Bicyclist survives 2 car-bike collisions within days

Nate Chambers bike was left broken down after he had a little run-in with a truck a few days ago.

He faces a few hundred dollars in repairs at a bike shop in Inver Grove Heights, but it's nothing compared to what he went through following a bike accident he was involved in last August in Minneapolis.

Biking without a helmet, Chambers took a spill so bad that he has no idea how he ended up in Regions Hospital.

"I don't know exactly what happened, the next thing I know I wake up in Regions Hospital with brain bleeding and three fractured bones in my face," Chambers says.

Suffice it to say Chambers wears a helmet now. He also says he rides more defensively these days.

But it didn't help him Monday, when, just days following the aforementioned collision with a truck, another vehicle struck him as he walked his second bike across a crosswalk.

That second collision left Chambers thinking it's probably time to remind drivers to please watch out for bikes, even if bicyclists aren't always blameless.

"I know there's a lot of jerk bicyclists out there that blow stop signs and run around too close to cars," he says.

Police say they see a pretty even split of who's at fault for car-bike collisions. MnDOT says their stats show the same thing.

Eighteen bikers died as a result of injuries sustained in car-bike collisions between 2011 and 2013, while 2,700 were injured.