Now this wasn't just any bike accident. A bicyclist didn't run into another bicyclist. Or into a car. But into a person. Walking. And the bike pretty much ran over the gal.
He didn't slow down at all. Ran right into her like a ton of bricks. It was pretty crazy.
I ran to the victim, asked if she was ok. Her arm was pretty scratched up, bruised and bloody. Another woman ran to the scene as well. The gal was shaken, but totally tough. She laughed it off. I offered to walk her to the union building to get some bandages. We started walking. After a few blocks, she said she was fine, and went her merry way. What sort of blew my mind was that the bicyclist didn't say a word. Maybe he was in shock too? But he didn't say he was sorry. He didn't offer to help. And once we started walking away, I looked back, he was gone like the wind.
It certainly took my mind off of the pretty crumby day (mostly due to a poor attitude, which was largely due to my lack of quality sleep last night, which was completely due to the Red Sox) I'd been having. Well, at least I didn't get run over by a bicycle today.
I tried to find an image on Google Image to illustrate what a bike + pedestrian accident looks like, but apparently no one has ever photographed this.
I'd air my grievances on my blog, but before I'd even start, I'd have to preface them by saying these are developed country, middle class problems. That's what I have. And I know tomorrow I'll wake up on the right side of the bed.
In other news, yesterday morning I heard a couple of undergrads talking about grad students. One of them said, "They're really into the fact that they are grad students. Like, that's all they talk about." I laughed to myself because it reminded me of the grad school post on Stuff White People Like. One of the students did jump in and say, "Well, it is like their career, and school, and social life..." Which is sadly true.
Have I mentioned how excited I am to see the PhD Comics movie in November?
5 remarks:
This might just be my sick and twisted mind and sense of humor, but when I was a student at UCD, I used to chuckle when people fell off their bikes. Didn't laugh at collisions, but when people took the bike circles too fast or misjudged a curb, part of me lol'd.
Maybe you could draw a comic strip about the accident. I know of a law website that has two original comic strips about the Nevada Rule against Perpetuities (RAP). I think you can guess the hilarity of that blog about a RAP. Anyway - I could contact the artist of the Mary Worth comic to see if he/she would do some freelance work.
PS I am glad you were not the one of the ground.
PSS Emily got mowed over by a bicyclist on the way home from elementary school back in the day.
It's true. I was in a bike-pedestrian accident myself. Here's how it went down: I was walking home from school in probably 2nd grade, I saw the kid on the bike so I moved to the grass so he could pass, but he moved to the grass, so I moved back to the sidewalk, I kept switching back and forth from grass to sidewalk until I reached the corner. That's when he ran into me - hitting me into the street. I scraped up my arms and knees pretty bad and lost one of the jewels on my shirt. The shirt had a cat on it with little sparkly eyes. After the accident one of the sparkles was gone. As you can tell, I am still traumatized!
Yes, Nat, that is something good to remember. No matter how bad your day was - you weren't ran over by a bicycle! (Sorry, Em). Em, I have had similar experiences here at the U with trying to avoid bikes speeding towards me. What I usually end up doing is freezing and trying to make myself as thin as possible - like a toothpick - and allowing the bike to go around me. This has also happened with long boarders and skate boarders. I wonder what a long boarder / pedestrian accident would look like. . .
Sounds like a great plan Ali! Maybe we should produce some youtube safety videos.
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