OPINION: Hit-and-run not OK on campus
I remember the noise I made as I did an aerial cartwheel over the car’s trunk. “Hurk,” I said. My toes were still strapped into my bike pedals, so the bike came into the air with me after I hit the car’s rear right wheel. I don’t remember how I hit the ground, though I was conscious through all of it. It must have hurt a bit. I didn’t have road rash, thanks to my gloves. The large headphones I was wearing had broken into three or four pieces. My index finger hurt like it was broken.
The driver paused in the entrance to the Stadium parking lot – after a left turn which had cut me off as I barrelled down 800 East. She rolled her window down as I untangled myself from my bike and stood up.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I think so,” I said, because I was standing up and I figured that was pretty good.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
No, I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t checked my body for major problems. After an accident, the endorphins and adrenaline flooding a victim’s bloodstream can mask even major injuries. But because I was still in shock, I said, “I think so” again.
“OK,” she said, and drove into the parking lot. Startled that she wasn’t going to stop and exchange insurance information, I pulled a pen from my pocket and wrote her license plate number on my forearm. I lifted my broken bike out of the street and called the police.
The accident happened about a year ago. I’ve recovered from the few cuts and bruises I got. I replaced the fork on my bike and I didn’t show any concussion symptoms, so I’m pretty sure I didn’t brain my damage.
I was lucky, though. If I had fallen a little differently, the fall could have broken bones or split my skull. If I had been seriously hurt, it’s likely I wouldn’t have known until the driver had already left the scene. If I didn’t have a pen, the police couldn’t have given me her insurance information and I’d be stuck paying for repairs on my own. And for an idiot biking without a helmet, I was lucky to walk away from any accident.
Whenever you hit somebody in traffic – whether it’s on the road or on the sidewalk, whether you’re in a car or on a bicycle – stop and help the person you hit.
A few weeks ago, a representative of the Disability Resource Center at USU told Statesman editors about multiple hit-and-run incidents this year on campus sidewalks. A couple of our reporters looked into it and wrote the story, which ran on Oct. 16. After the article ran, a different reporter said she saw a bicyclist hit a person in a wheelchair and continue without stopping.
Even if you’re late, even if you think you only clipped somebody – if you hit a person, stop and see if he or she is OK.
As long as I’m preaching this sermon, here are a few other suggestions for traffic safety on roads and campus sidewalks.
Respect right of way
If you’re on a bike, a scooter or a longboard, don’t assume that people will move out of your way. Often, pedestrians wearing headphones or earbuds can’t hear a vehicle approaching from behind. In the case of a Disability Resource Center student mentioned in the aforementioned article, she couldn’t see the biker because she is blind and couldn’t get out of the way. Sometimes, respecting a pedestrian’s right of way will mean slowing or even stopping. There are ramps and high-traffic sidewalks on campus with signs instructing people to walk bikes and boards – they’re marked that way because more accidents happen in those areas.
Learn your limits
If you can’t stop or turn in time to avoid a collision with a pedestrian moving in unexpected ways, you’re going too fast. Slow down. This advice especially applies to longboarders. I’ve been riding longboards for several years, and I know the learning curve can be steep. Still, if you can’t control your speed well enough to ride on sidewalks with pedestrians, leave your board at home or carry it through crowds until you do. Don’t just give up on learning to stop because boards don’t have conventional brakes – learn to footbrake and learn to bail and stop your board without running over somebody walking to class.
Check your six
On a campus sidewalk, there’s almost always someone travelling faster than you. Before you make any sudden changes in direction, look behind you. Longboards usually make enough noise on sidewalk cracks to let you know they’re coming, but bikes can be much quieter. Granted, someone who can’t avoid you is probably going too fast and it’s not your fault if you’re hit, but if you can save yourself a little grief by moving your head, it’s probably worth the effort.
– Steve Kent is a junior majoring in print journalism and editor in chief of The Statesman. You can reach him at steve.kent@aggiemail.usu.edu or on Twitter @StevenDKent.