The saying is that people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. I had that witticism reiterated for me during my first day back in Vancouver last Friday.  While executing a turn in my beloved, yet dodgy, Isuzu Rodeo a Honda Civic plowed into the Green Beast’s front passenger side corner.  My original blog for today was on how a number of local media not owning and putting right the crashing, dropping and otherwise damaging bikes on loan from dealers and pressfleets, in essence were spoiling it for the rest of us.  Oh, the irony of this minor prang’s timing.

The truth is I fell on the motorist’s most overused excuse, “I didn’t see her/him coming.”  It’s a well-worn refrain, but I truly didn’t.  A thousand things whirling in my head, tired to exhaustion from working two full time jobs (OneWheelDrive.Net and Mercurial Communications), I target fixated on a parking spot and didn’t see the black Civic coming my way.  This bugs the heck out of me because I know better, and more importantly I ride better than that.  On days where stress, fatigue or illness is getting me down I don’t ride because it affects my focus.  Would that all drivers, including myself, express the same sort of respect for vehicles.   While we’re at it just put the cell phones and text messages away, as an automotive Luddite I refuse to answer my phone or make calls on the road.

That there were no skid-marks or avoidance at all is telling.  Neither of us, in our isolated little worlds, was aware of the other, there was no avoidance.  I still for the life of me couldn’t tell you where she came from.  So I’ll be copping up the deductible, watching my insurance rates go up a whole dollar thanks to over 10 years of safe time on the roads, and paying for the repair of my Isuzu or to at least make it drivable – it was never a looker to begin with.  Still, I own the damage of my actions as I didn’t put collision on the $3500.00 truck preferring to play the odds, so regardless of outcome and blame I’ll pay up for the “drop” of the truck – strangely that was the point of my original post anyway.   Welcome to the bittersweet world of personal responsibility.