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As the title mentioned, I was hit by a car shortly after arriving to key largo. I can nearly swear I saw a post about a month ago where someone outlined roughly the same series of events about how they got hit.
It was hot coming down route 1 so I pulled off at the first park I came to on the island for a bit of a siesta to rehydrate and hide from the most intense portion of the daylight. I hung there at the park for a few hours sprawled out on my folding sleep mat. After an hour or two, I pulled my sleeping bag to dry it out (after a night in the northern glades the bag was saturated and a bit soggy). It was shortly after I draped my bag on the bench, that several people with dogs started to walk over at various times, in a menacing fashion (wet dogs off leash, with no attempt to keep them from jumping on me or the stuff)… All part of hanging and sharing a park, but coincidentally felt like people had determined I was homeless and were actively trying to move me from my spot at that point.
I eventually left the park traveling on bike/walking path that was removed from the road. I was going slow down the path likely about 7-8 mph. Less than a mile from the park I entered an guarded crosswalk (white bars vertically edging the zebra stripes). I was about 7 ft into the cross walk when I saw the car coming toward the crosswalk. I hit my brakes instantly and slowed to about 2mph, but the car never braked, instead they swung wide into the opposite lane pulling in front of my bike before the moment of impact. I estimate they were going about 30-35 mph at the point of impact, as they were coming off a 45mph road with minimal, if any, braking.
I hit the front quarter panel of their car, bounced off 90 degrees and hit the ground. The panniers seemed to take quite a bit of the impact, but my helmeted head did strike the ground on the way down. As I am laying on the ground, trying to evaluate if I am actually hurt or not the driver (a lady roughly retirement age) jumps out of the car and starts yelling at me for not stopping for her and not looking. I pride myself in how safe I travel, I can assure all of you I looked upstream before crossing and did not see a car making any indication of making a turn. At this point, I am asking the lady to call the police/rescue squad to come and check things out. She refused saying it was my fault and she couldn't find her phone… So I flagged down some people just rolled up on the scene and asked them to call 911 to the scene.
The police arrived, i attempted to show them exactly what had happened, the speeds I was going. I got a brief explanation out before the medics took me away to get some vitals and give me some patches for the cuts on my shoulder. The police came back midway through the medic's check to inform me I was at fault for the accident and it would be a fine of $137 and 3 points added to my license if they were to file a police report. Stupidly or half concussed, I agreed to not have them write a report. After that everyone just left. I was left half concussed, bruised, and bloody onbe side of the road in key largo… I sat there for like 4 hours before I moved like 300 meters down the road and sat under a bridge for the remainder of the night.
The reason I am sharing this post, now that I had some time to reflect on it, I feel like there is a non-zero chance the lady intentionally hit me and the police covered for her.
I can almost swear I read a trip report of this exact same thing happening to someone else on key largo maybe a month previously and they made a post about it… I can't find that post anywhere though. Does anyone remember the post? The poster even mentioned that they felt they were mistaken and targeted as a homeless person moving onto the island.
Simple math would show, as I entered the crosswalk the car was still like 12 ft behind the intersection. I would have been hit on the front drivers side of the car had they stayed in their lane through the intersection. Something doesn't add up, does anyone else remember seeing the other post as well… I would love the opportunity to talk to that rider.
by Southern-Legal4790
4 Comments
Sadly FL is one of the worst places in the USA for car + bike accidents. That said, most data is incomplete or only looks at deaths. The actual numbers are no doubt much higher.
Be safe out there.
That stretch of Rt1 headed down the keys is the most dangerous road for bikes getting hit in the country.
Floridians have a reputation for being the worst people on the face of the earth, second only to people from NJ. To the Floridians, you deserved to get hurt because you were on a bike.
That’s so weird. Thanks for the tip, I will never visit Florida if I happen to visit the US after trump is dead.