Hit by a taxi

Alright, I had got a bike on April 7th and was loving the freedom of riding around. Riding in China is a little adventurous but none the less fun and practical. I beat my friends home from where I had purchased the bike by about 5 minutes while they were in a taxi paying Y10. I felt great about everything. I got my parking settled at the building I work at and it was very reasonable, about Y6 per month. So everything is wonderful, right?

Well as it turns out, maybe not. A few days after I bought the bike I was riding home from a club near my work. I left the club and hopped on the bike. I will spoil your surprise now by telling you I got a concussion and was not able to remember all the details but I headed down a fimiliar street in the oncomming bike lane. The area I work in doesn't have a proper crossing nearby so I was going to wing it until I was able to cross and get into the correct lane.

About 20 meters from where I could have crossed I hit a taxi (again, I can only guess at the details) who had his lights off.

I bounced off his hood well enough to warp it and cracked the windshield with the right side of my face.

The memorys I have are of another foreigner asking me if I wanted to call the police and talking some with my other foreiger friends. I was taken to a hospital and had a CT scan and nothing very alarming came up, really, I was lucky and I know that.

I took at few days off work of course and tried to reach a settlement with the cab company. As it turns out the only person who could pay was the cap driver himself (or maybe not as I think the cap company stood far more to loose in a real legal prosess, they may have paid it for him, they were present at all the proceedings which makes me suspect I could have got them for some kind of reasonable settlement). I was unable to properlly procescute those parties because of matters I wont get into here. Also the cops gave me a break on the BA test as they thought I was drinking and that was very nice, a little silver lining to the clouds.

On to the fallout, I had a ruined bike (which I was suposed to pay almost Y100 to get out of impound), I hadAttachment 3923 a wrecked eye (see pictures) and I was very upset about the pathetic amount of the offer. On their side they had a taxi without a windshield which Attachment 3924was impounded.

Now I've got a new bike and a new appreciation for security so I've got some horns ordered and I'll get a helmut and some lights forAttachment 3927 it. Attached are pictures of the old bike, pictures of the sceen and my new bike. I really would like to continue biking in China, as to me it's byAttachment 3926 far the most practical method but I've got a wake up call about the dangers present.

I will attach some pics I hope you all will find informative.Attachment 3925

I should upload pics before I write I guess because these are all out of order and in my text as I see.
One picture is me about 30 minutes after the wreck, the next is me the next day, the third is my bike new, the third is the windshield of the cab, the fourth shows how my bikes forks were bent.

Anyhow, I'm fine and hope to avoid anything like this in the future.

-Maux

Good you are pretty okay and nothing serious happened.

Ouch... that looks painful. I'm not sure I understand why the Taxi would have to pay, as you mention "not being in the proper bike lane" and coming from a club with the possibility of alcohol being involved (and you're a foreigner which always means you get to pay). Lights and a helmet definitely would have helped.

Glad that you were not hurt worse and thanks for reminding us of traffic dangers and the need to be diligent about safety on two wheels. Hope you and your bike are back on the road soon.

Cheers!
ChinaV

Ayyayyya... looks like you got a hangover after all. I think a helmet would help but not that much, considering you bounced off the bonnet. Thanks for the mugshot, a good reminder of the dangers involved.

Very surprising that you had to pay. I thought the Chinese law was that cars (motorists in general) have a bigger responsibility than pedestrians and cyclists. Also in your case, the taxi had his lights off, to save power probably! In practice, seems that the bigger responsibility is to who has deeper pockets. And CT scans are expensive, ~2000rmb I remember.. This angers me more than anything, the 'law' changes according to the police's mood. A black eye I could live with, but putting up with crap like this from the police I just makes my blood boil.

Looking back, seems cyclists are even more vulnerable than motorcyclists. When I ride my roadbike, I often weave in and out of the bike lane trying to pass other slower cyclists. I do have a helmet, but I don't always wear it. Just seems stupid that I do this on a bicycle, so thanks for the reminder of the risks I'm taking.

Glad to see you're back with a new bike and ready for the road again!

Good to hear your ok and back on the road.. i hit a car last week too, just a few cuts and grazes, but my bike went under his car and damaged his car pretty bad,
he was so shocked he forgot to ask for some money haha
I needed a new front wheel and saddle but jumped on my bike and rode off.. i've bought one of these on taobao
and will definatly slow down a bit in future!!

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=7173230689

rich:thumbsup:

Also glad to hear you're OK! Definitely wear a helmet!! The dangers are real on the roads, but as you note, the practicality and punctuality win out, and biking can't be beat. If this were any other China expat board besides a motorcycle site, you'd have people all over you saying don't ride motorcycles, not worth the risk, etc. etc.

The risks are real, and so the onus is on you to be a survival rider. In other words, honing motorcycle skills are of the utmost importance here, regardless of what the other guys in vehicles are doing.

The laws of traffic courtesy don't work here. Instead, we rely on the laws of physics.

The first tip is go at a slow and steady pace where possible, and don't make any sudden moves. Newton's 1st Law is applicable here, where objects move in a straight line at a constant speed. So keep a straight line where possible, avoid sudden swerves, quick turns, or other kinds of unpredictable accelerations. Also, the heavier trucks and buses have the right of way, by way of momentum principle.

Related to this, Newton's 2nd Law tells us it takes considerably less force and less time to stop the bike's momentum, as opposed to stopping a taxi or a bus. So the onus is on the motorcycle rider to react quickly and stop the bike if there are hazards. A quick stop is best done by looking at the mirrors first, and since you're not going all that fast to begin with, should have plenty of room.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve_R

If this were any other China expat board besides a motorcycle site, you'd have people all over you saying don't ride motorcycles, not worth the risk, etc. etc.

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So true! But not just expat boards.

Several years back, I showed up one day on a motorcycle at a Chinese university I had been involved with for a few years. The university administration was completely aghast, shocked and terrified! The Chinese admin even went as far as quickly contacting the back-home university I was tenured with:

1) "Does he have lots of medical insurance?"
2) "If he is killed, what should we do with his body?"
3) "How quickly could you send us a replacement prof? We don't want to cancel too many classes."

Fortunately, my own uni's admin was pretty cool and simply advised me to "keep the bike at home - outta sight, outta mind." My home uni didn't object to me riding, of course ... probably because it had been trying to find ways of reducing the number of tenured profs! :lol8:

Everyone told me to ride a road bike to classes, which I did, and which made me feel incredibly vulnerable.

LJH,

"1) "Does he have lots of medical insurance?"
2) "If he is killed, what should we do with his body?"
3) "How quickly could you send us a replacement prof? We don't want to cancel too many classes.""

That is so funny I almost fell out of my chair from laughing so much.

"Does he have lots of medical insurance?" LOL, for some reason if my school asked about that I would be a little worried/suspicious!

Well yeah I've been riding around more and no more to report. I've now got some horns (two nice loud ones) installed with buttons positioned right where my thumbs are while I'm casually holding the bars. In fact now that I say there is no more to report there has been a few incidents where a taxi was turning left and either didn't see me well enough or was just trying to cut it close but I've been a few feet from them more than once. I think in addition to the lights I need to get myself a helmet and a few flashing lights to attach to it, front and back. I've also seen some nice bright shirts with reflectors that would pop real good under headlights. The adage "First, be seen" is always good but I'm not sure if this would also result in target fixation with every car in the street aiming for me!

Speaking of "First, be seen" I have also been looking around for decent LED kits for a Chinese bike. Something brighter than incandescent bulbs would be nice. I haven't looked around too much yet, I take it most bikes have 12v systems?