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Duke Breitenbach
Crash Recovery Begins at the Crash Site
In January 1999 I was hit by a tow truck on SR 25 just north of Clermont in Lake County. I was fortunate that my physical injuries were healed within a year; however, negotiating Florida’s legal system, has been a four-year process.
There were four in the group. We had just finished one of the “Mt. Dora” rides, but starting from the south end of the loop. We were returning to the motel on SR 25 after passing under the Sunshine State Parkway.
Although it is a busy highway, we had determined it was the only way back to the motel. There was a wide shoulder for about half the distance to the motel and then no shoulder for the last half-mile.
We had discussed the return and the need for extreme caution. We elected to stay separated by about a 100 ft to allow traffic to pass and were very conscious to stay on the 'fog line' when the shoulder ended.
The tow truck avoided the last rider, just barely missed my wife, continued to drift right and collided with me from the rear.
I was catapulted into the air and fell back into the lane of traffic, none of which I remember.
As you can imagine, there was a lot of confusion at the scene of the crash. Since I was unconscious, my wife had no idea whether I was dead, paralyzed, or alive.
In a matter of a few seconds my helmet saved my life twice: first as I was ejected upward through the truck’s rearview mirror and second as my head hit the pavement. I’ve kept it as a vivid reminder of why everyone should wear his or her helmet.
Lesson 1 – Wear your helmet.
Crash site issues
Since my wife was behind me and witnessed the entire incident, she was quite distraught and totally occupied with my condition.
The other riders arrived at the scene and were involved with the mechanics of “picking up the pieces”— bike remains, shoes, orthotics and glasses—and getting them transported to the motel once it was determined that I was regaining consciousness and could move my limbs.
Stopped motorists using their cell phones made numerous calls to 911. Evidently the dispatcher believed he had numerous cyclists down from all the calls.
Lesson 2 – If you have a cell phone, carry it with you for emergency use.
Lesson 3 – Provide first-aid as appropriate.
The truck driver did pull over and stop . I was told sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene but took no active role since that highway was not in their jurisdiction.
At least one lady, a nurse, stopped to provide assistance before the medical team arrived.
My wife and the other riders remember her stating that it was clearly the truck driver who had drifted right and run into me.
But in the confusion no one remembered to get her name, address or phone number.
No one recorded the names of the responding sheriff deputies either, which may have been important, since we believe they were there when the nurse made her statement regarding probable fault.
Lesson 4 – Someone must have the presence of mind to obtain identification and contact information of all persons that were at the crash site.
Lesson 5 – Do NOT rely on the law enforcement officials to obtain all the crash site information, especially witnesses information.
Lesson 6 – Start your own documentation process immediately; write down everything even remotely related.
I regained consciousness just before being transported and do remember the lady in an aqua pants suit standing next to me, but saw no law enforcement personnel. Since there was concern regarding neck and back injuries, I was carefully put onto a stiff board and transported to the Clermont Hospital Emergency Room.
Law enforcement issues
One of the most aggravating issues related to the this crash was the attitude and performance of the “responsible”' law enforcement officer, a Florida State Highway Patrol Officer.
He was “late,” for whatever reason, in arriving at the crash site, coming on the scene only after I had been transported to the ER.
He talked to the truck driver and determined the condition of the bicycle and truck. He obtained the data he thought was required to fill out the short form crash report.
Our first and only encounter with the state trooper was in the emergency room. After obtaining some information from us he proceeded to give us a lecture composed of the following points:
- He had been a trooper for approximately 30 years.
- He did not like bicyclists.
- He did not like what bicyclists were doing to Lake County.
- He knew the driver of the truck.
- A jury, on a homicide charge, had recently acquitted the truck driver.
- He felt sorry for the truck driver since he had lost his good job and could only find employment driving a truck.
- There would be no citation issued since the truck driver stated I had pulled into him.
- My wife's description of the incident was not admissible since she was a biased witness.
- He did not interview the nurse/witness.
- He strongly encouraged us to not bicycle in Lake County again.
- We could file a civil suit
- He provided us with his phone number, which he never answered or returned calls
This encounter left us with a very poor opinion of this particular Florida state
trooper. It would appear he is/was just part of the “Good Old Boys” network.
After my recovery, I did a bit of investigating on my own, and at least satisfied my own curiosity. The trooper indeed has/had a reputation in Lake County for his attitude toward cyclists and was well-acquainted with the truck driver.
The crash report, generated by the Trooper, contained information favorable to the truck driver.
For example, the truck driver, when deposed during civil proceedings, stated he was looking in his left rearview mirror and going significantly faster than the speed recorded in the crash report.
I wrote a letter, to Governor Bush expressing my concern about the trooper's performance. It wound up at the Florida Bike-Pedestrian office in Tallahassee; they carry little or no weight on this type of issue.
Resending the letter directly to the Florida State Patrol colonel did produce a phone call to us from the trooper's supervisor.
I will not even repeat what we were told by him, but you can bet it was not supportive of our concerns.
The good news is that the new generation of local law enforcement in Lake County seems to be more accepting of bicyclists in the county.
I hope that attitude will eventually prevail with all Florida state troopers as well.
Lesson 7 – Beware, the law enforcement team may not be unbiased in their handling of a bicycle crash incident.
Retain all physical evidence from the crash site. In my case it included the remains of the bicycle, the damaged helmet, broken glasses, and damaged clothing. These are necessary to support your insurance claim or civil suit, should it go that far. More on this topic later.
Lesson 8 – Keep the damaged equipment and clothing.
Emergency Medical Care
The transport and medical attention at the emergency room was of good quality for this incident.
It is important that you get prompt quality medical attention. Due to the severity of this encounter, medical transport was obviously required. Fortunately for me, a few x-rays, stitches and cleaning of wounds was all that was required. I was issued a set of crutches, provided with a prescription for a pain medication, and sent on my way.
Lesson 9 – Get prompt quality medical care for all injuries.
Continue the documentation process as soon as you can. Record all of the issues you raised and that were treated. Do not hesitate to bring up possible injured areas.
Cyclists tend to be a macho group and like not to complain, but this is your time to try to identify any and all possible injuries.
However, how does one pay the bill? They do not let you go unless you have provided them insurance information. Not knowing about the Florida No Fault rule, I gave them my medical insurance card.
Wrong, they needed the automobile insurance information. It was just another aggravation getting this billing issue straightened out. There will be more on this insurance issue in another installment.
The Emergency Room care for this crash was good and we could guide the care process.
However, after a more recent self-induced crash, portions of the medical care process were poor. While not going into details, after many inquiries we found out that neither the hospital nor participating physicians were registered with the state medical society. One of the problems was obtaining the medical records.
Lesson 10 – If possible, check the accreditation of the hospital and physicians prior to having any significant procedures performed.
Lesson 11 – Medical Records are your property; sign a release for the desired records before discharge, and take them with you.
Get the picture? It is not a pleasant experience being involved in a bicycle crash from any perspective. During this very difficult time, however, regardless of severity someone really needs to pay attention to details and document them.
To this point you are pretty much at the mercy of the medical and law enforcement teams covering your crash. It gets much more complex from here and I will cover other related topics in the next issue.
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