Weird Day: The house is on the real estate market and I was hit riding my bike

[TexasTowelie]

We recently put the house of my deceased father on the real estate market because of the tension between my brother and I who live here. Our three sisters are married and live elsewhere. The "For Sale" went up in the front yard yesterday and an investor arranged for an appointment to show the house this afternoon. The property just got listed on the Internet today.

I left the house on my bike to eat at a local restaurant so that the house would be vacant. The realtor called after the appointment and said the buyer like the house and the backyard. As I left the establishment, I called my sister who lives in Houston to discuss the situation and relay the good news.

As I was leaving the restaurant I unlocked my bike and started riding home. As I looked to my left I saw a PT Cruiser heading in reverse gear towards me as it was backing away from the entrance/exit to the parking lot. I hadn't built up any speed so I tried to swerve to the right to avoid getting hit. I thought for a moment that I was going to avoid a collision because it looked like the vehicle paused, but I ended up being hit by the vehicle and it was probably going about 10 mph and I estimate that she backed the vehicle away from the entrance about 25 feet without looking behind her.

The driver didn't realize that she hit me and I believe there was a female passenger that heard me yell. The driver got out of the PT Cruiser and ran up to me to say she was sorry and apologized for hitting me. She asked me how I was while I was still on the ground and I told her that I didn't know yet, but I definitely felt the brunt of the impact and fell on my right side. My immediate instinct was to look at the license plate and burn it into my memory. Since I didn't have pen or paper, the next thing I thought about was getting my cell phone out to take a picture of the license plate.

I told the driver that I didn't know what injuries I might have sustained other than a couple of visible abrasions on my right knee and my left elbow so I asked to see her proof of insurance. The passenger fumbled through the glove box and pulled it out. I was still fiddling my phone to get it in camera mode because it was bright and I couldn't see the display. Anyway, I asked if I could take a photo of her proof of insurance and license plates in case I needed to contact her insurance company. She refused to let me actually see the card from a close enough distance to read any of the information and when I asked for the insurance carrier she only provided me with the name of her insurance agency--not the underwriter.

I could see that she was being evasive and she didn't offer to contact EMS or anything else so again I thought about getting her license plate information. As I moved to the back of the car, I still didn't have my cell phone in camera mode but I memorized her license plate number as she sped away from the scene. Although she stopped, I believe that under Texas law it qualifies as a hit-and-run since she provided no identifying information and didn't render aid.

I should of called 911 from the scene, but I was in a bit of shock and didn't want to forget the license plate number so I rode back home. I gave a police report and had EMS come out to check me out for documentation purposes.

I know that I also have some bruises and nerve twinges, particularly since my right forearm took the brunt of the fall and I broke that arm near the elbow a couple of years ago. My fingers are tightening up as I've been typing today's events.

FWIW, we received an offer from the investor that toured the property and it was a lowball offer which will be rejected and countered. Hopefully, we'll get a flurry of activity now that it is listed on the Internet since it appears to be a seller's market in the area and the Blue Bell creamery is expanding.

My apologies for the long-winded OP, but it was a weird day and DU has been my proxy family over the past couple of years.

[NYC_SKP]

1. I hope you wrote down the plate number and a description of accident and driver...

...and call the police non-emergency line to file a report.

And good luck with the house!

[TexasTowelie]

2. Yes, I wrote down all the info and completed a police report.

I went home and called the local PD and they dispatched an officer to take the report. I also gave a description of the driver (mid-20s female), vehicle and license plate number in the report along with the name of the insurance agency that was provided which is located in the next town down the rode about 30 miles from here. They should be able to trace the plates fairly easily.

The adrenalin is beginning to wind down since it's been about 6 hours and I'm beginning to ache. I may have overlooked the incident if the driver cooperated, but since she was so callous about the situation I'm hoping that she gets caught and a citation is issued. I'm fortunate to have escaped with abrasions and I'll probably have some bruises when I wake up tomorrow. If she was going any faster I probably would have ended up in the hospital with broken bones.

[heaven05]

9. Irresponsible people

I've noticed that a lot. People are backing out of parking lot spaces not even looking, just backing. Face forward, no right or left. I always bless my driver training instructor decades ago. His admonition> "Drive defensively, like the other person is going to do something stupid". Like, that person doesn't look like they're going to stop at that light and in the last couple of years that was the right call a few times. Slow down when coming to a green light intersection, assume nothing. Four way stop sign. Entering busy street. Look left, right then left again proceed on clear. These have helped me in 49 years of driving cars, eighteen wheelers and trucks of all sizes. One important one on trucks on expressways. Try to stay out from behind them on fast roads. They do shoot rocks out from tires. Truck tire flaps or not. If you're stuck behind one at speed make sure they have tire flaps and back way off(thanks texas-t). They do help some on the rock problem. Happy driving. Oh and yes, glad you are okay. Hope the pain goes away soon and you heal okay.

[TexasTowelie]

10. I definitely employed defensive driving techniques when I was driving a vehicle.

Whenever I am on a multi-lane road I made a point of not riding adjacent to trucks when I was passing them. I see so many people that start passing a truck and ride abreast of them in the next lane. Considering the number of LPG trucks and also the number of trucks that are improperly maintained, it is a disaster to do that--either stay behind those vehicles at a safe distance or be decisive once you commit to passing the vehicle and get it done quickly.

In the accident that occurred yesterday, the other driver approached the entrance/exit to a major street in town. I could understand if she put her vehicle in reverse if she thought that it was jutting out into the street and backed away a few feet. However, she went somewhere between 20 to 25 feet in reverse and apparently did not look behind her shoulder or use her rear view mirrors. If a vehicle was parked in the same location where I had locked up my bike, then started to back out of that spot then it would have resulted in a collision where both vehicles were damaged. Those parking spots were near the entrance of the establishment and I'm actually surprised that they were not designated as handicapped parking, but this town is so backwards that they never received that designation.

I don't how thoroughly the police will investigate this incident to try and locate the driver. If the driver had provided the basic information required by state law, then I would have written it off as bad luck. However, I believe this technically falls into the category of hit-and-run as well as failure to render aid so I hope that the police department is aggressive in their investigation to try and locate her. However, I suspect that nothing will actually happen and I won't learn the identity of the driver. I'm going to keep an eye on that location because the restaurant is actually in a strip mall with a few other businesses and she might actually be employed at one of those other shops.

I woke up today with only about 4 hours of sleep and I'm feeling pretty sore with soft tissue injuries in at least three areas where there are no abrasions. The abrasions will eventually heal, but I'm diabetic so it probably take a couple of weeks before I'm over it since once of the abrasions is on my right kneecap and I've already bumped it a couple times.

[heaven05]

11. Yep

diabetes can make it tough to heal sometimes. I am the same. Well you're still kicking, that's important. Keep pushing, damn the torpedoes!

[pinboy3niner]

3. She was probably stoned :)

Just kidding. I hope you're alright. Often we don't know how badly we're hurt until after the event.

In one accident I had, I didn't have to memorize the offender's plate. Driving down a main street, he suddenly reversed to see if the bar he'd just passed was still open. He not only backed into me, the rear end of his car rode up and over the front end of mine.

We got out of our cars and talked for only a moment before he ran back to his car and screeched away--leaving his rear licence plate behind... .

[TexasTowelie]

5. The funny thing is that I've laid off lately since my baggie runneth dry and I expect to have to

pass a screen to find employment. That's why there hasn't been any Friday Night Catnip threads in the Music Appreciation Group the last few weeks. However, I recently spotted some product recently and somehow had the willpower not to partake. It's tempting, but with all of the drama going on in my life it looks like I'll have to resort the Tylenol tonight.

[applegrove]

4. Better luck to you on all counts. Glad you are okay.

[TexasTowelie]

6. Thank you.

Hopefully nothing develops over night, but I definitely feel some tingling in my extremities. I guess getting run over is going to be another one of those experiences that I'll be adding to memoirs.

[Kennah]

7. Hope you're doing OK

I had an asshole start coming over into my lane a few weeks ago. Keep 4 red flashing lights on the rear of my bike, even during the day.

Because of that, I bought an Airzound airhorn. 115 decibels, but there's a dial that can adjust the sound level. Small air bottle can be refilled via a Schrader valve on the airhorn.

http://deltacycle.com/airzound-horn

[TexasTowelie]

8. I doubt it would have mattered if I had an airhorn or not.

The incident happened so fast that she probably would not have had time to hit the brakes anyway. Total negligence on her part for not watching what was happening while driving in reverse gear. I think that it was the passenger that heard me yell when I got hit; otherwise, she would have driven away blissfully ignorant of her actions.

Ouch--I just bumped the injured knee against my desk.

[Ilsa]

12. OMG! Are you okay?

Are you doing better today? I bet you are sore in places you didn't know could get sore!

Have you heard from the police about catching her yet?

Thanks for the heads-up. I hadn't been in the Lounge often yesterday.

Weird day indeed!

[TexasTowelie]

13. Yes--I ache but I'm okay. In addition to what I outlined in the OP the palms of both of my hands

feel a bit bruised and rashed in spots but fortunately I didn't break the skin in either place. I was very fortunate that my head didn't the pavement since I didn't have a bike helmet on either.

I don't expect to hear back from the PD until sometime next week.

I got another call at 2:00 from the realtor and there is another prospective buyer coming over at 3:30 so I had to get the bed made, vacuum a few spots and take the cat items outside. I'll be leaving at 3:15 to one of my places of refuge and there are light showers in the area so I might get a bit wet and that makes for slippery conditions on the bike. Fortunately, I clean up after myself so there wasn't much else I needed to do besides get myself ready.

The first offer for the property was way too low and everyone was in agreement to either offer a counter proposal or outright reject the offer. The creamery has just added about 50 employees so it is a fairly strong seller's market, particularly since there is very little housing stock in the low 100's. The house is listed as a 3/2, but technically it does qualify as a 4/2 since there is a small closet in the den area and it would be adequate for a baby or toddler. Considering that the sign just went out Thursday, I'm amazed that we are already on the second showing of the property.