After my morning ride yesterday, I decided to cool down with a ride with the kids thru the neighborhood and over a easy little route to a QT to treat them to a Slushy. My son, 11, had lagged behind by a couple of houses as he struggled up a short but steep hill in the neighborhood. So, I was about 50 yds ahead of him when I heard what sounded like a car that runs over a curb, fiberglass rubbing on concrete. I looked over my shoulder and noticed a minivan stopped half in/half out of a driveway, and I noticed I didn’t see Evan at the top of the hill. That’s when I saw a man running across several yards to this driveway and I knew what had happened, it was just a question of how bad was it. The lady in the minivan had passed Evan at the top of the hill, and because he was going slow, never thought he would be anywhere near her. He must have made it down to her ‘blindspot’ and when she pulled into her driveway she hit him pretty hard. Evan didn’t know she lived there, no blinker, so he was braking down the hill, swerved away into the driveway, and took the nose of the Odyssey on his left rear. Knocked him several feet off the bike. Thank God he had his helmet on. Pretty bad road rash, bruised lumbar region, maybe sprained thumb. Obviously, keeping an eye on neuro symptoms, but looks like he’s ok. He hopped up pretty quick and tried to shake it off. He’s kind of proud of his war story. The lady driving the car was a wreck, this was a case of letting your guard down and not looking. An accident. She’s already called and checked on him, we might need to call and check on her.
Oh, yeah. Drove to QT and got the slushies, whatever size he wanted!
My son has a tendency to walk a few paces behind my daughter and me, so it has happened that a driver sees us cross the parking lot and then thinks that’s it and then starts to drive and then there pops out my son!
On the bike it’s even scarier and that’s my greatest fear so with my kids I always insist that we ride together and as fast as the slowest rider so there are no lone stragglers and I ride behind my kids and slightly to the left so that I can see what is in front of us, I’m a bigger object to be seen from behind and if we get hit from the behind I’m the one to get it.
I’m glad to hear he’s OK, and I hope he’s not too shell shocked to get back on and ride again!
I’ve adopted for years now the position kids in front, me riding behind. I feel safer as I can ‘remote control’ (i.e. shout) them if I see something happening in front of us. Also I feel that by riding just a little bit more in the middle of the road than them I force the cars to give more space. On the other hand, I’m further away from the front. Trade-off, but it always require more attention to ride with kids, but it’s the only way to teach them. I prefer they learn road safety with me than with their friends.
Thanks for the feedback. I certainly will be more disciplined as far as riding together in the future.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve almost been taken out by drivers PASSING right beside me (on my left), then turning right, immediately in front of me.
A good friend actually got run over by a beer truck doing exactly that to him. Completely shattered his carbon bike, and the rear wheel rolled over his hip & thigh, resulting in over 40 stitches (but miraculously, no broken bones). He’s fine now, thank goodness.
