Crunch!

Today, not far from my house down near UCL, I was waiting at the traffic lights to turn right. It was lightly raining and very grey. An enthusiastic jogger approached across the road he was to the right of me on a diagonal. He was jogging on the spot as the traffic whizzed passed – waiting for the light to change… Then all of a sudden, I don’t know why but he just stepped out in the road about a quarter of an inch still jogging up and down as joggers do to keep the momentum. Then at that exact moment a mini van whizzed buy and shmucked him! Right there in front of me. I was almost sick instantly. It was pretty horrific. Luckily he did not get pulled under the van but I can tell you that the sound of his bones breaking was probably the worst sound I’ve ever heard. The driver screeched to a stop and leapt out. The rest of the traffic kept going by as the lights had not yet changed… So there I was with another cyclist right next to me in total shock to what we had just witnessed. People ran to his assistance as I think both his legs were broken and possibly his arm too… the pulled him onto the curb as we helplessly looked on and the traffic continued to flow through the intersection.

By the time the lights changed there were about 10 people around him ringing for an ambulance and such so I did not stop for fear of adding to the chaos. I was quite freaked out but knew if I stopped cycling that I would not have made it to work. Not a nice way to start the day. I hope he’s okay.