A man crossing the road outside my flat was knocked over by a car today. He’d been hit, then he’d gone onto the bonnet and hit the windscreen, shattering it, then rolled off onto the road when the car stopped. I saw him lying motionless in the road, with several people around him. I think it had happened moments before I passed.
Alarmingly, it transpired that he’d been knocked over at traffic lights. He’d waited for the flashing green man, then stepped into the road. One third of the way over, he was hit by a car, that had evidently not noticed either the red light, or the man crossing. The victim was a bus driver, on his way to take over the driving of the bus, at the stop on the other side of the road.
He was alive still, and taken to hospital, but I don’t know any more of him. The road was closed for at least an hour afterwards.
I have noticed that people do ‘ blindly’ cross, once they see a flashing green man, rather than just look to check for cars ( or bicycles ) that aren’t slowing down. Obviously it does pay to double check.
Yesterday, as I crossed the same road, 30 metres from the lights, a motorist stopped to shout ‘ get off the road ‘ at me. That’s the first time that l’ve had someone shout at me since in the chair, in a road situation. I don’t know what the motorist hopes to achieve by saying something like that. It’s hardly going to stop me from crossing roads, is it? That’s a necessity, now and again. Perplexed, I made no reaction.
As a cyclist I was continually being shouted at by drivers, despite being a proficient and able cyclist. I’d cycle near the kerb, and was extremely car aware. Some motorists take out their frustration on cyclists, as they think them an easy target.
I didn’t like being a target, so would ALWAYS react. Invariably at the next traffic lights, the aggressive motorist would be an awful lot less aggressive when I tapped on his / her window. Occasionally however, it even came to blows, so intent would the driver be on teaching me a lesson ‘ for daring to share ( perfectly legally ) the same road space. Always, the driver came off worse, if it got that far.
Its crazy that people get so angry, that it comes anywhere close to that, but it’s a regular occurrence out there on the roads. Some people don’t see cyclists as other human beings, just like them, with wives, children and even jobs. In a wheelchair, I’ve had no flak, until yesterday, perhaps showing that motorists have a heart, or would feel too guilty shouting at the disabled?
