BIKE CRASH STORY

Today, as I was unlocking my bike in front of Trader Joe’s, I heard the sound of car meets guy on bike, and I looked up to see this guy sliding off the hood of the car that hit him.

To my relief, he picked up his bike and hobbled to the sidewalk. He looked to be around 30 years old, and I got to him just as he was saying to the driver who hit him, “I’m okay.”

Well the mother in me, which is just about all of me, planted myself there and as the driver left to call his insurance company, I mouthed to the biker, “Make sure you get his insurance info and phone number and all.” Then I asked if he had parents he could call for advice.

He nodded yes that he had parents and then . . .and please listen carefully to what he said, especially if you are one of my kids . . . he said, “But I can’t call them, they’d freak out.”

I am bursting to preach my reaction to this. But all I’ll say is: Hey kids, show some confidence in your parents to cope–even if they are worrywarts–when you find yourself in a pickle of any sort, just the way you want them to have confidence in your ability to handle it when they are in a pickle. And parents, vice versa.

If one more preach is more than you can bear, you might want to stop reading at this point. My one more preach is: Make sure you wear bicycle helmets (and ski helmets and seat belts and condoms). The driver today, simply turned his car and drove right into that young man. Which is why I support biking on the sidewalk rather than the street–as long as you can be sure to brake at driveways where someone can come shooting out, not expecting you to be there.

Questions and comments?