Getting Hit By A Car
How an early accident while cycling made me more cautious on the road
So, this is the story of the first time I got hit by a car while riding a bike!
And the psychological after-effects, which were kind of interesting.
Back in 1992, I’d just graduated from the University of Toronto and had landed a job as the administrative paper-pusher at the League of Canadian Poets. (A tale for another time, that job, lol.)
Toronto was, even back then, a pretty good cycling city. It had critical mass early on. As a kid I’d grown up cycling in one of its northern suburbs, and when I moved downtown to attend university I owned used junky bikes (which I’d buy for $25 at garage sales) to zip around campus and to gigs with my band.
When I graduated I celebrated by buying a slightly-less-junky used bike — a lovely old one-speed with high, upright seating. It felt wonderful to be perched up so tall while riding: I felt like I could see everything! My vigilance while riding was perfect!
Alas, that turned out to be an illusion.
One workday in the late fall I cycled back to grab lunch at my house. (I lived about 10 minutes from the office.)
