Tuesday, June 23, 2009

SIX WEEKS....Can you believe it................

Well, it has been a long 6 weeks since the accident. I am officially out of the cast. Yeah. But in an air splint. I developed Blood Clots (or DVTs for my more weak stomach readers). I have 2 weeks in an air splint, some physical therapy, and 3 more months of taking blood thinners for the DVTs. Oh lucky me.
I am currently fighting with the insurance company. There is a biking rule that states you can not ride on the sidewalk in a business district. Well, in Anchorage we have business districts within residential districts or we have business districts where there is no shoulder and/or the speed limit is higher than regulated for a business district. So the insurance company is trying to pin fault on me. Those Fuckers!!!! Well I got clarification from the MOA. Read below.

Hi Julia, I am so sorry you were hurt, I do hope you are not badly injured and you and your bike are doing well in the recovery process.

I was just speaking with the MOA Traffic Engineer about this very matter this morning. He and I have both had calls recently from insurance companies concerning riding bicycles on sidewalks. I do not believe he has been contacted about your incident, the ones we knew of were on Bragaw, Dimond and Benson.

Title 9, the Municipal code is being changed to be clearer, but Business District is meant to be the Central Business District, which is the area downtown. The code was written many years ago when that was the only business district. It helps to understand the purpose of the law, it was made to reduce conflicts between bicyclists and pedestrians. The code goes on to state that the Municipal Traffic Engineer is authorized to erect signs on any sidewalk prohibiting riding of bicycles. Since this is not downtown and there are no signs, it is fine to ride there. Therefore it is perfectly legal for you to be bicycling on the sidewalk or pathway.

Here is a link to MOA code. Bicycles are 9.38

http://www.municode.com/resources/gateway.asp?pid=12717&sid=2

I know of no logic to absolve automobile drivers – vehicles always yield to peds and bicyclists.

You are welcome to use me as a reference, I would be happy to speak to anyone from your insurance company about this.
The bastards are still fighting me on this. The gal that wrote this email talked to my insurance company today and the feed back was this.
I had the feeling she was hoping to find a written code she would put in a file to really sew thongs up.

I am happy to help. I hope this gets you a brand new bike and you are healed well.


I am going to fight this even if I have to hire an attorney. I will keep everyone posted on the progress. I hope to get the $250 + in damage to my bike repaired soon and get on the horse again.

The MAN will not take me down.

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