No skate, no die

Excellent.

I got hit by a car while on my skateboard tonight. No major injuries, small hematoma happening on my calf (yeah, ma, I am fine, really), not too bad. I came up to a stop sign 4 way intersection, saw a kid in a car coming out of the HS parking lot across from me. I rolled straight through the intersection, she rolled left and hit me. She clearly never saw me coming or when she turned. I saw her and avoided getting pummeled. HS kid was crying and upset. I was OK with a sore calf. She goes home, I get a ticket. Lovely.

If this happened on my bike I would have been apoplectic. But for some reason I am not as mad, but she just as easily could have hit me while I was running or walking or biking. If I had stopped, I would have had the right of way, and she still would have cut me off/hit me. Ah well, excuses excuses, it was pretty dumb on my part.

I am calm about it though. I think this is should have been a both get tickets or no one gets tickets. She obviously rolled through the stop sign and did not see me at all. I slowed down and then rolled through the stop sign as it looked like she was going to yield, but I mistook eye contact for actually seeing me. Crap. I turned hard and got off the board and almost made it scott free, she caught me on my calf just below and behing my knee, flipped me up on the hood and then off on the ground.

Concerened citizen called police and EMT, two fire trucks and three police cars showed up. EMT guys checked me out, police talked to me and then gave me a ticket for running a stop sign on a skate board, I wish I could scan the ticket and put it next to the "bicycle parking ticket" I got in Emeryville when I was a messenger, however my copy of the ticket is almost completely illegible. Court date with no preset fine.

Bah. I am pretty sure I would not have gotten hit on my bike, but it probably would have been close stop or no.

Lesson learned: Stop at stop signs (you idiot), do not trust damn kids or anyone else in cars, watch out at intersections.

Stupidly I know all these lessons well from years and years of urban cycling, but dammit I forgot to my detriment tonight.

The ultimate irony is that I was riding earlier with my friend Sheila who just got a new longboard and I was "teaching" her how to ride safely and comfortably. Even worse is that sheila happened upon the exciting 5 emergency vehicles post crash scene learning the "do as I say, not as I do" lesson quite well.

Crap crap crap.

Nothing a millionth time encore of the incredibles plus a few organic stouts and some icing (the elevate, ice, rest kind) can't fix.

I still can't get over how good the incredible's soundtrackis.

Well, to quote edna mode, "Luck favors the prepared". Careful out there all you human poweredinos.