My son was biking tonight and got tagged by a car. He was riding across a road, in the crosswalk, with the walk signal, and some idiot turned left into his back tire. A very kind bystander called 911 and stayed with my son until the ambulance arrived, phoning in periodic updates to my shaken wife as she was hurrying around getting ready to go to the scene.

He's ok, just shaken up, and with a very sore back. He was treated to the whole immobilization board and ambulance ride adventure and is in no hurry to repeat the experience.

The EMS and ER personnel were gratified and (sadly) surprised to see a child wearing a bicycle helment. Apparently most of them do not, nor do adults. In my own experience perhaps 3 out of 10 adults on the bike trails wear them, and of those most are either elderly or amateur cycling enthusiasts.

My son is in significantly better shape than the daughter of a friend of mine, who had her face and brow crushed in recently in a car accident. She's alive, and home, but will probably be permanently blind in her left eye. Her father is now being forced to sue the insurance company for sundry damages. They're refusing to pay because, in the words of the insurance rep, "It's not like it's a big deal. She's only blind in one eye."

Words failed me when he told me the story.

We just fielded a call from Officer Morgan. Apparently the driver and his friend (who was following him in another car) both claimed that my son hit a loose construction barrel ring and that's what caused him to fall.

Unfortunately for the driver, there are also 2-3 other witnesses who all saw him hit the bike. Ewps.