Friday, September 29, 2006

When bicycles and cars collide...


See this picture? That's what Juan's car looks like after yesterday morning...when a bicyclist and I collided.

Here's the story:

My knee has been swollen for 3 months...it's now roughly the size of a softball. I had made an appointment with my old orthopedic surgeon to have it looked at finally. My appointment was at 8:45. Juan stayed home for the morning from work to watch Paul so I could go to my appointment.

So at 8:15 I went out to Juan's car, which was parked behind our camper in the driveway. I put it the car in reverse, look both ways to make sure it's clear, and back out slowly. I get about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way out of the driveway, and look again over my right shoulder and SLAM! - a bicycle and mans body hit the car about 1/2 way down the passenger side.

OH MY GOD! Did that just happen? I put the car in 1st, and pull it back in the driveway, get out and the guy is sitting on the curb across the street holding his jaw with his left hand, bleeding. His bike is in the middle of the street. I grab is bike and put it in our yard, and then run over to see how badly he's hurt. He says his chin is busted, and he's sure he's broken his right wrist. He asked me to get his cell phone to call his wife, so I search through the bags on his bike and find that, call his poor wife and tell her that we've had a collision. The bicyclist kept telling me that he was sorry, that it was his fault because he wasn't paying attention. He said that he was messing with a light on the back of his bike and wasn't looking up, otherwise he would have had time to stop.

In the meantime, Juan has come out because he heard the wreck. He asks if the man (named Lee) wants us to call 911 or take him to the nearby (5 mins away) hospital. Lee says to please take him to the hospital, so Juan brings him a towel and an ice pack, and off they go.

Once Juan got back from the hospital, we decided that we had probably better call to get a police report. So I called 311, and the officer came to take our statement. He was SUCH an asshole. I told him what happened, and his first comment to me was "Well did you look?" with a total "you're such a stupid blonde, woman driver" attitude I wanted to slap him. (I didn't, of course.) I said "Yes I looked!" Anyway, the whole time he was there he acted like we were total criminals and I sped out of the driveway to purposely hit the bicyclist. So then he left to go get Lee's statement at the hospital.

Later that day I was out talking to my neighbor across the street, and Lee and his wife pull up. They told me that Lee had a compound fracture in his wrist and had to go into surgery to have it set and have pins put in. Poor guy. He also had 9 stitches in his chin. His wife took the bike, and they went home.

But wait...there's more to come.....

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