Civic vs red light runner on a bicycle (everyone is ok!)

[Mae22]

I had an experience yesterday that I’d rather not have had. ?
I was approaching a red light. There was a car stopped at the red in the lanes to my right and left, but nobody in front of me in my lane. When I was 5 or 6 car lengths from the light, it turned green, so I began accelerating.
A guy on a bike decided to cross at that moment on the red. I couldn’t see him because of the car on my right that had just began to go. The cyclist popped out in front of me as I crossed the crosswalk, and despite me standing on the brakes and all emergency braking kicking in, there was no way for me to avoid hitting him.
He rolled up onto my windshield and fell off the drivers side. He immediately got up and started picking up his stuff. I got out and asked him if he was ok and told him I was calling 911. At that point, he took off.
Two good things happened for me here. The man that was to my left stayed on as a witness, and there was a local cop directly behind me when it all went down.
The cop chased the guy down and he ended up going to the hospital with non life threatening injuries. He has no phone and no permanent address and no insurance. ?
I was ruled 100% NOT at fault and they are still deciding what the guy on the bike will be charged with. I’m guessing hit and run at least and maybe a moving violation.
So now my poor beloved car is at the body shop awaiting the adjuster’s appraisal. Good thing is that it looks like all cosmetic damage and should be easily fixed.

 

[MarshX]

YIKES. As bad of an experience that was, it could’ve been waaay worse for either you or the cyclist. Glad everything came out okay on your behalf. Can’t say much for the other party but also do hope he learned something.

 

[kaputt]

Glad you're okay and that you didn't accidentally kill the guy. That would have been awful even though it would have been his fault.

Had something very similar happen to me a few months ago. Fork in the road with a three way stop. I'm am at the intersecting road that comes to an end at the intersection. To my right the road curves so you can't really see what's coming and it's downhill leading into the intersection (hence why there is a stop sign). No vehicles at the intersection when I come to it, so I do my full stop and then begin my left turn. As I'm in the middle of the intersection a road cyclist comes out of nowhere from my right, absolutely flying downhill and having completely blown the stop sign. I almost smash into him directly in his side.

Luckily miss him and then he has the nerve to turn around on his bike and gesture at me while yelling "F**** you!", as if it was my fault. Complete idiot and he's lucky he didn't die or get serious injuries and also be at fault for the accident.

I have respect for road cyclists but some of them truly think they own the road.

 

[Wickedsprint]

Cyclist guilting of running red light and leaving scene of crash with property damage.

 

[Mae22]

Anyone want to take a guess on what the damage estimate will be? Pretty much every part on the front end of the car was damaged - front lip, bumper, grille, hood, windshield, fog light, all of the sensors were knocked back, there's a big dent on the driver's side front quarter panel, and the driver's side mirror was ripped off. What do you all think?

 

['19Sport6Man]

Holy cow that's a LOT more damage than I would expect from a collision with a bicycle!

how fast were you going? how fast do you estimate he was going?

Was he a bigger guy? on a cheap/heavier bike?

Glad you're OK, and as stated, good thing you didn't kill the guy -as that would have made this alot more than just dealing with the inconvenience and cost of repairs.

 

[Mae22]

Holy cow that's a LOT more damage than I would expect from a collision with a bicycle!

how fast were you going? how fast do you estimate he was going?

Was he a bigger guy? on a cheap/heavier bike?

Glad you're OK, and as stated, good thing you didn't kill the guy -as that would have made this alot more than just dealing with the inconvenience and cost of repairs.

I estimate I was going 30-35mph at the moment he popped out in front of me directly in my path and I stood on my brakes, as I had been accelerating through the green light. He was moving pretty quickly as well, I don't think he even slowed down before pedaling out into the intersection (on a light that had been red on his side for at least 4-5 seconds at that point). Both the guy AND the bike came up onto my car, which probably added to the damage.

I didn't get a good look at him or the bike, but he seemed of average height and weight...I know he's 40 years old. By the time I got back into my car to call 911, he had already taken off down the street, fleeing the scene.

I will say, I'm incredibly impressed with my car. Like I said, I was going 30-35 in my estimate, approaching the green light, and with the combination of me stomping on my brake and the car's Honda Sensing emergency braking system, I don't think the nose of my car was even across the far line of the crosswalk when I came to a full stop. It stopped QUICK, and that's probably the difference between the guy having non-life threatening injuries, and possibly being killed.

Every time I close my eyes, I see, feel, and hear the impact of the guy coming up onto my car. It's going to take a long time to get over that, even though I know I was not at fault in any way.

 

[charleswrivers]

Anyone want to take a guess on what the damage estimate will be? Pretty much every part on the front end of the car was damaged - front lip, bumper, grille, hood, windshield, fog light, all of the sensors were knocked back, there's a big dent on the driver's side front quarter panel, and the driver's side mirror was ripped off. What do you all think?

Price is Right rules?

$5299.

Glad you’re ok and didn’t (hopefully) permanently injury the fella that was dumb enough to play chicken with 3000 lbs of rolling steel, aluminum and plastic

 

[Phy]

7k with windshield

 

[Bastrop]

Thought: the cyclist did it on purpose to scam you & took off cuz you were calling 911. No phone, address, insurance is a big red flag to me. I had that happen to me. Guy on small bike came outta nowhere & I hit him as I was taking off. Police officer happened by a few minutes later. She talked to the guy & all of a sudden he was OK. He took off in another direction going pretty fast. Had to wonder what he was up to, when I finally calmed down & thought about it. Scared the crap outta me.

 

[bugboy32337]

$5,975.33 ....

 

[charleswrivers]

I love it. ?

 

[Wickedsprint]

Anyone want to take a guess on what the damage estimate will be? Pretty much every part on the front end of the car was damaged - front lip, bumper, grille, hood, windshield, fog light, all of the sensors were knocked back, there's a big dent on the driver's side front quarter panel, and the driver's side mirror was ripped off. What do you all think?

$7500 easy.

 

[Mae22]

Thought: the cyclist did it on purpose to scam you & took off cuz you were calling 911. No phone, address, insurance is a big red flag to me. I had that happen to me. Guy on small bike came outta nowhere & I hit him as I was taking off. Police officer happened by a few minutes later. She talked to the guy & all of a sudden he was OK. He took off in another direction going pretty fast. Had to wonder what he was up to, when I finally calmed down & thought about it. Scared the crap outta me.

The thought crossed my mind, but I don't think it was intentional. I wasn't stopped at the intersection - I was approaching it. There were two other cars stopped at the red in the other two lanes. I don't think he knew I was coming in that empty lane, and even if he had, his chances of being killed by pedaling out in front of me at the speed I was traveling was too great for any attempt of a fraud claim. Maybe he was trying to get hit by the car that was just starting to take off, in the lane to the right of me...but he was still clearly crossing on a red light, and would have been at fault either way.

Also, he was also frantically picking up his stuff and getting ready to bolt before I even told him I was calling 911, although I didn't realize that at the time. My thought was that he probably has warrants and didn't want any face time with the cops.

 

[Mae22]

To throw my own hat into the ring, my own guess I made yesterday was $8000. We shall see!

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