I live in Exeter, NH, and work in Acton, MA, 53 miles away.
I did it by bicycle yesterday, May 20, and on the return trip home, it happened.
Here is how it went down, as best that I can remember.
Coming down a slight hill on 125N in North Andover around 5pm, picture lotsa cars as there are stores all along this section, a champagne colored Lexus SUV coming from the opposite direction starts to pull in front of me as I'm doing about 28mph, I grab the brakes and the woman driving sees me at the last second and stops in the middle of the road, I coast by. Whew!!
45 seconds later, I'm now doing about 24mph, de ja vu, I see a woman with no blinker on, in the opposite lane, in a black Lincoln Continental start turning to go into a Bank, the entrance is about 25 feet in front of me, she isn't looking at me, just the entrance, I grab the brakes,
Yell "HEY!!!!!!!", and the speed along with the sand on the side of the road send the back tire sliding underneath me to the right, I unclip, put my left foot down and slide into the side of the car. Boom!
I don't know how I stayed upright, but my left shoulder ended up hockey checking her passenger side pillar.
I move away from the car which has now stopped and start cursing like I was back in the Navy, looking the bike over, as nothing hurts on me, adrenaline is pumping, start thinking about my two kids, and thankful that I'm not hurt.
The bars and the fork are going in the opposite direction, the elderly woman, about 5 ft, 90pounds, gets out and says "What happend?", "Why did you hit my car?"
I want to start blasting this woman with every derogatory remark I can think of, instead, I say "You hit me."
"I was coming down the road and you turned right into me."
Her"I looked and I didn't see any cars, you must've been going fast."
"I was going about 25."
"Well are you OK?" There is a change in her voice, from defensive to caring.
"I think so, my bike looks OK." I spin the front wheel, it is still true.
I'm shaking my head, and she looks at her car, there is a large scratch on her quarter panel, and a couple of dents there and on the front door as well.
I'm thinking that is going to cost alot to repair, probably on fixed income, start thinking about my grandmother...who is just as capable as making a dumb mistake like this. She didn't mean to do this.
She says"I'm sorry, are you sure you are OK?"
"Yeah, I'm OK, just watch out for people on bike please!"
"OK"
She gets back in her car and parks......I'm done talking with her.
From the time I yelled HEY, a fellow bicyclist saw the whole thing, comes over to me and asks if the wheels are true.
I discover that my back tire has a bald spot all the way down to the tube. He offers to take me to a local shop to get a new tire.
I throw the bike in his van, and we go to a shop in Andover, get a new tire put on, and it turns out this guy is headed up to Maine to work on a cottage he has up there.
So he give me a ride to the first exit in NH on 95 and I ride home from there. Along the ride I'm running the whole incident in my head, could I have done something different? Should I have gotten all her information? Got the police involved? I felt I did the right thing, I wasn't hurt, my bike was fine, her car would need some work. I asked the guy what he would have done as we sit in the Friday afternoon 495 traffic headed north.
He agrees, it was the right thing to do, just walk away, for the same reasons as above.
Big thanks to Charlie at the bike shop in Andover, and especially to David M(?) of Andover for the much needed help.
Needless to say, I don't know when I'll do the 53 mile commute to Acton again.
-Dan
