I haven't been on my bike since Monday. I've been on plenty of bikes, just not mine and not for a ride farther than "around the block" to make sure my tune-up shifts as well out of the stand as well as it did in. Rock climbing is an ass kicker and I've been so sore I could not have held my self in my drop bar position to even commute into work the last few days. That's kind of scary when your staring down the 200 mile barrel but whatever, it's all fun.
Anyways this is what I wanted to blog about... be careful in your car. Get off your phone, put your texting away and be mindful. Cyclists are normally amazing drivers in my opinion, we are used to knowing where drivers blind-spots are and better at staying out of them. People still ask me how I inherently know where the cars are and how many are behind me even when I have the old earbuds in while on the bike, skills you grow into I guess.
But as I was driving (gaspppp) into work yesterday on the highway I witnessed an old Honda veer across 4 lanes of traffic and slam into an SUV at around 65 mph. The SUV rolled several times and caught some serious airtime finally landing on it's roof. I was lucky enough to be the first at the scene and managed to get the rear passenger side door ripped off it's hinges and it's driver out with the help of 2 other businessmen.
The driver was a 17 year old kid, it must have been his parents car because it was a nice SUV. I went about the situation all wrong at first. I pulled up in the ol' Crown Vic screeching the tires and went running at the accident and the few people who were stopped parted and must have thought I knew what I was doing. I ripped the kid out of the car without checking for neck injuries and got him clear of the smoking car before I could get centered and go through the steps.
After I got the kid out and centered myself I realized that I needed to get the scene and the kid clear of the car. After I got him sat down and had a bystander call 911, we went through the motions. "What's your name, how old are you, what day is it...?" He seemed fine enough and was wearing his seatbelt so I found his phone on his person and told him to call his parents (with the discretion to not tell them that he flipped the car but was in an accident and needed them there).
At that point in time there were 15 or so people standing around doing nothing so I began delegating to them and left. I know it's shitty to leave as an accident witness but I don't want to talk to cops and I sure as hell don't want to be in an accident report, I've been there and they don't do anything but make a shitty situation more stressful. There were plenty of other drivers and bystanders who knew what transpired and someone else will tell the cops how it happened, that can be their moment in the sun/police report. I was just satisfied that no one died.
I was really shaken up about it all day. The first thing I did was call Neta and tell her how much I love her, I know that's cheesy as hell but it's true. Things like that make you remember the fragility of life on this planet and make you feel lucky that we are here to begin with.
So here's to making sure you tell your loved ones that you appreciate them, because events transpire fast. And it's not always in our control.
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