Bicycle crash location and description

4-way intersection Harrison and Plum

(This entry was written May 27th, almost a year after the accident it describes)

This is an image of the intersection where I was hit by a car June 23, 2011. Based on the number of accidents here, apparently this is a dangerous intersection, yet the view is wide open from all directions. North-South traffic is required to stop. East-West traffic does not stop.

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I hesitate to comment about my accident because I don't remember the accident, and my disconnected recollected images don't match the reports of witnesses. A version of the police report with names redacted can be viewed at http://bit.ly/LsPab7. Since I don't remember the accident, this report provides the only objective information I have about it. Whenever I have been asked what happened in the accident, I repeat what is in this report, but truthfully, I don't trust the report because it contradicts my recollections.

On the other hand, I don't trust my recollections either. My "recollections" are not in the form of a clear memory. They take the form of a series of disconnected images that may have been dreams. My only reliable memories are that I was in a hurry to ride across town, pick up the car my daughter had driven to work, use the car to drive my son home from work, and then return the car. I also clearly recall a moment in which an ambulance technician informed me that I had been in an accident, and that I was about to be loaded onto an ambulance. I think he may have asked some questions also, but I don't recall.

Witnesses say the car that hit me was coming from the North. I know (from the purpose and urgency of the trip) that I was headed East on Harrison.

I seem to recall a policeman interviewing me at the hospital. The policeman seemed to believe I had been riding South on Plum street. He kept asking whether I was riding on Plum street rather than Harrison as I had reported. It seemed he was attempting to resolve a conflict. I did not recall getting hit, but I clearly recalled my point of origin, and the purpose of my trip. No other direction of travel would have made sense. I was definitely headed East on Harrison, although I may have turned South suddenly to avoid the accident.

One of my broken, disconnected recollections of the accident was of seeing a North-bound person sitting at the intersection of Harrison and Plum with a horrified look on her face, and  looking my direction. I remember wondering why she was concerned.... 

Bicyclist's view of the intersection of Harrison and Plum. Notice how open the view is for a South-bound traveler. Notice there are no stop signs facing East-West travelers.

Plum street South-bound perspective of the intersection of Harrison and Plum. Notice the open view of Harrison to the right. Notice the stop sign. The witness mentioned in the police report would have had this perspective also.

Plum street North-bound perspective of the intersection of Harrison and Plum. The expression on the face of a woman stopped at this stop sign may have been my first warning that the driver who hit me had not stopped. 

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