Wednesday, December 5, 2007

What to do if You are Hit by a Car While on the Bike

I saw this on a cycling blog I ran across here. And these are a few things they suggest we remember if this ever happens to us:

1. Call 911. If you are badly injured you should have someone else call if possible.
2. If there were witnesses ask them to stay. You should also take down their contact information if you or someone else can get it.
3. Get the license plate number of the vehicle. With the proliferation of camera phones it would be even better if you could take a picture of it.
4. Get the driver’s information. Hopefully they won’t drive off from the scene.
5. Take pictures of the scene from different angles if you can. The key here is to document as many aspects of what happened as possible. If you or a bystander don’t have a camera or camera phone try to write some of the details down if you can.
6. Try to stay as calm as possible. If you can stay calm, you will remember the details better. You will be able to assist the injured if you were a bystander better if you do not panic.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

All well and good getting details. However, if the car has already accelerated away from the scene before you finish tumbling across the road it can be a bit difficult to identify them. Something I experienced a few years ago.

On a more positive note I have been in a position to offer myself as a witness to two cyclists hit by cars. It does make a big difference to the outcome if there is an idependent witness.

Rainmaker said...

Those are some good tips. I was reading Cycling magazine yesterday on a flight and they had a huge (way larger than normal) piece about a number of accidents out in the California Wine Country between Cyclists and cars. Very sad as none of the accidents were the cyclists fault and completely out of the blue. Nonetheless - it makes you think a bit about your patterns and trying to reduce that statistic just 1% - cause every percent helps.

Bradly Fletchall said...

Thanks for the link...

You really can't be too careful out there.

It really is bad when the car keeps driving. Hopefully thats when a quick thinking witness can get a plate number or at least a description of the car.