I am feeling entirely disillusioned and furious right now
wssspc: riding along
wssspc: pickup pulls up alongside
wssspc: driver swears at me
wssspc: i choose not to respond
wssspc: driver continues fowards a bit
wssspc: and apparently, goon in the back of the truck nails me in the head with a louisville slugger
wssspc: and i was too stunned to get a license plate
wssspc: cuz well … it’s surprising to feel your skull flattened
wssspc: and i had just been exhaling in relief that the driver hadn’t done anything
wssspc: guess he won.
That was cyclist Ethan Stone, by the way (You can click here to see a Gargoyle profile about him). He was on a training ride, and he got hit in the head with a baseball bat.
He and fellow cyclist Hannah Lake-Rayburn have been after me for ages to wear a helmet when I ride my bike.
Before a couple of minutes ago when I talked to Ethan, I didn’t see why. I only bike within my neighborhood, and I stay on the sidewalk. The worst thing that could happen would be crashing into a mailbox and falling over. The result would probably be a scraped knee or elbow.
I can deal with those.
But I think I’ll be wearing a helmet from now on, just in case.
In Ethan’s case, though, he was just biking along when someone smashed him in the head. I honestly can’t comprehend why; and while I know that this is far from a perfect world that we live in, I had no idea that people went around hitting perfectly innocent bikers in the head.
Carelessness I can understand, much as I dislike it. When Jennifer Stark ran into Uni alum Matt Wilhelm, she was downloading a ringtone to her cell phone when she hit him.
Carelessness doesn’t make it any less her fault, but there is a huge difference between Wilhelm’s situation and Ethan’s. Because the person who hit Ethan did it on purpose.
I am feeling entirely disillusioned and furious right now.
— Michelle Gao
Comments
Nup. Downloading a ringtone while driving is deliberately ignoring your duty of care to the rest of society. Just as culpable as the bat wielding redneck. We see it as a lesser crime perhaps because maybe we can understand the driver a bit more - we’re all selfish and careless at times, just not to the criminal degree that Jennifer Stark was. But when you operate a car you’re responsible for the safety of those around you, and neglecting this responsibility is a deliberate act.
Posted by: stib | May 17, 2007 7:08 PM