride 300-400 miles a week. The groups I rode with always obeyed the stop signs and traffic lights - even when we were 30+ riders. I think that was more the norm then with traditional cyclists. That all started to change when triathlons started to become really popular. Those riders tended to ignore traffic and rules and wanted to stay in their aero position as long as possible. We didn't ride with those clowns ;)

I have been hit by cars, while on my bicycle, three times, in total.
1 of them ran a red light. 1 of them ran a stop sign. 1 of them made a left turn (red light) onto a one way street
All three of the car drivers denied responsibility. Until the witnesses stepped forward.

I ride the local bike path most Sundays. The people tend to fall into two groups: those with all the equipment, wearing spandex with logos all over, who are openly hostile to everyone else; often ride in packs up to 3 abreast and yell at everyone else to get out of their way and ride single file.. I'm in the other camp: mountain bike; street clothes, riding with friends and keeping a moderate pace.

It may be universally true that when people do things in "packs" it changes behavior in a negative way.

1 driver took off, after hitting me. Buddy grabbed his plate number. The left hand turn guy.
1 driver stopped, admitted guilt, said he would replace the watch that was ripped off my arm. He still has my watch, AFAIK. The roll through the stop sign guy.
The third guy. I have a thread. He was a complete liar. Anything to protect the insurance discount. He almost killed me.

The article mentioned above was in today's paper and I found it humorous that the cycle activists all said the data was misleading or wrong or any number of other reasons?! I used to ride with either the LaJolla Cycling Club (defunct now) or the San Diego Bicycle Club and there was always a designated "leader" that controlled the ride and as noted you had better obey the signs and lights or you would be "uninvited" to the rides which was a sign you were not welcome around!

LaJolla used to be the worse place for cyclist getting tickets and they do give them out there for example Mark Gorski ran a stop sign while on a training ride the week before the 1984 olympics and it cost him. Also the famed 7-11 cycling team was stopped on a training ride and all but #1 rider ticketed for following too close going up Torrey Pines Hill at 30+ MPH!