20 March 2009

Lesson Learned

Last night on my commute I witnessed an accident between a cyclist and a van. Everyone was very nice and very scared and we all didn't really know how to proceed. The girl on the bike was very shaken up, then man in the van looked afraid for his job.

In talking about the incident later, I was brought to realize that I should have called the police, just to file an incident report. That intersection would have a history and the cyclist would have recourse for a new fork (or bike).

Lesson learned - even if you don't want to press charges, just always plan to call the authorities.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

You're so right. I had my rear wheel potato
chipped by a roach coach one time and though
I wasn't hurt , I should have reported it.

Dave Feucht said...

Yeah, even if there's no real serious damage done (personal injury), it's good to let them know just so it's on record, as those statistics can be useful in city planning and traffic control later on.

MarkSF said...

It's a great idea for a witness to an accident like the one you saw to suggest calling the police if the cyclist doesn't think of it. People are usually shaken up even if they don't think they're hurt, and they may just not have the presence of mind to think about reporting the accident. Thanks for bringing up this issue!

Anonymous said...

I got right hooked two years ago and practically before I picked myself off the road, two police cars and a fire truck (!) arrived. It was during rush hour and people must have called 911.
Although I was mostly shaken up with skinned knees, and felt a bit sheepish at all the attention, I was glad that people had called. This whole thing with Natasha Richardson having a minor fall, "feeling fine" right afterwards, then quickly dying, has me a little spooked.