I didn't mention it, but last August I got hit by a car while riding my bike. I was in terrific shape, biking all over Connecticut. Then one Saturday on a perfectly clear day this guy driving an F250 truck drives past me on the left on a two lane road and suddenly makes an abrupt turn to the right directly in front of me. I was on a downhill road going about 30mph. I slammed on my breaks and flew over the handlebars, slammed into the ground, rolled once, and cracked my head into the bumper of the truck, landed looking up at his muffle. I broke my wrist and messed up my shoulder pretty bad.
The guy driving the truck stopped for a moment as if knowing he did something wrong, then kept driving, leaving me on the ground in agony.
Fortunately, it was near a busy intersection and four witnesses came forward, called an ambulance and helped me out. A young girl about 21 actually went after the guy and stopped him a few blocks from the accident and told him she would tell the police that he left a hit and run accident. So he returned to the scene.
Two weeks after my accident, about 1 mile away on the same road a guy in his early 40's was killed by a motorist.
Please be careful of bicyclists! If I were President I would push for legislation to create bike paths across the country. In Germany they are all over the place and people use them. Take a small fraction of the highway bill and help our country become more energy independent and healthier by encouraging biking. We have a nation full of fat drivers and don't offer many safe alternatives.
It scares the heck out of me to let my kids bicycle a few miles from our house, because roads are thin, cars are wide and people drive like fools never thinking a bicyclist could be around a bend.
Be safe and watch out for bicyclists everyone! My wrist still aches!!
mike@finishedwithpublicservicemessage.com |
