Well the weather has been so nice in Toronto this year that I could have ridden my bike through the whole winter. Everyone is breaking out their bicycles and I... am not. It has been over 8 months since the accident (involving little old me on my bike being hit by someone swinging open their car door without looking), and I am still in pain. I have just been told that I now have frozen shoulder and have to have a catheter stuck into my shoulder joint and inflated with air. It's a new procedure, but is proving very effective, and I'm willing to try anything at this point that will alleviate the discomfort.
But the main reason that I will not get back on my bike is that I no longer feel safe. This city is not designed for riding and it could too easily happen again. So many people I have met have stories exactly like mine, or worse. I was actually lucky that I only broke one arm.
James rode his bike to work today and I got really emotional about it. I can't get the sound or the image of the accident out of my head, and it's driving me nuts. I am begging everyone out there to wear your helmets. It's what saved my life. And please take side routes where there are less cars.
Hey there,
ReplyDeleteI also live in Toronto (and I'm a vegan :) and got into a biking accident last year in the summer. And the whole point of a story is that I was IN THE BIKING LANE and this lady assumed that noone uses the biking lane and just drove into me. Thank God I was wearing a helmet and I fell onto the grass of the sidewalk.
Somehow I got rid of my fear and pain in about a few weeks and now ride again, but every time I feel so fragile and feel as it may be my last time on the road, but I don't have a choice. Hoping to move to another more bike-friendly city one day.
Great to hear from fellow biking vegans from Toronto!