Thinking of not wearing your
Calendar Festival
Spotlights
helmet? Think again. Ottawa Jazz Festival 2008
20-22 June 2008
A father’s story
Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest
3-13 July 2008
BY GORd KEEN
Sound and Light Parliament Hill
7 July to 7 September 2008
¦ On a Sunday evening one of
Ottawa International Chamber
my sons was out for a bike ride
Music Festival
after getting home from work.
25 July to 9 August 2008
The weather was great so he
wanted to squeeze in a training
Red Bull Flugtag
ride. As usual, I asked him the
3 August 2008
route he was going to take and
Rideau Canal Festival
made sure he had a cellphone.
4 August 2008
Just before 7 p.m. our home
Ottawa Folk Festival
telephone rang. The man on the
17 August 2008
other line told me that he was on
the side of the road with our son
Fall Rhapsody
and that he had been involved in
19 October 2008
a minor accident. I was told that
Canoe/kayak Fishing Tourney
Alex was fine but that they had called an ambulance just to be safe. I was also told that his
(Hosted by Ottawa River keepers
bike was fine, but someone had to come to get it. The accident happened three kilometres
& Trailhead)
from our house; I arrived before police or other emergency responders.
20 August 2008
Our son was on the ground covered in a blanket with a pool of blood around his head.
Westboro Beach, Ottawa River
A man crouched beside him, talking to him. The road looked like a yard sale. The man (the
driver of the pickup truck that had hit Alex), had knocked our son out cold, and had inflicted
a serious concussion and a broken nose.
The frames of Alex’s glasses lay in pieces but the lenses stayed intact and were deeply
Let your website
gouged. His Argon 18 Mercury was destroyed. The Carbon aerobars were severed, and
the frame was bent and broken.
work for you for
"...without a helmet, this would
His Bell Sweep helmet looked
like it had been run over by a bus. just pennies a
have been a fatality."
It was cracked between almost
every vent. The passenger side
day!
door of the pickup had a large dent and scrapes where the bike had hit it; there was a bend
in the door post where Alex’s head had struck the truck.
The driver said he had seen the bike coming when he was stopped at the stop sign, but
couldn’t understand how the bike had moved so far, so fast. He had underestimated how
fast Alex was travelling on a straight and flat piece of open road. Alex’s speed had been
about 40 km/h.
The good news? According to the doctor, without a helmet, this would have been a
fatality. With that in mind, everyone should wear a bike helmet every time they get on the
bike regardless of where or how far. More good news? The driver did stick around and render
assistance. Makes a good case for having identification
and an emergency contact number with you when you
ride.
Contact us today!
The driver was charged with “failure to yield to traffic * Best prices
on a through highway.” He sent a fruit basket to our son
* Quick and Professional
with a get well card. Not every driver is an idiot; this one
service
wasn’t, even though he made a mistake in judgment.
* 100% guaranteed
The lesson? Drivers will make mistakes, so anticipate
them. It’s a good idea to slow down when approaching any
Email:
manager@kanataweb.com
intersection, even when you clearly have the right of way.
T
he crushed helmet.
Now all we have to do is wait for Alex to recover and
Tel: 613-963-0429
get a new bike. «OO
20 OTTAWA >> SUMMER/FALL 2008
www.OttawaOutdoors.ca
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