Slow Down!

I just witnessed the aftermath of a pretty bad bicycle accident on our block. I was in my office, which is in the front of the house, and heard that unmistakable sound of a car slamming on it's brakes.

I quickly went to look out my window and saw a car making a quick u-turn, then stopping just up the street from my house. When I looked out the side window of the bay window in our front room, I saw that someone was lying in the middle of the street.

I put my shoes on, grabbed my cell phone, and ran out to see if there was anything I could do to help. There were already 2 good samaritans there: one was his phone with 911, the other was trying to convince the fallen bicyclist to remain lying down.

I found out from of the of drivers (the one who did the quick u-turn) that he was driving down our street, and that the bicyclist was speeding behind him (probably 3-35 MPH). He saw through his rear view mirror that the bicycle's front wheel began to wobble, and that the bicyclist had lost control, and flipped up off his bike, and landed hard on the street.

The poor guy. You could just tell that he was really shaken up, and probably in shock. We tried to keep him down on the ground, but he was adamant about wanted to stand up. Eventually, we got him to sit down on the stairs of a nearby stoop until the paramedics came. The fire fighters, ambulance, and police came within a couple of short minutes, and took him away to the hospital.

Dick and I have always commented on how quickly people drive up and down our street. We're a bit of a thorough way between 17th Street and Noe Valley, and sometimes, people just tear down the street. I think they forget that they are in a residential area.

A neighbor and I talked at the accident scene, and he was thinking about calling the City to see if we could put up speed bumps or caution signs. Not sure if that's possible or not, but it would certainly be helpful.

Luckily, there weren't any cars involved in the bicycle accident today. According to the driver who was in front of the bicyclist, the bicyclist ran through the stop sign at the top of the street, and was tearing down the hill when he lost control.

Slow down, people.