If you read the post I wrote yesterday, you could tell I was angry. I still am. Another story that came my way intensified my rage.
In Omaha, a 26-year-old woman was arrested after hitting a cyclist with her car.
You can be forgiven for thinking that I should view this arrest as "progress" after a driver in my hometown got off with a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from a police officer after he killed a cyclist.
But the driver wasn't charged with any injury she caused the cyclist. Instead, she was cited for DUI, reckless driving, child neglect (her infant was improperly restrained in the rear of her car) and having an open alcohol container.
I guess I should be grateful that she was cited for anything at all. I can't help but to think, however, that the only reason why she was charged with anything at all is that the cyclist in question was an Omaha police officer.
Once, the chair of a department in which I taught asked for lesson plans, assignments and other materials "in case you get hit by a truck." My father implored me to write a will for the same contingency.
"Getting hit by a truck" has long been a metaphor for spontaneous, sudden, instantaneous death. And one's demise usually is the result of such an encounter with a multi-ton, many-wheeled vehicle, especially if there's nothing between the person who is struck and the bumper of the truck but a jacket--or the rear wheel of a bicycle.
Donald Graham of Omaha is an exception.
He was riding his bicycle on the shoulder of Highway 75 North when he veered into the traffic lane--and the path of a truck.
According to Police Captain Wayne Hudson, Heyl Trucking driver Danile Forno did everything he could to avoid hitting Graham. Forno said he saw another vehicle move to another lane to avoid hitting Graham.
Hudson said that Forno will not be charged but Graham, who suffered a broken leg and brain bleed, might be ticketed. Because he was riding home from the "Forgot Store" bar, Hudson believes that alcohol "may have played a role" in the crash.
Even with his current woes, I imagine Donald Graham is one of those rare people who survived getting hit by a truck. I have to wonder how, or whether, he wants to remember--and, given his alcohol consumption, how much he will remember.
I have never been to Omaha, and I have met only two people who hail from O.N.E. (Omaha, Nebraska) in my life. So I won’t make any generalizations about it. I will say, however, that the seem to have made the same mistakes in bicycle infrastructure planning and construction countless other places—including my hometown of New York.
While city officials are congratulating themselves for stringing together a “network “ of bike lanes that will allow cyclists to get around in the city, local cycling advocates are making the same justified criticisms one hears all over this nation.
From what I can see, local officials think that all you have to do to make a bike lane is to paint lines on the side of the road, and all you have to do to “connect” them is to install a few signs.
I’d protest by boycotting Omaha Steaks, but It wouldn’t change their thinking. Besides, I’ve never ordered Omaha Steaks before and very rarely eat steak at all. I’m not a vegetarian, but—I know that this will seem like heresy to some—I’m not so crazy about steak. Or most bicycle infrastructure I’ve seen. And I probably won’t like Omaha’s infrastructure, either.
