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Hit-and-run is wake-up call; abuse of bicyclists must stop
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Published: August 3, 2008
When an SUV did a hit-and-run on Dr. Elms Allen while he was riding his road bike in Winston-Salem two weeks ago, it was just the latest in a long line of abuses against him and many other area bicyclists.
"There's been a history of lots of discourtesy toward folks who bike, and lots of impatience," he said last week as he was released from Forsyth Medical Center.
There's a history of drivers shouting at people on bikes, picking fights with them and pulling out in front of them. Fortunately, most of the abuse against bicyclists isn't as serious as what happened to Allen. When a black SUV pulled onto Buena Vista Road from Arbor Road, Allen slammed into the driver's side door and suffered a shattered bone between his right shoulder and elbow, six broken ribs and multiple scrapes and bruises. A witness called for help. Allen, 67, spent several days in the hospital and faces months of therapy to regain the use of his right arm.
Allen, an oncologist and the vice president of medical affairs for Forsyth Medical, is no weakling. He's a soft-spoken cancer survivor who has had his share of biking injuries. He's quick to say that drivers who give bicyclists a hard time are a minority. But the hit-and-run has shaken his interest in bicycling, a sport he's loved for more than 25 years.
He wants more people -- including bicyclists -- to work toward making sure that bicycling is a safe means of commuting and exercise. And he hopes people will also heed another message: "We just have to feel a responsibility for each other, and when we cause harm and injury, we have to believe it's our responsibility to stop and help and not spin off."
We can only hope.
The hit-and-run that injured Allen didn't happen in a vacuum. Compared to other areas of the country, Winston-Salem and the rest of the Triad have a long way to go in terms of providing bicyclists enough bike lanes, greenways and other safe places to ride. Still, bicyclists have the legal right to share public roads.
But many motorists in this area are just downright hostile to bicyclists, even as more people take to bikes to save gas. "There's probably a population of folks who believe that bikes don't belong on the streets, they belong on the sidewalks," Allen said.
Drivers often shout insults at bicyclists. "I've had just about everything thrown at me, and just about everything yelled at me over the course of 25 years," Allen said.
Sometimes, drivers get even more violent than tossing a can at people on bikes. Nobody should have to put up with that. Crashes and injuries caused by everything from a stray piece of gravel to dogs go with the territory of serious bicycling. But bicyclists shouldn't have to put up with the human threats that come too often.
"I had someone one day stop and come over and knock the bike out from under me, throwing me on the road," Allen said. For a minute, he said, he lay there in the middle of Country Club Road, wondering when a car would run over him. Then, he said, "I just got up and said, ‘I can see you're very angry. I'm getting on my bike and riding off. I don't expect you to do anything further.' "
Allen chalked it up to "a bad Saturday morning" on the driver's part.
He should have pressed charges if he could have gotten a license-plate number, just as other bicyclists should do when motorists run them off the road or throw things at them. Police should take such cases seriously, and do their best to make arrests. And judges should give stern punishments.
Allen said he would like for the driver who pulled out in front of him to "step forward and admit his error." He doesn't want revenge, he said, or a prison sentence for the driver. He would just like to see that person sentenced to some sort of community service that emphasizes bicycle safety in a very public way.
But the driver may never be caught. That's a shame.
Besides cowardly fleeing the scene after severely injuring Allen, he's made him wonder whether he'll ever ride again. Allen hopes he'll recover enough physically to ride, he said.
"But I think it's going to be really hard to get back on the bike again, mentally."
■ John Railey writes local editorials for the Journal. He can be reached at jrailey@wsjournal.com.
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