Just had a bike wreck.

[dremd]

First off I'm ok, sore, a little scraped up (not even any Blood!) and not so happy, but Ok.

Secondly I took on a School Bus and lived to tell the tale.

Well here it goes, riding home today enjoying the nice weather and I noticed odd handling on the front of my Ebike, started playing around with it, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I decided to just ride it home and figure it out there, realized that I was going to have excess power when I got home so I went ahead and put some speed on (27~30 vs norm 24~25).
When I got about a 1/3 mile from home a school bus was oncoming, I saw a single flash of the yellow lights and knew that I would have a very difficult time stopping in time at the speed I was traveling, so I stood up on the pedals and went full throttle. The Bus driver didn't like that Idea and swerved in to my lane, (apparently not realizing that I was traveling over 30 mph). I knew at that point that I was going to hit something, jabbed on the brakes HARD and the front handling issue became very very bad, I leaned back as far as I could, keeping both tires as close as posable to locking up while trying to steer for the ditch with very little success. I went off pavement at the nose of the bus which was still in motion, the wheel dug in to the soft dirt, and I went flying through the air, landed about at the back of the bus (when it stopped). Stood right up, looked around to see if something else would hit me, saw the stop signs swing out (about 3 feet from the back one), checked my self for blood, non-functional limbs and called to police. I then got a speech from the driver about how I should always stop for school busses and about how they always have the right of way if the lights are flashing stop signs don't have to be out, )I'm rather certain that this is false information). Checked out bike to find a low front tire.



(above copy and pasted from report)

Few thoughts for Eco-Modder
1) 17" MacBook Pro is a trooper, survived in my back pack (I do keep it between 2 layers of stiff card board, and the pack is padded. And the WiFi works at the scene of the crash.
2) Police like to make you seem inconsequential when you are in a bike wreck with a bus full of kids (which I endangered.) But do come around when they realize what the driver did to you.
3) WEAR A HELMET even though my head didn't hit anything, just not worrying about it hitting anything while flying through the air is a huge help.
4) I may be driving exclusively for a few days.
5) I've got to go

[SVOboy]

Word! I'm glad you're okay man, sounds scary.

Helmet's saved my life once already, good advice,

[Peakster]

That was definitely going to ask if you had a helmet, and I'm happy that you had one on.

[BBsGarage]

I guess the bus driver REALLY wanted you to stop.
Glad to hear all is well.

[diesel_john]

I am hearing a bus load of kids caused road rage.
In Ohio the lights go yellow and then red. but the driver will not go to red if he or she thinks the other driver could have a problem stopping. Safety of the passengers is alway first, that driver would be fired in Ohio.

[MetroMPG]

The point you mention about not expecting a bicycle to be going near 30 mph is an interesting one.

One reason bennelson said he made his electric motorcycle is because, for safety reasons, he wanted more "road presense" than his e-bicycle gave him. He also mentioned that he didn't think people were expecting a bicycle to be moving fast (don't know if he had any incidents though).

Glad you're OK!

[dremd]

Thank you everyone.

Diesel John : Ours go red at the same time as the stop signs swing out. Our school bus drivers have some sort of job security that I as of yet don't understand. When I rode a school bus the driver was terrible, ran stop signs, got in 2 at fault wrecks while I was on the bus, etc etc. Well about 2 years ago it came out in the papers that he had had 3 DWI's (OWI) while driving a school bus, it took a vote of the school board to fire him.

Metro MPG: I am very aware of a bicycle not having road presence and that most people are not expecting me to be traveling at a high rate of speed; I'm reminded of it by some bonehead motorist virtually every time I ride. This is in fact my second accident as a result of vehicles not expecting me to be traveling so fast. The last one I was speeding through a school zone (4~5 over) a SUV passed me, saw a cop, noticed her speed and nailed the brakes, I rear ended her pretty hard.
However the advantage of the E-bike is that it can get away with riding in places that only bikes can ride (especially through crowds), and is exempt from registration/ insurance cost. It is all a trade off. I do have flashing lights front and rear, sometimes I wonder if that makes me look slower to motorist . . . .

I wish I could get my front disc brake back, the hub motor is to wide to clear it. I do wish that I had air in my front tire, would have hit at a slower speed, but no doubt I would have hit regardless of tire pressure.

Anybody think I should sue them?
I was thinking about asking for a few hundred dollars to cover time/ hurting/ Diesel I wouldn't have otherwise use (yes I do still hurt).
Any opinions?

[Lazarus]

I would look into insurance and registration. I don't know about your state but in mine if it can go over 20 mph( I think most can, they just don't inforce it) on it own power they could make you require it. Since your bike has a top speed well over 20 they might start working you over on that issue instead of dealing with a driver that has a problem.

I think at minimum a letter to the school district about the road rage issue should be done. That and the fact she did not render aid to you afterwards but was giving you a lecture instead of see if you were alright.

[dremd]

I do not have it handy, but in Louisiana the law is 25mph un-assisted or 50 cc max. I did the research when I built it several years ago.

Letter sounds like an idea at the moment. . .

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by dremd

I do have flashing lights front and rear, sometimes I wonder if that makes me look slower to motorist . . .

Do you use your front flasher during the day? It's something I'd consider, if my bike was fast (and if it's a bright enough one).