I was riding up Manukau Rd, near Inverary Ave, heading towards the city. I came up to an intersection (where a fair amount of cars were waiting for a red light). If you know the piece of road I'm talking about, you know it's a two lane road, with parking allowed in the left lane, posted with a "Clearway between 4-6PM" signs, so you can park there outside of those hours. (These events transpired at around 3:06PM. I know the exact time because I checked my dash clock at the previous intersection).
There were cars parked all up in this left lane, and the cars in the right lane
of the road (the lane closest to the median) were stopped for the red lights. All cars were stationary. So I slowed to about 30 km/H, and changed lanes into the lane which had parked cars on it (While other cars can't use this lane, there is enough space for a bike to squeeze past). At this point, I was in the left lane on the road, and to my left were parked cars, and to my right where cars that were waiting for the lights to turn green. I made sure there was no one in the parked cars by looking through them, so there's no chance of someone pulling out without looking or opening their door, or anything like that.
And then, suddenly, WHAM!, I hit something, get shunted right, hit another car in the lane to my right (you should see the bruise on my ass, its enormous), and then supermanned off my bike, hit the ground and then somersaulted 3-4 times, came to rest about a fair few meters ahead of my bike, which was now in the left lane laying on its side. Helmet rooted, jacket and gloves sucuffed up also. Got blood on my jacket too. I had no idea what happened until I got up, regained my bearings and saw how my bike had bent the car door perpendicular to the body of the car - someone opened their door withot looking. Now my headlights are always on - you can't turn them off - when you turn the ignition on, the lights come on. Had this person checked their drivers side wing mirror when they opened their door, they would have seen me. I didn't even have time to get on the brakes. I didn't see this person inside the car as they must have been bent over getting something out of their glovebox, or something, because I didn't see them as I looked into the car to see if there was anyone inside.
My injures include
- Large bruise on right lower back / butt
- Lasseration on neck that missed carotid by 1 cm
- Hurt heel bone (can't walk on it, am limping)
A patient transfer ambulance happened to be going by at the time, who stopped and checked me out, and the ambo officer deemed that my injuries were serious (He was particularly worried there might be a glass shard inside of my neck wound which was bleeding quite profusely), so he called another ambulance which took me to Auckland Hospital Emergency Room. The wound was examined and the doctor found it had no glass shards or anything in it. It did require 3 stitches to close it up.
Got the cops involved, and they came to the ER and took my statement. I told them exactly what I have written above, and asked what was going to happen next, and was told "I need to wait for about a week before the police come back to me and let us know who's at fault".
Obviously I assumed I wasn't the one that was going to get nailed to the wall here, and was waiting for the cops to tell me this. Now the cops have just got back to me saying that I have been found at fault.. for... "Undertaking". And that I should be receiving the ticket shortly in the mail. I went and talked to one of the officers that originally took my statement, and he told me (paraphrased loosely) "splitting lanes is illegal, under all circumstances." Apparently, he asked his supervisor as well, and they confirmed that it was illegal. Even if cars are fully stationary.
HOWEVER, I wasn't splitting lanes, I was simply riding in a lane that had cars parked in it, and ALL CARS around me were stationary. No car was moving.
Here is the ultimate question: Was what I was doing wrong? Here is an image to help illustrate what I'm asking:
Bookmarks