I was crossing a crosswalk early this morning on my way to the bus stop for work, while the walk sign was on, and the driver turned left onto a main road from a stop light and smashed into my left side. I was later told that I “flew up into the air”.
It was all very much a blur and I was pretty dizzy and out of it at first, but no head trauma. Some kind lady who said she was a nurse ran to help me up and to the side of the road, and the cops and ambulance came pretty fast (I think, at least).
I was taken to the hospital and was told that I fractured my humerus head (left shoulder). They told me I may not need surgery, but we’ll see what the orthopedic surgeon says during my follow-up appointment in a few days. Other than that, I just have a bunch of scrapes and bruises.
Overall, while I’m in quite a bit of pain, I’m grateful because it could’ve been way worse. My SO and parents are pushing to sue for pain/suffering, which I was hesitant to do until I read (online) that I wouldn’t be suing the person who hit me, but their insurance company), so I guess that’ll probably happen. They already found me a lawyer.
I truly have no ill-will toward that person because shit happens, it was dark, and they got out of the car immediately to call 911, so it’s not like they didn’t do what was right when it came down to it. I’m sure they’re traumatized, and that their insurance payment will go way up… which I feel a little bad about given the state of the US rn. But I guess I don’t have any control over that.
Honestly, while the whole thing was obviously pretty traumatic for me, too—and I keep replaying that moment in my head—I think I’d rather get hit by a car than hit someone with my car.
I was run over at 6 years old.
We didn’t sue.
Canada.
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Yeah but you probably weren’t looking at a few thousand dollars for shoulder surgery after the accident.
I feel for people in the US, getting hit by an unobservant driver could send you bankrupt if your medical expenses are bad enough.
driver turned left
A-Pillar Blindness.
It’s a common thing and more people need to be made aware of it. Glad you’re ok.
Definitely sue. You don’t know how this will affect you long term. Years from now, a pinched nerve can render your arm un-useable.
Huh. I didn’t know about a-pillar blindness. Definitely an important thing to know.
You’re right, I need to look out for future me even if I feel mostly ok now.
Get a lawyer. Don’t mention how “fine” or “okay” you might think you are. Suing the driver is going to potentially care for any future medical issues. And ideally their insurance will take the bigger hit. This is specifically the kind of time you need to sue.
I’m a bicycle rider who’s also learning to drive - the one thing I’ve found is that it’s very easy to end up hidden behind a driver’s A pillar.
In driving lessons I try to move around in the seat more to see around them, and when I’m riding my bicycle I try and position myself in areas where I can be easily seen, using lights whenever possible to additionally provide a reflection off the road in dark conditions.
Being hidden behind the pillar is really scary because you’re literally not seen at all
My car is really bad for that. I’ve almost missed seeing pedestrians several times. I agree with this post - you’ll likely have medical bills well beyond what they find immediately.
Edit to clarify and to say I’m really glad you’re okay.
my old car was bad for it too. I got into a habit of doing a “bob and weave” to look around the A Pillar while driving it.
I’m glad OP is okay.
Also if the walk sign was on and the driver turned left, they drove through a red light, so they’re absolutely at fault. I mean sue either way, as this commenter said, but they broke traffic rules and could have killed OP
No, walk signs are on in the same direction of travel.
The walk sign was on, but they also had a green light; that’s how most intersections work where I live, at least. I fucking WISH pedestrians got a light cycle to ourselves. Or at least a few seconds. 😫
But the driver still should have yielded to any pedestrians according to right-of-way laws.
I’ve had few occasions where the timing was just right and a car/pedestrian was perfectly hidden behind the a-pillar and then just appeared out of nowhere. There’s even a famous junction in the UK that’s known for being dangerous for this exact reason.
I have this on my very own street - there’s what I always think of as a T intersection at the end but in reality there is a small private road just a bit offset. There’s little enough traffic that I just never really noticed for years …. Until one day when I found myself turning into the intersection and another car magically appeared. Effing A pillar. No accident and we both handled it well, but it’s a shock when you realize you’ve had that kind of blindness on a road you drive every day
Thanks for posting that: I hadn’t seen that video before. I’m glad they changed that junction to make it safer.
As a driver you should lean left and right to check around the A pillar.
And even if you do these things are still bound to happen every now and then. Not a single human alive is capable of paying 100% attention to their surroundings 100% of the time.
And yet we trust almost all of them to operate a 2-ton machine on a daily basis here in the US.
Yeah. And also hate the people trying to solve this by introducing self driving vehicles. Go figure.
You can, but with how close the a-pillar is to your face relative to where other things are you can quite often have to move LARGE amounts to actually see shit
Luckily my current car has really good A-pillar visibility with where I normally put my head, but when I had to drive rentals for about a year when this car was in the shop I FEEQUENTLY had issues with shit being near impossible to see behind the massive bar they though was smart to put there.
Never had an issue because I was aware and careful, but if even someone who’s actively aware of it can have an issue then there’s a problem at the design level
As someone who has been with their family day and night for about a month due to health stuff, I definitely have emphaty with the indecision about the situation.
On the one hand, some types of accidents can happen to anyone due to common variables aligning together and it is natural to chalk it up to “shit happens”. Especially more so if the one causing the incident is as surprised about the incident and as cordial as possible afterwards.
On the other hand, even if you feel comparatively fine and seem to be on your way to rather quick and full recovery, you don’t know if this will cause later harm, sometimes statistically known to be low as doctors would say a couple percent chance or something like that, sometimes not even considered.
You should sue for compensation without waiting for the “if things gets worse” to come to pass. It will be too late if you wait. Most people would also argue that you should take this as a “never talk to cops” thing so it would be advisable against cordially letting the driver know that you intend to take precautions about future risks by aiming for compensation, considering that it will not impact the driver’s life nearly as it may impact yours on the worst case scenario. On this matter, you will have to trust your own judgement and the specific experience of lawyers, I’d say. Not fears of the bystanders that didn’t see the incident, attitude of the driver, or don’t have experience about how similar things turned out later.
Did you survive?
Reddit tier joke
I got knocked off my bike by a driver in 2016 and it was simultaneously among the worst and best things to ever happen to me. It was very stark how little influence I could exercise over the car. I mean, it weighs a lot, so of course, but I was quite suddenly confronted with it.
Very gruesome description so stop reading if you’ve not got the stomach:
I landed face-first and the brunt was taken by my front teeth. Imagine the bit where the gum ends as a fulcrum, and my bodyweight against the road surface pushing the bits of the tooth you normally see inwards, so the roots of my teeth tore through the bone and gum holding them in place and through my upper lip. I got whisked to A&E, stayed the night in hospital, couldn’t work for a few months, had to see a psychiatrist and a solicitor and all the rest, then I ended up getting a tidy sum for the trouble, wrenching me out of poverty with the same kind of alacrity my teeth had wrenched themselves out with, which felt indescribable.
Like you, I wasn’t at all spiteful towards the driver, because it was after all an accident, one that could’ve been prevented but fine, c’est la vie. The driver was a woman but the insurance policy was under a man’s name, and the story of what happened had changed between the accident itself and the insurance, so he’s a massive cunt anyway. Then someone from the insurance company was getting paid to make sure I’d be paid as little as possible, so whoever’s decided that’s a good job for someone to have is a massive cunt. Then the detective who was investigating laughed at me when I told him the road where a witness lived. “Do you expect me to go knocking on doors or something?” I said something like “isn’t that detective work?” I don’t have enough middle fingers for that cunt.
So I hope you get a little bit of solidarity from my anecdote and a nice windfall down the line.
It’s the responsibility of driving a car to make sure the space the car is going into is empty. They didn’t do that and caused you bodily harm. I got hit by a careless driver last year, and have successfully filed a personal injury claim and have pressed for a criminal case. Don’t give them the benefit of the doubt.
So you trying to ruin someone over this or what?
People need to learn that there are consequences to dangerous and irresponsible driving.
It’s not okay to hit someone with your car.
To be fair, hitting someone with your car can ruin them for life, too…
And the alternative is what, the dude gets away with it and kills someone next time? You used to justifying hitting people with your car or something? Let me guess, the way he was dressed meant he was “asking for it”
When it comes to deciding what to do, try to think about what advice you’d give a best friend in your situation and consider following that yourself. You can work with your lawyer to figure what’s reasonable to expect, but don’t feel bad about making sure any future treatment is covered. Be kind to yourself while you recover, and take medical advice seriously. As someone with a few traumatic head injuries, I’m glad to hear you won’t have to deal with that at least. Best wishes for your recovery.
You’re right; I can’t know how this will actually affect me in the future, so I should protect myself. Thank you for your advice!
How are you doing now, OP?
Thanks for asking! Right now I’m still just waiting around; I need surgery because of the nature of the break and its interference with my rotator cuff, but I need an MRI/follow-up before it can be scheduled. So it won’t be until at least the 23rd.
I had some deep-tissue bruises that hurt even more than my shoulder for a while, which made it hard to walk, but they finally mostly healed.
My shoulder isn’t too bad if I don’t move it, but it actually hurts a lot more than usual this morning. The doctor only gave me a few of the weakest non-OTC painkillers you can get, so I’ve had to ration them for when the pain is at its worst. So I’m relying on acetaminophen and ibuprofen, which doesn’t really cut it tbh.
“But you’re still coming to work, right?”
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I think I’d rather get hit by a car than hit someone with my car.
Banger.
Hardly know her!
Obligatory /c/fuckcars
Glad you’re OK, but definitely get as much as you can from the insurance. Drivers are REQUIRED to pay them hundreds each month for this reason. So make them pay up now that they are needed.
This is wholesome af. Get your bag and don’t sweat the insurance company.
Glad to hear the driver stopped. I hope your recovery is smooth and there are no long lasting problems.
My daughter was struck by a car last week, while on a pedestrian crossing. The driver (after being chased down by another teenager) stopped, talked to my daughter, and then drove off. She collapsed once the adrenaline wore off, and we spent the evening in the hospital while they checked her over.
Driver deserves a few slaps for stopping after being chased down, and then making the decision a second time to drive off instead of calling emergency services.
This terrifies me lol. My work is only a mile away, basically down the street but I hate walking there. I have to cross multiple busy roads that are like 40mph, but people frequently speed around 60mph. The pedestrian stop signals are super slow and the one time I used them it took 15 minutes, no shit, I timed it.
So I would have to jay walk, three 4 lane roads, all 40mph everyday, just to walk a mile to work.
There is a faster route but there’s no sidewalk, and there’s A bridge that forces you onto the road. Safe to say I don’t walk that either.
The walkability is so bad, you have to drive somewhere to walk and exercise.
I’ve had similarly unsafe commutes; it can definitely be scary. I expect to be even more afraid to cross the road now, even at crosswalks. Ugh, I hate how stupidly hostile streets can be for pedestrians.
Also a 15-minute wait for a walk signal is absurd!!! Wtf, it seems like the people who design cities/roadways hate pedestrians.
I don’t know if i’d rather be hit than hit someone, but not wanting to find out is definitely one of the reasons I don’t want a license.
I have a license, but my sense of direction is absolutely horrible and I tend do stupid things when I’m really stressed while driving, so I rely on public transport as much as possible.
