Photo by David Melchor Diaz
Cyclists are frequently blamed for accidents.
UBCO alumni G.E. McKinnon sheds light on the reality of such incidents.
I’m turning left. An SUV is turning right. We collide; I walk out of the hospital later that night with only a few bruises, a shredded ankle, and a rock stuck in my palm.
I’m lucky. I’m luckier than Patricia Keenan, who was wearing her helmet and still succumbed to injuries after being ‘doored’ – a term cyclists use when a car door suddenly opens into the bike lane. I’m luckier than a woman who was struck by a water delivery truck and then dragged down the road before being pinned under the truck for 25 minutes. I’m luckier than a man who passed away on September 28th after being struck on September 25th. I’m lucky that I was okay despite not wearing a helmet. Patricia Keenan wasn’t.
Yet people continue to blame the cyclists first: She should have been watching for car doors; she should have anticipated that truck would turn; he should have triple checked; they should have waited for the next light instead of trying to catch the green.
It’s difficult to predict the future. It’s even more difficult when bike lanes disappear for 3 blocks before reappearing; when bike lanes turn into HOV lanes unexpectedly; when bike lanes become impromptu parking spots; when bike lanes become sidewalks; when bike lanes become loose gravel; when bike lanes become construction zones; when vehicles want you off the roads, pedestrians want you on them, and you just want to get where you’re going without dying.
“I’m lying on the asphalt. My wrists broke my fall and I can’t move my left hand.”
Situation #1: you want to bike to UBCO today. You have two options – taking the terrifying stretch of highway 97 or trespassing along the private gravel road in Glenmore. After you decide to take the bus, you see an advertisement for “take your bike to work & school” day.
Situation #2: you want to bike to see a movie at the Paramount in downtown Kelowna. You want to take Bernard. You have two options – taking the extra-wide sidewalk and being harassed by pedestrians who feel unsafe with a bicycle swerving between them or biking to the right of your lane and hoping a side mirror doesn’t clip you while avoiding vehicles pulling away from parallel parking spots.
Where is the bike lane? Was there ever a bike lane? You’re beginning to believe there is no such thing as a bike lane. When it comes to most Kelowna roads, you’re probably right.
I’m lying on the asphalt. My wrists broke my fall and I can’t move my left hand. The man who hit me exits his SUV – he has an ice cream cone in one hand. He tells me I should have been looking where I was going, that the light was green but the hand was flashing red. He doesn’t ask if I’m alright.
The ambulance arrives five minutes after I’ve been hit. They clean my ankle, ask me questions, wrap up my immobile hand in a tensor bandage, calm me down. I’m shaking from adrenaline and embarrassment. A cop arrives and his last name is Law and he tells me I was supposed to be in the vehicle lane.
The second thing I felt after being hit by an SUV was shame.
The first thing was the SUV.