Holy...

Well, due to some technical difficulties I've decided to change up the content for today's entry. See I saw an article on Wednesday about how the Department of Highways and Transportation or something (Basically the Federal branch of the DOT) was working out some sort of “500,000 mile bike route” across America. But since there's something going on with the Internet Voodoo Box I can't get online to pull down the details. So instead I'm going to tell you all about what I saw on my way home from work....

I was actually on my way over to a friends house as I was heading south on Cahuenga blvd. I was under the 134, just north of Riverside when I couldn't believe my eyes.

(I've made this childish sketch so you can see what I'm talking about)

I see this Black Cadillac Escalade or something brake all of a sudden as it was turning right off of the highway off ramp onto Cahuenga. I look and an can see a head, flailing arms and handle bars. I can also see sparks coming from under the SUV and I know already what's happened. The sparks tip me off that the bike is being dragged under the car, and I know that there's someone under there as well. I sped up to see if the guy was hurt. I was actually preparing myself for the worst, assuming that he was hurt, and I was just trying to see how badly. He looked to be pinned under the SUV. The girl jumped out, scared out of her mind. He was yelling for her to back the car up, so I assumed that his legs were pinned by the wheels. Fortunately he was just under the body of the car, and his bike had shielded him from being run over completely. I also think, that lucky for him, she wasn't going very fast when she hit him. She was very apologetic and was obviously shaken. She kept saying “we'll take care of this, let me give you my insurance info” and it was obvious to me that since he was up and moving, not crying in pain and in a generally good mood that she was ready to go. So I called 911. Then the AAA Locksmith guy who also stopped called 911. And it just so happened that a Motorcycle officer was pulling someone over so we had a pretty quick response. Now, I'm not going to make an agenda speech out of someones misfortune, but there was definitely some ignorance and negative attitudes towards cyclists at the scene.

The officer advised me to give both parties my info, so I did. I realized at that point, as both parties were giving info and the cops and firemen were investigating that both parties were at fault. The only way the bicyclist could have been where he was was if he was riding on the sidewalk, and in turn, riding against traffic through the intersection. That doesn't absolve the driver of responsibility though. When the girl jumped out of the car, It sounded like she was having a side conversation, and I wondered if she had been on the phone when the impact happened. She did have an ear piece so she was legal, however if she was talking she was still distracted. It really sucks to think that if this guy had just been following the rules of the road that this wouldn't have happened. He wouldn't have been there, at that moment in time, and she wouldn't have hit him.

I gave the guy my card, and told him to contact me if he needed to. I felt horrible driving away, knowing that this guys primary mode of transportation had just been completely destroyed, and this girl's car was just fine. Worse of it was that he was on his way to work, and he was probably going to be late, and he's probably got a family to feed. And what about her? She just gets to drive home, obviously shaken, but physically no worse off. I feel awful for that guy, just a dude and his bike, trying to make ends meet anyway he can. Sure they were both partly in the wrong, but look at who really truly lost in this situation.