Just a few days past a year ago I was hit by a teenage driver who was talking on a cell phone and
made a left turn into me as I was traveling through an intersection on my bike. A van passing me in
my line just at the intersection blocked her view and she didn't care to see that the right-of-way
was clear after the van passed. I sustained a broken hip, pelvis, ankle, compression fracture of the
spine and a major laceration on my left leg. I was hospitalized for 8 days and in rehab for months.
For about three days I was determined I'd never ride on the road again. After that, all I could
think about was getting back out there. I average around 250 miles per week on the bike and not
being out there made me feel like a caged animal. And the doctor had some interesting words. She
said I'd never have survived that wreck were it not for the incredible condition I was in thanks to
all that cycling.
So there you go. I'm electing to continue cycling as opposed to sitting on the sofa and letting my
arteries clog. I know there are other forms of exercise, but with my injuries, I can't run and that
rules many things out. By coincidence I was in the process of moving to a farm in a rural area when
I was hit. I've completed that move and I can now do a 50 mile ride and see maybe 10 cars, total ...
and none with cell phones!
Ride on!
Bob C.
"Walter" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi,
>
> I have just started cycling after many years of not. (since I was a kid).
>
> One of the main reasons I have avoided it was a lack of places to go, but I have now found a few
> places I really like.
>
> I try and avoid going near traffic whenever possible. I've driven automobiles for over 25 years in
> some of the worst traffic, in some of the worst cities in the world. I can honestly say, that with
> the exception of drivers in Rome, and Moscow, American drivers are the worst, and I am an
> American.
>
> We basically get our driver's licenses by passing a test that a chimpanzee could ace, and the main
> reason is that given the way our cities are laid out, if you don't drive you don't work.
>
> If someone commits vehicular homicide in the US, they will go to jail, but the day of their
> parole, they will be given a driver's license again, be it on a temporary and limited basis,
> because the judge knows its basically the only way for this person to earn a living.
>
> The plain and simple truth is that drivers don't pay attention to what they are doing, and the
> driving tests are reduced to the lowest common denominator.
>
> This is so Semi-Blind Senior Citizens, Childish Teenagers, Alcoholics, Drug Addicts, Deaf People,
> etc. can exercise their "right" to drive freely without restrictions. Nobody is going to tell
> them they can't drive, because they vote, just like we do and the politicians won't tighten up
> any laws that would anger their constituents, and potentially cause those politicians to lose
> their jobs.
>
> Since we have these people, along with the normal mix of low-grade morons, dim-bulbs, twits,
> dweebs, air-heads, and other brain-donors driving automobiles in America, people in other
> Automobiles are at significant risk of injury during the course of their lives.
>
> These people don't look for other cars on the road, not to mention bicycles and motorcycles.
>
> If you are old enough to have a little gray in your hair, I'm sure you can name at least one or
> two people you know personally who you have grown up with who has been killed on a motorcycle.
>
> Now lets talk bicycles, In my opinion bikes and cars don't mix. That's just the way things are.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I wish this wasn't the case, and I think we should all try to change things
> for the better. But I believe the best way to end up as "Road Pizza" is to have the attitude that
> you have as much right to ride on the road as an automobile, and you are going to exercise that
> right without regard to the reality that the most people who are zooming inches away from you
> aren't even conscience you exist.
