So...I hit a car today.

Options
Literally.
I was running early this morning , around 5:30 am, on a sidewalk close to my house. I was wearing my headlamp, as well as reflective pants and jacket. There were streetlights as well. I was approaching an intersection and I saw a car approaching from my left, signalling a right hand turn. The driver pulled up almost to the intersection, slowed down, and I assumed that she had seen me and was stopping to let me pass in front of her. Just as I stepped onto the road she suddenly lurched forward to make her turn. I ran smack dab into her passenger-side front door. I scared the crap out of the girl, and hurt my wrist in the process She hadn't seen me at all. She had been looking to her left to see if any cars were coming, I guess, and didn't bother looking to her right.

It was my own fault, I guess, I was in a hurry to get home and get to work...I should have slowed down and made eye contact with the girl before trying to cross the intersection. The look on her face though kind of made it all worthwhile...I think she had just woken up and hadn't had her morning coffee yet. She was definitely awake after the incident though ! lol !

Has anyone else ever had any accidents or near misses with cars during their runs...or while cycling or rollerblading ?

Replies

  • CoraGregoryCPA
    CoraGregoryCPA Posts: 1,087 Member
    Options
    I'm sooo glad you are ok! Last summer, a kid was doing cross-country with his school and was struck by a car. He was crossing an intersection in daylight. Not a busy intersection either..sad.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    Options
    headlamp?
  • Scott613
    Scott613 Posts: 2,317 Member
    Options
    This is why I do not run. It's just too dangerous night or day!
  • stephaniev07
    stephaniev07 Posts: 59 Member
    Options
    lol at least yours wasn't really all your fault. One time I was doing my warm up walking at night and my mp3 player was messing up, so I was looking down at it messing with it, and I looked up just in time to miss a parked car. lol litteraly 2 seconds more and I would of been part of the tailgate of a toyota truck lol.
  • tmarie2715
    tmarie2715 Posts: 1,111 Member
    Options
    Oh, darn. I was hoping this was going to be a thread about how people are bad drivers. I was hoping to add my own terrible driving skills to the mix.

    Luckily I've never had run ins with cars! I know it happens a lot-- I used to run with a girl who'd been hit by cars THREE times!

    Hope your wrist mends soon. The good news is it is not a running-critical injury! :P
  • Skyoctober
    Skyoctober Posts: 71 Member
    Options
    Wow so sorry to hear about that...I hope you are ok. About two weeks ago I hit a teenager on a bike. I had the green light and he came out from in front of another car next to me...I didn't even see him until he was on the hood of my car. Luckily the light had just turned green so he wasn't hurt. I called the police just to make a report and he left the scene.
  • Skyoctober
    Skyoctober Posts: 71 Member
    Options
    Wow so sorry to hear about that...I hope you are ok. About two weeks ago I hit a teenager on a bike. I had the green light and he came out from in front of another car next to me...I didn't even see him until he was on the hood of my car. Luckily the light had just turned green so he wasn't hurt. I called the police just to make a report and he left the scene.
  • sjtreely
    sjtreely Posts: 1,014 Member
    Options
    My daughter was hit by a car during track practice in high school. Her story was the driver slowed down, saw she was there, and made a gesture of some kind to signal that she had seen her. My daughter then just assumed since there was some kind of eye contact she had the right-of-way so she continued to cross the street. She got hit and the driver left the scene. The coach was right behind her and she wasn't seriously hurt, but it scared the bageebers out of her, the coach, and me.

    It's usually not a good thing when the school calls and says, "The principal needs to speak with you." This is a school of 3000 kids. He gets on the line and says, "Shelli, Kelsey's was hit by a car during track practice . . . . . . but she's okay." Good God, by the time he said, "...but she's okay," my brain had her in an ambulance, intensive care, and half dead.

    I got to the school and put my arm around the principal and said, "Let me coach you on how to call parents. The FIRST thing you say is, your daughter is okay, but there was an accident during track practice. We'd like you to come to the school." GEESH .. this is a smart man, too. But really, what was he thinking? :smile:

    The off-campus running rules changed and students were no longer allowed to run off campus. I thought that was a bit extreme and shared my thoughts, but they felt otherwise. They must have gotten a little more relax on the rules - five years later and I now see kids running off campus.

    Never did find the driver.
  • bllowry
    bllowry Posts: 239 Member
    Options
    I had a driver make a right turn on red without stopping and nearly nailed me while I was on my bike; I saw him in my rear view mirror and stopped. He saw me and stopped too, and I yelled at him that if he hit me he'd wreck his car!
  • ceyuh
    ceyuh Posts: 34
    Options
    One evening I was running on the sidewalk, on Main Street, approaching an intersection in a crosswalk. I should point out that In our community, pedestrians in crosswalks have the right-of-way. About the time I got there, a Subaru approached Main Street from the side street. The Subaru's driver, checking traffic to his left and turning right, blew through the stop sign. As I bailed out, I involuntarily shouted "JESUS CHRIST!". The driver, a PRIEST from a local church, was mortified.

    Did I mention that I'm a police officer?

    In the Big Picture, I don't know if my "sin" of verbal expression was worse than his "sin" of running a stop sign and almost hitting me, but I considered us even and kept going.
  • pixydoodle
    Options
    I don't have my own story to add but this thread was a great read. i do all my working out indoors and running will never happen after 2 arthroscopies of my R knee, a partially torn ACL there and arthritis in both
  • DonPendergraft
    DonPendergraft Posts: 520 Member
    Options
    Glad you are OK! During full daylight, I running parallel to a busy road. I came to a side street that was perpendicular. A pickup pulled up the stop sign and put on his right blinker. As I'm running toward him, I see him checking the cell phone. Then I see him looking to the left, I decide to cross since I was right on him at this point. Mistake. He never bothered looking right. He just didn't want to pull in front of a car and only looked left. He lurched out and I ran right into his right front quarter panel. While doing so I slapped his hood pretty hard. I'm not proud of myself, and anger is no excuse, but I did give him a certain inappropriate salute and uttered some choice words. But I wasn't injured. Just mad that people could be so stupid. About 200 feet later, the same thing almost happened to me again. But I waited instead. Good thing too. See, I am teachable. :o)
  • lakersfan4life
    lakersfan4life Posts: 322 Member
    Options
    glad youre ok.

    now can u post a pic of you wearing said headlamp please?
  • atsteele
    atsteele Posts: 1,358 Member
    Options
    Literally.
    I was running early this morning , around 5:30 am, on a sidewalk close to my house. I was wearing my headlamp, as well as reflective pants and jacket. There were streetlights as well. I was approaching an intersection and I saw a car approaching from my left, signalling a right hand turn. The driver pulled up almost to the intersection, slowed down, and I assumed that she had seen me and was stopping to let me pass in front of her. Just as I stepped onto the road she suddenly lurched forward to make her turn. I ran smack dab into her passenger-side front door. I scared the crap out of the girl, and hurt my wrist in the process She hadn't seen me at all. She had been looking to her left to see if any cars were coming, I guess, and didn't bother looking to her right.

    It was my own fault, I guess, I was in a hurry to get home and get to work...I should have slowed down and made eye contact with the girl before trying to cross the intersection. The look on her face though kind of made it all worthwhile...I think she had just woken up and hadn't had her morning coffee yet. She was definitely awake after the incident though ! lol !

    Has anyone else ever had any accidents or near misses with cars during their runs...or while cycling or rollerblading ?

    I'm just glad to hear that you weren't seriously injured or dead!! Thanks be to God!!

    And yes, I have had people swirve across the street to scare me and all kinds of nonsense. My last near miss was an old guy who didn't really care if he hit me or not, but he was getting to where he had to go!! I felt his side rearview mirror swish past my arm. Next time I'm with my running buddies, I'm running closest to the curb!! LOL
  • atsteele
    atsteele Posts: 1,358 Member
    Options
    Glad you are OK! During full daylight, I running parallel to a busy road. I came to a side street that was perpendicular. A pickup pulled up the stop sign and put on his right blinker. As I'm running toward him, I see him checking the cell phone. Then I see him looking to the left, I decide to cross since I was right on him at this point. Mistake. He never bothered looking right. He just didn't want to pull in front of a car and only looked left. He lurched out and I ran right into his right front quarter panel. While doing so I slapped his hood pretty hard. I'm not proud of myself, and anger is no excuse, but I did give him a certain inappropriate salute and uttered some choice words. But I wasn't injured. Just mad that people could be so stupid. About 200 feet later, the same thing almost happened to me again. But I waited instead. Good thing too. See, I am teachable. :o)

    I always assume that people won't see me coming out of an intersection, particularly if they are turning right. They almost never look right.
  • KEShikes
    KEShikes Posts: 110
    Options
    I used to live in Philadelphia and mostly ran in the city at night, so I constantly dealt with intersections. One night, running with my not-yet husband, a car turned left on a red as we crossed the left side of the intersection. I slammed my hand on the hood and literally jumped onto it to avoid being hit. The driver (who was about 5' 0 ") jumped out of the car and grabbed my husband (who is 6' 7" and had nothing to do with the incident) around the neck. Being Philly, a small crowd gathered and jeered at the guy, who shamefully got back in the car and drove away. We ran home...
  • vaderandbill
    vaderandbill Posts: 1,063 Member
    Options
    Glad you weren't seriously hurt.

    When I was fifteen (26 years ago), I was running at dusk and crossing a street, in a crosswalk, and was hit. Just before contact I jumped just enough to get my feet off the ground. I landed on the hood and bounded up to the windshield. I still sport a dent in my shin though no breaks were found.
  • gashinshotan
    gashinshotan Posts: 753 Member
    Options
    I almost had a similar experience yesterday - the walking light turned on but so did the left signal light and the stupid driver didn't think I could walk fast enough so he turned and almost hit me because I was already past the middle of the intersection.... screeched his brakes and everything... PEDESTRIANS HAVE RIGHT OF WAY EVEN IF THEY WALK SLOW!
  • kelseyhere
    kelseyhere Posts: 1,123 Member
    Options
    Even if the driver makes eye contact with you, don't assume they will stop! Pedestrians are supposed to have the right-of-way yes, but the fact is cars are bigger and they can crush you.

    This is why if I'm going to run outside I try to stick to neighborhoods. If that's not an option most local high schools have good tracks and fields that you can run around and not have to worry about cars.

    One pet peeve of mine, DON'T WEAR YOUR I-POD WHEN YOU RUN!!!!!!!! I know music is really motivating, but it's sooo dangerous! I live near a college campus and always see students on bikes and on foot wearing headphones, totally oblivious to anything going on around them. If you get hit because you can't hear, that's your own fault in my opinion.