Same old, same old
Yesterday started as normal. I didn't expect to go flying.It was a wet ride for my bike ride home. Going west down New North Road I moved over and took the right-hand lane after Virginia Ave, in preparation for the lanes to split for Kingsland and Dominion Road. I waited until then as a car was turning right into Virginia Ave. I continue to follow New North Road and take the underpass and go through Kingsland on my way home. A van, with bull-bars, failed to yield and made a right-turn out of Porters Ave in front of me.
The combination of a bicycle and a wet day means poor breaking ability, which I tested out. I yelled out and swerved to no avail. I hit the front of the van and separated from my bike, flying through the air but not with the greatest of ease.
I don't remember hitting the ground. I landed out of the traffic, a lane-width away from where I hit, and a good car length in distance. My bike went the other way. I recall seeing the front wheel of my bike all broken when someone moved it off the road.
Many passers-by came to my assistance, including a doctor on a motorbike. One of the passers-by held an umbrella over us, a very bright rainbow coloured one. Another wrote down the vehicle and contact details. The driver's niece was there, giving all the details. Someone else took my bike to Corporate Collision Repairs in Porters Ave, just as a place to store it. From what I saw they couldn't do much for it.
I got my first ambulance ride as a patient. At Auckland Hospital I spent nearly seven hours of being probed, giving statement to police, x-rays (left knee and foot), blood tests, more tetanus shot, x-rays (chest), and an expert being called in with regard to the blood test results, I was finally discharged with a pair of crutches and instructions to return if things deteriorated, or if anything was a funny colour. It only hurts if I cough, or walk. David was a darling and made sure I got home, with prescriptions filled.
My insurance company is going to love me, claiming twice in one week. First a burglary and then a smashed bike. At least I won't have the excess to pay, the police will be charging the driver of the van. Pity the can't also charge the person who added the bull-bars to it. While our 20 sheep per person may be a hazard on our urban motorways, (I keep mine at a farm,*) they hardly warrant bull-bars. The police are due to contact me on Saturday to determine the extent of my injuries and to decide what to charge her with. I'm going to encourage them to charge her with the lesser of the two options. The driver didn't see me and didn't flee. With the rain visibility may not have been the best, but it's funny how cyclists seem to see all these things.
The accident spot is the place I considered to be my biggest risk on my commute.
*Just perpetuating the myth.
