Big Bike Crash

If you crashed over a speed bump, I'm guessing the posted speed limit on that road is fairly low. . . if you push it with the town, you're liable to get a speeding ticket or a reckless driving ticket. If I was them, that'd be my response to you.

If you're concerned about the bike, take it to your local mechanic and have him check it out.

I don't think I am going to get a speeding ticket. I don't think I was speeding. The claims investigator for the city already forwarded my complaint to the division that handles signage and road obstructions.

I am going to drop my bike off at my local bike mechanic's shop.

Hope you recover quickly. If no broken bones then I would play it by ear and listen to your body.

There is a spot where I live like that. It’s on the steepest decline in town. Speed limit is 30 mph but I would guess if you hit going over 15 mph, it would mess you up.

Thanks, Parkland!

1)You need to disuss this with your physician. Don't take medical advice from us yokals online. In fact, if you are pursuing legal action, documenting all of this is crucial.

2)Take your bike to a reputable mechanic. There is an unlikely..though possible chance that the welds could have partially failed in the impact. But to confirm wheels are true and plumb, and your frame is not damaged...do it the safe way. Also, keep all invoices and a record of your time and any other incidentals to do this work.

3)In Ontario, this rarely makes it to a court room, and is hashed out either with insurance, or resolved with the city beforehand. Its not common..but its not uncommon. Again, a different jurisdiction..but lawyers who specialized in "ambulance chasing" are becoming quite common. I'd ask your barrister about that.

Just a last minute thought. You may want to refrain from discussing this matter here. This information is in a public setting, and open to scrutiny by the city if they find it. Comments like pondering training in 48 hours wouldn't shine a favourable light for your legal action. ie. "How hurt could you actually be getting back at it in 2 days." Ensure you've seen a physician, and that you have significant documentation including photos of you, the injuries, the bike, the location, and any and all incidentals you've incurred as a result. Depending on a number of variables, the city if they believe they are wrong will just settle with you.

Good luck, and I hope you recover soon. Bike spills are never pleasant...

Thank you. I don't mind it being public, either, as I'm really not trying to get a big windfall from this. My chief objective is to get the city to clearly mark the hazard for the safety of other cyclists. Aside from that, I want recovery of my explicit costs - e.g. medical materials to dress my wounds (really expensive crap), damage to bike, other medical expenses as needed..

Unless a doctor tells me I have to stop training for a while, I'm not going to sacrifice my training or a life goal like this (my first 70.3 in September) in order to shoot for a richer settlement. If I can't do the event, i will ask to be reimbursed from my registration.

I found the City's own published guidelines for speed deterrence structures and there are so many clearly disregarded guidelines that I will be pretty surprised if the city doesn't admit fault and settle amicably. I'm not asking for anything unreasonable at all. The guidelines clearly state that speedbumps are not even allowed ANYWHERE - only speed tables (much flatter on top of the hump). So even if the thing was marked or there was signage, it would still be out of bounds.

The place where this occurs is a street descending towards one of Austin's most prominent roadways. There are lots of other similar descents to the same highway by other perpendicular roads. I drove a few of them today just to see what was in place. All of the speed reduction mechanisms were well-marked, speed tables, or even traffic circles. Plenty of signage.

It's egregious enough that it even made me wonder if some business or office developer in the immediate area went rogue and just installed the speed bump without even telling the city. If that ends up being the case, I will definitely lawyer up.

BTW, I'm just chuckling at my user name given this topic of discussion. I'm looking a lot like Slippin' Jimmy, LOL!

But I'm definitely not!

As suspected, the City did not install the speed bumps. It was an association of local commercial real estate owners. The City thankfully scraped the speed bumps and intends to fine the association for the illegal installation.

The guy from the city's legal office said he'd never seen anything like this where a group just decided to do that to public streets without any authorization or even an application.

My likelihood of recovering my costs just got a nice shot in the arm, I think.