Near miss at S Eads and S 26th Road, Arlington, Va

Some of y'all have heard a bit about this on Strava, thought I would fill people in (esp now that I have spoken to Mr Deming, Esq, and determined there seems to be too little $ at stake to sue)


Tuesday evening on the way home from work, I was riding SB in the Eads street bike lane, down in the residential portion where there bike lane is just a conventional striped lane. With right of way.

An SUV (Nissan infiniti) , eastbound on 26th, was stopped at the N-S crosswalk, letting some kids pass - she then began to turn right onto SB Eads just as I was passing. I instinctively slammed on my brakes and went over the handlebars.

Her SUV was stopped in the E-W crosswalk. Just outside the bike lane (she took a picture, I was going to, she backed out "to get out of the way" before I could take a pic)

I was able to walk with some discomfort, fair amount of pain in my right thigh if I put any weight on my right leg. I told her I had not been hit, but had fallen due to her action, and was in pain. I insisted on calling 911 and having EMTs come and told her to wait. She indicated (I forget the exact words) that I was a jerk, since I was okay. "I am in pain!"

In giving 911 my location, I gave them the license plate # of her vehicle.

The EMTs arrived, checked I was generally okay, asked about the extent of pain. suggested I could go to a hospital if I wanted, but not necessary, bone certainly not broken. (I was and am pretty certain I did not head my head).


She asked the EMTs if she could leave, I did not have the presence of mind to note that we had not exchanged insurance info. She left. Police officer arrived shortly after, while EMTs still there.

We chatted, he said it would be hard to make a ticket stick, though he seemed broadly sympathetic. He said the info I gave was in the system and would be available to my lawyer if I wanted.

Made my way home by bus. Bike seems to be rideable, but the right bar end is bent (not the bar end itself, but its about 5 to 10 degree different angle than the left bar end)

At home I called the BlueCross nurseline, they thought I could get by with icepacks (on the sore thigh) and Tylenol, didn't need to see anyone for it. I did icepacks that night have been doing two Tylenol caplets a day, but none this AM.

Spoke with Deming yesterday, "not enough to be worth it, call me back if it gets worse - but hard to track someone down with just the license plate #"

Thigh is feeling steadily better, though it still hurts if I bend my knee sharply. Nice big nasty bruise. Have not ridden since that evening. I may wait till Tuesday (for coffee club).

I am still pissed. AFAICT the driver lives in the area, must know there is a bike lane there, should have been looking. She will likely get off scott free, other than the delay (which she resented).

Side note for Arlington folks (dasgeh especially)

Was it improper for the EMTs to respond that she could leave?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lordofthemark

Was it improper for the EMTs to respond that she could leave?

---

IMO, it would be improper for them to tell someone they couldn't leave.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mstone

IMO, it would be improper for them to tell someone they couldn't leave.

---

They truly don’t have any authority to require the driver to stay but I would’ve hoped that they would’ve at least tried to convince the driver to stay until PD arrived to “take a report.”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by kwarkentien

They truly don’t have any authority to require the driver to stay but I would’ve hoped that they would’ve at least tried to convince the driver to stay until PD arrived to “take a report.”

---

Even that is pretty deep into "not their job" territory. Lesson learned: take pictures of the car and the driver?

lordofthemark...damn. So sorry this happened. Heal up & get your groove back.

As to that motorist... :mad:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by lordofthemark

Was it improper for the EMTs to respond that she could leave?

---

The officer should have taken a report if you asked him to. Not clear from your post if you asked for that or if it was offered. This was clearly an incident with injury, so it's important that ACPD track these.

I believe the relevant Virginia Code on this is:

Quote:

---

§ 46.2-894. Duty of driver to stop, etc., in event of accident involving injury or death or damage to attended property; penalty.
The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident in which a person is killed or injured or in which an attended vehicle or other attended property is damaged shall immediately stop as close to the scene of the accident as possible without obstructing traffic, as provided in § 46.2-888, and report his name, address, driver's license number, and vehicle registration number forthwith to the State Police or local law-enforcement agency, to the person struck and injured if such person appears to be capable of understanding and retaining the information, or to the driver or some other occupant of the vehicle collided with or to the custodian of other damaged property. The driver shall also render reasonable assistance to any person injured in such accident, including taking such injured person to a physician, surgeon, or hospital if it is apparent that medical treatment is necessary or is requested by the injured person.

Where, because of injuries sustained in the accident, the driver is prevented from complying with the foregoing provisions of this section, the driver shall, as soon as reasonably possible, make the required report to the State Police or local law-enforcement agency and make a reasonable effort to locate the person struck, or the driver or some other occupant of the vehicle collided with, or the custodian of the damaged property, and report to such person or persons his name, address, driver's license number, and vehicle registration number.

Any person convicted of a violation of this section is guilty of (i) a Class 5 felony if the accident results in injury to or the death of any person, or if the accident results in more than $1000 of damage to property or (ii) a Class 1 misdemeanor if the accident results in damage of $1000 or less to property.

---

Sounds like the driver left before complying with the law. I don't know whether it's worth a call to the responding officer to point this out. As far as I know, the EMT is in no position to offer advice to anyone whether they need to stay or go for the purposes of the police reporting.

Is a driver legally considered to have been "involved" in a situation like this, when they did not experience any collision or injury themselves but committed actions that arguably contributed to or caused the incident?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by scoot

Is a driver legally considered to have been "involved" in a situation like this, when they did not experience any collision or injury themselves but committed actions that arguably contributed to or caused the incident?

---

If a car drove the wrong way down a highway and caused other vehicles to have collisions, but was not actually in a collision themselves, they should certainly be found liable as the negligent party.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by scoot

Is a driver legally considered to have been "involved" in a situation like this, when they did not experience any collision or injury themselves but committed actions that arguably contributed to or caused the incident?

---

Absolutely.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by zsionakides

If a car drove the wrong way down a highway and caused other vehicles to have collisions, but was not actually in a collision themselves, they should certainly be found liable as the negligent party.

---

Which isn't the same thing as "does the hit and run law apply". Note the language of the statute quoted talks about being "involved in an accident". What's the legal meaning of "accident" in this context? It's not in the definitions section, but later the section talks about "person struck and injured" or "vehicle collided with" or "other damaged property". It does not talk about "person who caused someone else to hurt themselves whilst trying to avoid a collision with the first person". If nobody was struck or collided with, does this statute apply? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯