[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference noted::bicycle

Title: Bicycling
Notice:Bicycling for Fun
Moderator:JAMIN::WASSER
Created:Mon Apr 14 1986
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:3214
Total number of notes:31946

1922.0. "Bicycle Accident on RT 117 yesterday" by VAXWRK::OXENBERG () Tue Apr 30 1991 14:35

    Yesterday evening on rt 117 near the Waltham-Weston line a cyclist 
was hit by a car.  I drove by the scene and the cyclist was flat on 
his back and being attended to by a patrolman.  The vehicle (and 
driver) involved were also near by.

    Has anyone else heard anything about this accident?  I hope the 
cyclist was ok!


T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
1922.1Rt. 117 at rush hour - be careful!PICKET::WESTERTue Apr 30 1991 16:0015
    I also drove by the accident and saw the same thing as you did.  The
    bike was still lying in the road and there were three passenger cars
    pulled over, a couple of cruisers at the scene and one ambulance.  The
    bike looked o.k., it didn't appear that it was run over.  I couldn't
    see how bad the cyclist was, hopefully injuries were minor. 
    
    From where the cyclist was lying and where the bike was I'd guess the 
    cause of the accident had to do with the intersection (either the car or 
    the bike may have been turning).  Does anyone have better details?
    
    Rt. 117 at rush hour between Waltham and Maynard is NOT a good place to
    ride (especially westbound).  Last year I was involved in a car-bike
    accident maybe a mile away on 117 where my friend's bike ended up being
    run over, fortunately he wasn't.  Not much of a shoulder, heavy
    traffic, and lots of cross roads add up to lots of risk. 
1922.2Is this some of why I don't ride as much these days ?ULTRA::BURGESSMad Man across the waterThu May 02 1991 16:0013
re .0 & .1

	I'm about to lose it............

	didn't  EITHER  of you stop ?


	Reg


	So much for the fellowship of cyclists in New England, I 
	guess.

1922.3Huh?PICKET::WESTERThu May 02 1991 16:448
    
    RE .2
    
    Are you serious?  Seeing as there were two Police cruisers, an ambulance, 
    three vehicles, all the occupants milling around watching the cyclist
    being attended to lying on the road, and a major traffic jam complete with 
    a policeman directing traffic, the only thing we could have offered is 
    more of an audience!  How does cycling camaraderie figure in here?
1922.4I dunno; what COULD you have done ?ULTRA::BURGESSMad Man across the waterThu May 02 1991 17:2723
re                       <<< Note 1922.3 by PICKET::WESTER >>>
>                                   -< Huh? >-

	Well,  "if you have to ask...."  

	Of course I'm serious, as cyclists don't we all have
particular knowledge about injuries that is/might be useful, even to 
ambulance crews ?   Can't we at least offer to transport the bike 
instead of it just getting chucked in the back of the cruiser ?  or 
left at the roadside until they send the paddy wagon or whatever for 
it ?

	Yes, I would have

		yes, I always do

			traffic jams be damned, the suits can get back 
			to the 'burbs a little late for supper and TV.


	Reg	{I stop for ALL traffic accidents, just in case I can help}


1922.5WUMBCK::FOXThu May 02 1991 17:5823
>	Of course I'm serious, as cyclists don't we all have
>particular knowledge about injuries that is/might be useful, even to 
>ambulance crews ?
    How do you figure this? Does one magically absorb knowledge about
    how to treat collision injuries merely by swinging a leg over a bike?
    Some of us may know the tell-tale signs of tendonitis, but a broken
    leg is a broken leg. Don't matter if the leg belongs to a cyclist or
    a chess player. 
    >   Can't we at least offer to transport the bike 
>instead of it just getting chucked in the back of the cruiser ?  or 
>left at the roadside until they send the paddy wagon or whatever for 
>it ?
    If I was a cop on the scene, would I let you take the bike? No.
    If I was the cop's sargent, and when I heard the explanation that
    the reason the injured person lost his bike was because someone who
    claimed "kinship" since he too rode a bike offered to take it instead
    of the officer, would I accept that as a valid excuse? No.
    
    If one can offer valid assistance, better than anyone on the scene,
    by all means stop. Otherwise, are you really helping the situation?
    
    John
1922.6VAXWRK::OXENBERGFri May 03 1991 14:546
    re: .3
    

    ditto

1922.7cyclist struck in Stow ok?YNGSTR::BROWNThu Aug 01 1991 15:3315
    Did anyone catch what happened to a bicyclist that was struck on 117
    in Stow last Wednesday evening (7/24, @7:30pm) by a black BMW 320i?
    It happened right where the road (Teele?) veers off of 117 and goes
    down to the OGO plant.  It looks like the 117-westbound BMW veered
    left down the road and didn't see the 117-eastbound bike.  The sun
    *was* brutal that evening.  Drivers have a tendency not to use signals
    there [no surprise in this state; no enforcement for signal usage]...
    it would have been hard to even ride defensively enough to anticipate
    that.  The right side of the car's windshield was smashed.  I rode by
    and thought it was a 2 car accident and one had been towed or something.
    I only found out it was a car/bike accident yesterday, but never saw
    any details.  I think I'm glad I didn't see it closer.
    
    Knowing the Stow police department's record with cyclists, they said
    "hey, it was an accident; sh*t happens" and issued nothing...  -kb