I was wearing my new velvet skirt and feeling good. The sun was shining, the birds singing. It's that beautiful crisp golden autumn light that can only be found in New England. I saw Sexy Brompton ride by in his Barbour, waved at my Blog Friend E, and generally felt that all was right in my little world.
I was sitting outside on my breakfast date with my husband, watching the cyclists go by for all of you when I saw it: my first dooring. It looked like the bike just slipped out from under her, she fell forward and braced with her hands which might have been very good since she wasn't wearing a helmet. The scariest part was that there was a city bus right behind her which barely managed to miss her as she was sprawled out on the road. She could have been any one of us. She was riding a KHS Green ladies' frame and wearing really cute black flowered flats, which fell off in the accident. The other thing which went flying was her iPod. I can't say whether she was wearing it while riding, and whether being off in her own world might have contributed to the accident. I'll never know.
We went running over to help. I flagged down an ambulance that happened to be passing by and my husband got the bike out of the road and gave it a once over. Another cyclist was diverting traffic. The car driver was very sorry and occupied herself with the injured cyclist. We left knowing that the cyclist would be all right, but we would all be shaken up all day.
In discussing the accident it's unclear how it could have been avoided. The road was too large and busy for all these cyclists to take the lane all the time. I would not feel comfortable (or safe) behaving that way in that place. The sidewalk is very much needed by the large pedestrian population. There's a hospital nearby and many people out walking are very frail. I would not have them dodging bikes on the sidewalk. I really don't have an answer for today's accident.
Please, all of you: be careful out there.
