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I Get More Experience as a Witness
So, today is a busy one for me.
Work all day, head to Costco to pick up some staples, head off to the card-op laundry to do a few loads, and somewhere in there, fit in witnessing an accident between a motorcycle and a minivan.
I'm heading home from Costco, the sun is heading towards the horizon, and I've just turned off the freeway and am heading west, doing my best to keep my head up enough that my visor cuts off the glare of the evil daystar as it continues it's descent.
I was the first off the turn, and the people behind me are slow, and since the signal changed, there's not much traffic ahead. I'm approaching the first light after the turn but am far back enough that when it turns yellow, I take my foot off the gas and hover over the brake pedal.
Up ahead, the last of the line of traffic that had been going through is a motorcycle. He's close enough to the light that a little bit of acceleration will carry him most of the way through before it changes completely.
Coming from the east and turning left to head to the north, however, is a minivan. The driver also sees that the signal has turned yellow, and she sees this as her chance to make her turn to get to wherever it was that she was going.
This puts them both at the same place at the same time; he going about 35, and she going a paltry 10-15.
As I watch, the front end of his bike slams into the car, bits and pieces of fiberglass and debris shower up from the impact, spreading from a spot just to the left of the center of the road and trailing off in a spray across the westbound lanes like the tail of a comet.
I idly note that the minivan has stopped, at least for now, at the curb just past the completion of her turn. I start to move right to go around, then change course, moving so that my car is in the left-hand lane, where I park and turn on my emergency flashers so that the flow of traffic will have to part around me and reduce some of the likelihood that someone else will hit the downed rider. At the same time, I tell Nekojin to call 911. A number of pedestrians, many of them waiting at the nearby bus stops, are moving, quite a number moving to direct traffic around him, as well as to ascertain his situation. At some point, he tries to pull himself out from under the remains of his bike, but others on the scene, who I later ascertained were members of the Brothers of the Sun Motorcycle Club, who are apparently a club that advocates and helps downed riders, ensured that he stayed still so that he wouldn't cause himself further harm.
At some point during this, the woman in the minivan moved away from where she had been. There was some chatter that another witness had followed her, but it appears that she was only moving from that side of the intersection to the other, probably in part to get out of the bus stop in which she had parked.
As traffic backs up, people behind start honking, not knowing what's happened up ahead. We work to determine the intersection so that 911 can direct the emergency response, but it's difficult as the only sign for the cross street is directly perpendicular to our position. I pull out my cell phone and use the map feature to pinpoint it for them.
A bit later, a police cruiser pulls up and parks in the intersection between me and the rider. A couple of minutes after that, another cruiser pulls up and blocks southbound lane, providing cover from all oncoming cars. Following are a fire engine, two ambulances, and another police cruiser.
With the scene as secure as it's going to get, I kill my flashers, start the car, and am kindly given clearance to head to the right to get out of the way of traffic. I turn around and park in the lot on the northwest corner, closest to the accident, and wait until I can catch the eye of one of the officers. While making that short journey, we spot the minivan again, now on the west side of the street, north of the intersection, with the rear passenger tire very much flat. I did not go back to check the damage to the side.
The officer takes my license to fill out his witness report and I wait and chat with some more Brothers and Sisters of the Sun. The driver of the minivan is being kept in the back of the second cruiser, and police confer with her a couple of times. Also while I wait, a Sister takes down my name and number on behalf of the rider. Eventually, the officer returns, gets my correct address and current number and returns my license. I then tell him what I saw, and he nods, confirming that it agrees with the rest of what he's heard. And with that, my presence is no longer needed, and we get back to our car and head out.
I imagine, based on the last time I was a witness, that I will get a call from an officer and from an insurance agent, and eventually a notice in the mail from one or both where I will write out my statement and sign that what I say is truth. If her insurance fights it, I might get another call even later to confirm that I still say I saw what I said I saw.
^-.-^
Work all day, head to Costco to pick up some staples, head off to the card-op laundry to do a few loads, and somewhere in there, fit in witnessing an accident between a motorcycle and a minivan.
I'm heading home from Costco, the sun is heading towards the horizon, and I've just turned off the freeway and am heading west, doing my best to keep my head up enough that my visor cuts off the glare of the evil daystar as it continues it's descent.
I was the first off the turn, and the people behind me are slow, and since the signal changed, there's not much traffic ahead. I'm approaching the first light after the turn but am far back enough that when it turns yellow, I take my foot off the gas and hover over the brake pedal.
Up ahead, the last of the line of traffic that had been going through is a motorcycle. He's close enough to the light that a little bit of acceleration will carry him most of the way through before it changes completely.
Coming from the east and turning left to head to the north, however, is a minivan. The driver also sees that the signal has turned yellow, and she sees this as her chance to make her turn to get to wherever it was that she was going.
This puts them both at the same place at the same time; he going about 35, and she going a paltry 10-15.
As I watch, the front end of his bike slams into the car, bits and pieces of fiberglass and debris shower up from the impact, spreading from a spot just to the left of the center of the road and trailing off in a spray across the westbound lanes like the tail of a comet.
I idly note that the minivan has stopped, at least for now, at the curb just past the completion of her turn. I start to move right to go around, then change course, moving so that my car is in the left-hand lane, where I park and turn on my emergency flashers so that the flow of traffic will have to part around me and reduce some of the likelihood that someone else will hit the downed rider. At the same time, I tell Nekojin to call 911. A number of pedestrians, many of them waiting at the nearby bus stops, are moving, quite a number moving to direct traffic around him, as well as to ascertain his situation. At some point, he tries to pull himself out from under the remains of his bike, but others on the scene, who I later ascertained were members of the Brothers of the Sun Motorcycle Club, who are apparently a club that advocates and helps downed riders, ensured that he stayed still so that he wouldn't cause himself further harm.
At some point during this, the woman in the minivan moved away from where she had been. There was some chatter that another witness had followed her, but it appears that she was only moving from that side of the intersection to the other, probably in part to get out of the bus stop in which she had parked.
As traffic backs up, people behind start honking, not knowing what's happened up ahead. We work to determine the intersection so that 911 can direct the emergency response, but it's difficult as the only sign for the cross street is directly perpendicular to our position. I pull out my cell phone and use the map feature to pinpoint it for them.
A bit later, a police cruiser pulls up and parks in the intersection between me and the rider. A couple of minutes after that, another cruiser pulls up and blocks southbound lane, providing cover from all oncoming cars. Following are a fire engine, two ambulances, and another police cruiser.
With the scene as secure as it's going to get, I kill my flashers, start the car, and am kindly given clearance to head to the right to get out of the way of traffic. I turn around and park in the lot on the northwest corner, closest to the accident, and wait until I can catch the eye of one of the officers. While making that short journey, we spot the minivan again, now on the west side of the street, north of the intersection, with the rear passenger tire very much flat. I did not go back to check the damage to the side.
The officer takes my license to fill out his witness report and I wait and chat with some more Brothers and Sisters of the Sun. The driver of the minivan is being kept in the back of the second cruiser, and police confer with her a couple of times. Also while I wait, a Sister takes down my name and number on behalf of the rider. Eventually, the officer returns, gets my correct address and current number and returns my license. I then tell him what I saw, and he nods, confirming that it agrees with the rest of what he's heard. And with that, my presence is no longer needed, and we get back to our car and head out.
I imagine, based on the last time I was a witness, that I will get a call from an officer and from an insurance agent, and eventually a notice in the mail from one or both where I will write out my statement and sign that what I say is truth. If her insurance fights it, I might get another call even later to confirm that I still say I saw what I said I saw.
^-.-^
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