Got Hit By A Car Today

The response you got from this incident does not surprise me at all after having lived in rural Appalachia for a year. People out there in the sticks are not used to seeing bikers/runners and think it's weird/it's kind of frowned upon. I had people release dogs on me during bike rides out there before, not even far from town. I also had an incident where I got heat exhaustion on a run out there on a country road and a lady inside a crappy trailer happened to notice me puking on the side of the road looking sick and came out and offered me a bottle of water which I was very grateful for. I'm glad you survived that incident relatively okay!

My older sister got hit while running in Cambridge. Four way intersection, two lanes in each direction. She was crossing on crosswalk when the car in the second/far lane ran the red light and hit her (he couldn't see her as there was a car stopped for the light in the first/near lane). She flew into intersection, landed, remained conscious but hurt. Needed an ambulance to get to the hospital. Got discharged that same day with major road burn and bruise on thigh and I think a shattered ankle (she was on crutches but no cast on foot).

Oh, and this happened the day before my wedding and she was my maid of honor. She managed to get through the wedding ceremony and reception on crutches and painkillers.

She sued the driver too.

She's fine now.

Yikes! Glad you're doing OK! I was in a similar situation a little over 4 years ago.

On October 13, 2019, I was going for a Sunday afternoon run around my neighborhood, and the sidewalk that I was running on was about to end. So, I had to get to the closest crosswalk (which is near a curve) to cross the street, and when I went to cross, I got broadsided by an SUV, fracturing my left hip. I had to be flown to a hospital a couple hours away to receive emergency surgery (steel plate and screws), and the driver's insurance wouldn't cover it (thankfully, mine did). I decided to be aggressive in my rehab and recovery, and I was back to normal that Christmas.

I've never been hit (knock on wood), but have come close. In my younger days, I would "jayrun" to avoid lights, but in some ways that was actually somehow safer because I wasn't dealing with 4-way traffic and could see what was coming. I never came close to getting hit.

Once I started being more responsible and actually stopping at lights/intersections was when I started to get close calls. It's almost always when I have a pedestrian light and there's a car turning right from my left side. They're supposed to yield, but never even think to look. They just see their green light and cruise through the turn. So now I wait a good 5-10 seconds first and see if I can make eye contact/be acknowledged by the driver first. 9/10 when I wait that 5 seconds, they never even see me and drive through.

Long story short, I'm now overly cautious of cars no matter how much my run gets interrupted. This means no workouts on the roads. I'll stick to bike path, track, or treadmill for those.

3/10 for generating genuine responses.

But if you got thrown 80ft you would be dead.

He probably meant to say 8ft and fish flop the rest like Chris Paul.

My grandfather used to say, "there is no point in being DEAD right."

Just wanted to point out that in both of these incidents, the people who actually lived in rural Appalachia came out of their homes to help. That would not happen in an urban area. The vehicle drivers were the ones who didn't stop or care, and they are likely using the rural roads as a playground and probably do not live there.

I don't live in the mountains or even in a rural area, but I just wanted to point that out. I have noticed on long runs and hikes in the NC and VA mountains that local people seem to be extremely helpful. I once came out of a trailhead in NC to find a lady in a flipped SUV on the side of a road. I tried to help, but could not get her out. I ran down to the closest house and three guys came back with me, all of whom were volunteer firefighters. We got her out safely and thankfully she was okay aside from being a bit shaken up.

Now, I will give you the dog thing... Burns me up. I got about 5 miles outside of Brevard one time and dogs just came out from everywhere. Man, that is scary.

My friend did this and she chased him with her car and then got out and threw a soda at him. It was an obese black woman, oh sorry I guess I shouldn’t assume its gender. Anyway don’t do this, because lots of people have guns on them.

The shame of it is the drivers probably never gave it another thought, or if they did, they would check to make sure no cameras/police/others were around, then sped off. Karma will get them.

The dogs--I'm wondering if pepper spray should be mandatory for runners. And so many owners have their dogs unleashed.

Even if she tried to run after him, she'd probably get a heart attack at some point...

I've never done this but how about this: smack the car and then immediately grab you knee, faking like you've been hit while jumping around. Shout out "I've got your license plate number".

You've got to think that the driver will be doing some big time regret/remorse for a while. And maybe it will teach them a lesson.

I think that's a pretty unfair assessment. The driver most likely left because if they do stop there's a higher chance they get held accountable and punished. People, anywhere, will often do something bad for self preservation. On the other hand, people, anywhere, will often do something good if there's little downside to them.

I was hit by a car once. I was biking on a small residential rode which was one way for cars but had a contraflow painted lane for bikes. At an intersection with another one way, a driver decided to ignore a stop sign, accelerating around the turn into me while looking the other way the whole time since there were no cars coming from my direction. I managed to brace my leg against the car a bit, so I got off with a pretty jolted leg and some scrapes on my face and hands.

The driver drove off, and some kids walking to school pulled me and the bike out of the road, while a lady came down from her balcony with a first aid kit to clean me up and see if I needed a ride to the hospital, which I luckily did not.

This was just outside downtown in a big city with a few million inhabitants. I imagine the reaction from all involved parties would have been similar in basically any area.

I was hit two years ago. I was crossing in a crosswalk and I saw the retiree community gate opening and a car approaching the stop sign. He stopped and waited at the stop sign for awhile so I proceeded into the crosswalk. I figured he was waiting for me but his windows were tinted. Just as I was in front of the middle of his car he slammed on the gas, hitting me in the butt/upper thigh. I did like a Heisman style pose mid-step to brace the impact. Tossed me slightly onto the hood and I bounced off onto the ground breaking my finger and giving me a nasty road rash. I ran a 2 mile race 3 days later and still PRed. I now have arthritis in that finger. This is what I use now as my icebreaker for work.

I didn't get hit but as I was crossing a road this morning a woman drove over a mini roundabout and cut in front of me. Bizzare driving.

Stay safe out there. I've had a few close calls including a school bus missing me by a hair when I was at practice in high school. When you are running, assume everyone on the road is a moron.

Hit by car 3 years ago. Will never be the same runner or human. And to add insult, still fighting their lawyers.