I think everyone has an opinion about bikes on the road, and some bike couriers or irresponsible riders and their shenanigans can make it hard to win over the hearts of drivers - but those in automobiles need to remember that they wield the power to kill. Being aggressive or disregarding a bicycles right to its place as a vehicle of the road while driving can be like waving a loaded gun around a room while complaining about unarmed bystanders. The bystanders arent threatening your life. This young woman was killed almost exactly where, fifteen years ago a taxi ran me off the road and onto the streetcar tracks (they subsequently built a raised curb and guard rails there on Spadina approaching College) and into the oncoming path of a streetcar. The 100,000 pound streetcar hit me, gobbled up my bike, turning it into a ball of metal and sending me flying eight feet in the air, only to land on my head and break my neck. While various bodily liquids oozed from my ears and nose and paramedics rushed to get me on a gurney and into the ambulaance, the TTC official on the scene shooed away witnesses who tried to complain about both the taxi and the streetcar drivers high speeds and dangerous driving with the flippant declaration, Call 1-800-TTC-Gives-a-F%(k. Then, while lying on a table getting a CT-scan the police officer from the accident wrote me a ticket for turning without a signal. (To put any potential case I might have on the defensive and protect the TTC) Later in court, the TTC sent a driver who hadnt even been there as their witness, and he went on to witlessly describe me and the scene incorrectly (with absurdly wrong details about what I was wearing, which direction the vehicles were going and so on). Of course the TTC won the case, but what surprised me most of all was why. The judge determined, As a vehicle of the road (even on a bike) Nathon should have been taking up an entire lane, not bicycling with enough room for cars to pass him by. He thereby didnt follow the law of using an entire lane and created an unsafe situation for himself and other vehicles. The judge had mercy though, when he saw fit to reduce my fine to $0 (but let the ticket stand). I would be remiss if I didnt mention the nice new $350 bike I got for signing away my right to sue in perpetuity to a nice TTC insurance claim adjuster (who asked if his son could intern at my company) who came by and sweetly talked me into it. Im bitter and it was an important lesson. But today reading about Carlas death it seems trivial. As my 40th birthday approaches, I am filled with sadness for her and gratefulness that I am still here. Obviously not everyone is so lucky and so I send my heartfelt condolences to her friends and family (my eyes are full of tears as I write this). If youre a friend and would ever think of giving me a birthday present under any circumstances, this year for my 40th I ask everyone to give the gift of thinking twice about any assumptions or convictions you have about cyclists on the road and pay extra attention in every way - think of those riders as friends, brothers, sisters and children. And always remember that when you are behind the wheel you are the one with a loaded gun in your hand and you should act like it, no matter how that other unarmed person may or may not behave or what rules you think they may or may not be following. For my 40th, please remember Carla when youre driving.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 03:34:33 +0000