Essay on bicycle safety
by Shaudai Pankey, Age 12
student at H. C. Lea School

My story is about being injured real bad in a bicycle accident, so all ears listen up. Although there is a sort of happy ending, it is not completely happy because my injury still hurts me and the man who did it is still out there without any safety education. I would like to tell you about my accident and describe some of my ideas about safety.

I went to the Gallery to buy some patent leather boots at the shoe store. I put the boots on the handle bars of my bicycle and pulled into the bike lane. A man turned the corner and came speeding behind me, weaving in and out of his lane and the bicycle lane. He was swirling about fast so he could get some place. He was not paying attention to bicyclists. He was behind me so I couldn't see him very well. He hit the back of my bike and I tumbled around on my bike and my foot got caught in the chain of my bike. He hit me again and I fell over. It felt like the chain was crushing my leg. The bike was on top of me and it really hurt.

People were coming from both sides of the street to see if I was ok. They were asking, "Are you ok, are you ok?" I was crying real loud. The driver was sitting behind his steering wheel just staring at me. Finally he jumped out of his car and called an ambulance. I heard the ambulance sirens coming. The ambulance man when he got there said, "Your leg is broken.'' They put me on a stretcher. I was in real bad pain. The man who hit me was now very upset and wanted to get into the ambulance with me. The paramedics said, "No, only the family can go in an ambulance." This made the man even more upset. As they shut the ambulance door, he called. "Give me your phone number so we can call your mom." The ambulance pulled off before I could give him the number.

The sirens sounded like two very loud crying babies. We went fast and my leg hurt even more because of the side to side movement of the ambulance. They took me to Children's Hospital. The pain felt like someone was stabbing me in my leg. They took me right into a little room in the emergency ward. I didn't have to wait. The doctor was very nice. He was trying to make me laugh, but when I did laugh my leg hurt even more. Everything made my leg hurt. They X-rayed the leg and set it. It was broken in two places. After they put the blue cast on, I called my mom. I reached her and she brought my whole family to the hospital--my aunt, my grandmom, my two 1ittle cousins and my older cousin. They started rubbing my head and I cried, "Stop, I'm already irritated." They took me home and I laid in the bed and it hurt. It was hard to be comfortable. For two months I had to wear that cast and for six months after the cast came off, my leg hurt me. It's much better but I still get crimps in my leg two years later.

I learned that there are people out there who can hurt you real bad. Some of them might care and some might not. Some might stop and help and some might keep on going. I was in my right lane, the bicycle lane, and the man who hit me was going all over his lane and my lane. I learned that I not only have to look out for myself, I have to watch out for other people because they don't always do the right thing. If I had had a rearview mirror I could have saved my leg. I would have been able to see him coming up fast from behind. Then, I could have gotten out of his way. A rearview mirror is an important safety device for bicyclists to have.

There should be legislation or penalties against reckless driving toward bicyclists. His penalty should have been to take a bicycle course. Then he would learn to ride a bike and learn how to fix bikes the correct way. He might do some community service painting bike lanes or working on bike trails. Also he should have been made to interview me to see how I felt the pain. If he could feel my pain then maybe he wouldn't be so quick to weave in and out of the bicycle lane.