You are a sick twisted individual.
I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
You definitely have a lot more restraint than I have. I’ve never been hit on my bicycle, which is just about as easy to get squished on by an SUV as a motorbike, but when I’ve come close to it, I’ve yelled at people. Some clown a few weeks ago nearly hit me, and without even thinking I screamed, “Watch it dickhead!” He responded with a confused shrug of the shoulders as if he didn’t realize that his dumb ass just pulled out of a parking space almost directly into me. So I stopped my bike, therefore blocking him, and asked, “Did you not see me?” Again, no words, just dumb ass gestures. “Well watch where you’re fucking going next time.”
Lords help me if someone had actually flung me off my bike. I’d have been pissed enough to hurt somebody. But enough about me. Glad you’re okay!
Well we can’t be having the government telling us what to do! We’re 'Merkins, and by Gosh, we have the freedom to be reckless assholes! Freedom! USA! Whoo!
Sorry to hear about the incident Flatlined - hope you are really ok!
It’s a state-by-state thing over here. I don’t know about anywhere else, but it’s definitely illegal all over the West Coast. However, (in the states I know, at least) the cops can’t pull you over for talking on a phone. They can merely pull you over for something else and give you an additional ticket for the phone. How often that happens depends entirely on how much the cop wants to give you the ticket; they can typically find a pretext to pull you over if they really want to.
This is why 3 years ago I stopped motorbiking.
Too many jackasses for who bikes possess, apparently, cloaking devices or are simply a chance to play chicken.
13 nice years and never a fall or crash.
A pity, though.
Sorry to hear this happened - sending out a wish for a speedy recovery (regardless of how minor the injuries.)
I am so glad you were not more seriously hurt, and I hope you feel better soon!
If you have uninsured/underinsured coverage, this would be the time to use that coverage if it will cover your paint job, helmet, and leathers.
FWIW, maybe her husband who’s going to be SO UPSET about the smart phone will also be SO UPSET about the (one hopes) jacked up insurance rates, and can yell at her a lot, at least enough to make her stop calling and driving.
I’m not sure that’s true in California. I agree it’s rare, but I did see a San Jose cop pull someone over for being on their cell once. Actually maybe he was pulled over for not listening since the cop asked him three times over the loudspeaker to hang it up.
I’ve since moved to a kind of small town and the first thing I noticed was a lack of cell rudeness. No cell yell on the bus or in the library or restaurants. I almost never see people doing that thing where they wander down the sidewalk without looking because they’re focused on their phone or holding up everybody at the register while they ignore the checker to finish their call. It’s really nice.
Holy crap flatlined! Seesh, I’m glad you’re OK. I’m too chicken to bike, myself, but come from a biking family that rides big-ass bikes (full-dress Goldwings). I was taught from before I could drive, to watch for bikes and give them wide berth and extra stopping space. Even with the extra gear, reflectors all over the place, they even pulled a trailer - still had too many close calls for my taste.
11-12 years ago, there was a bike vs van collision at the stoplight next to the coffee shop where I worked at the time. The biker flew into a brick pillar and his helmet wasn’t enough. Was the asshat in the van on his phone when he turned? Yes. Yes he was, indeed. I can’t imagine that call was worth the other guy’s life.
flatlined, I hope all you are is sore and you feel better soon. I’m with the others who are saying to sue her ass. I’m really surprised you didn’t manage to smack her with your helmet a few times before the authorities arrived! I’m not normally one to say sue, but she needs to be made an example of, and I hope everyone in similar situations does the same. I think the only way to make people pay attention is to hit them in the pocketbook and to make it hurt for as long as possible. It’s not until enough of them have learned that the rest will fall in line.
It would have been really nice if she had left the scene in handcuffs. Personally, I think while ticketing for cell phone use is at least a step, cell phone use resulting in damage to people and property should be higher on the criminal scale. I don’t like to call instances like that “accidents” because, the person wasn’t “accidentally” talking on the phone. It’s deliberately negligent and should be an arrestable offense. It’s really more like a DUI.
What everybody else said - I’m glad you’re ok and good luck in recovering everything you’re due.
About fifteen years ago, a coworker of mine was clipped in a similar situation - a car sideswiped him while he was waiting to turn left. The driver’s insurance company tried to get out of paying for repairs to the custom work on his bike and ended up delaying things pretty significantly. If I remember correctly (he’s since passed on, so I can’t ask him), he ended up recovering the daily rental cost of his bike for the time it took them to pony up for all the repairs.
Goddamn, Flatlined. As everyone else said–thank God you’re okay!
Cell phones suck in the car. Ugh. I cannot stand seeing people on them, and honestly hate to use mine for calls while driving my own car. I’ll never understand how other people can even text on them. Makes me jumpy as hell to to take my eyes and concentration off the road.
I always feel so scared for the motorcyclists I see, just because I’m not sure if other vehicles notice them. I try to give you guys as much room as possible, myself.
So don’t use your phone while you’re driving then. Or are your calls just too important?
Next time you talk to her insurance company, if they give you crap about the paint job or protective equipment remind them that without the protective equipment it could have been a fatal which would have been much more expensive. As far as the paint job goes, suggest they instruct their insured to hit only stock motorcycles in the future, but since she chose to hit your bike with a custom paint job they are on the hook.
Sucks to be them.
Thanks again, everyone. I appreciate you all recognizing my outrage. It helps validate my feelings.
I’m not really going to throw pachinco balls at people, that was my rage talking. I do have pachino balls in my vest pocket, I’ve never had to use them. When I get the random idiot who thinks its fun to mess with the bikerchick, I just pull over. Not only can I go faster than most cars…I can stop faster as well.
I also carry a gun and I didn’t shoot that stupid bint.
From what I’ve learned in my many, many gun safety classes…you are not allowed to shoot someone just because they are stupid.
I’ve heard about “ambulance chasers” but didn’t know that they were real until today. I got a call from a lawyer today, telling me bikers get shafted by insurance companies and he wanted to help me.
I kept his number.
I didn’t call Bill until I had gotten back home. He yelled at me. Bill has never yelled at me before. So, I got my sorry butt into the car and went to an Urgent Care clinic just so I could stick my tongue out at him. The doctor did xrays and gave me a script for Oxycodon. Which I won’t use, so I didn’t fill it. I’ve got some lighter stuff.
I’m really OK. Bruised and hurting, but I just don’t bounce as well as I used to. I’m mostly blue right now (and no…Bill hasn’t always wanted to fuck a smerf…that man is so mundane.), but I think that I’ll have many colors in a few days. (fucking a smerf is a reference to Christopher Moore’s funny books).
One of my friends is an estimator at an autobody shop. He pointed out a lot of cosmetic damage that I hadn’t noticed. The dude is good, he was able to tell the new damage from that time that I dropped my bike in my own driveway.
Maybe I shouldn’t be posting while on drugs, but I typed that all out, so I’m going to hit the submit reply button and hope that people understand.
Oh…funny…I bought my broken helmet about 4 years ago. AZ doesn’t have helmet laws and I’d been riding with a half helmet, but thought I should upgrade.
Full face, looks like something Darth Vader would wear. When Bill wanted to learn to ride, we went to the same place and bought him one. He fell over a couple of times and scuffed his helmet, so I took it back so I could show the clerk what I wanted. They gave me a discount because they wanted to put the helmet in their display cabinet. It has a sign saying something about how much it would have hurt the riders had it been their head hitting the road.
Today, I took my broken helmet to them (got discount, got a new helmet, happy) and asked if I could get a punch card…you know…buy 10 and get 1 free. The manager just happened to be listening and checked my history…then told me that if I survived 10 helmets, he would pay for the 11’th out of his paycheck.
So glad you weren’t hurt worse. We need cars that block cell phone signals or something.
People just will not stop it.
Bullshit.
Seriously now, and fuck me if I’ve missed it, but is this the end of it? She almost hit you, no one died, got new helmet, so the end? Part of me wants to join the Make Her Pay! crowd, but the other part realizes that if that were me, I’d be madder than hornets, but would be way too lazy to pursue it beyond the initial anger of calling her a cunt.
Get pics of all the bruises. They may come in handy.
“Ricki dont lose that number…” no, seriously- call him. Or cant you use $7000+ the satisfaction of knowing the stupid bint is going to get into deep trouble over this? That is $7000 over and above getting every nickel back.
ymmv, ianal.
I don’t know if stupid is the right word. The girl’s priorities are a little warped, shall we say.