Yesterday on my way home I came upon an accident scene at the intersection where I catch my bus. I must have arrived a mere minutes after it happened. There were about four cars pulled off to the side of the road, along with a motorcycle. Six or seven people were on the sidewalk, standing around, several on the phone. A gentleman with motorcycle gear on was seated on grass next to the sidewalk. He looked okay but dazed somewhat. He was conscious and talking but people were talking to him and seemed concern about his potential injuries. I’m no accident reconstruction expert so I couldn’t even guess what had happened. There was no outward major damage to any of the cars that I could see, nor any large pieces of debris on the road. I’m guessing the motorcyclist must have made contact with the ground somehow, either through direct contact from a car or he was forced to make a maneuver that forced him to lose control.
Within minutes I could hear sirens. The fire department was on scene first. They pulled up in this big truck. One fireman got the cones out and blocked off the lane that the cars and bikes were in. The other firemen started talking to the witnesses and participants of the accident. A few were checking on the motorcyclist. He began motioning to his foot. The police then showed up with two vehicles. At this point, there were a lot of flashing lights from the fire truck and the two squad cars. Traffic at this point still had two lanes to use but was slowed considerably through the intersection. A few drivers were caught gawking as the light turned green but they just stayed put. A good honk from behind got them moving.
The last first-responders to show up was the ambulance. The EMTs got out and started talking to the motorcycle dude. They must have deemed it not that serious as they didn’t get out the stretcher or even got him to sit in the ambulance. He remained on the grass the entire time I was there. At this point, the intersection was a major light show, with the emergency lights from the fire truck, two cop cars, and the ambulance all going off. My bus arrived a few minutes later so I had to go home.
If that wasn’t enough, on my way to work this morning, I was crossing the street in the exact same intersection. When I got to other side, where the cars and motorcycle were yesterday, I saw two vehicles stopped in the curb lane. Both drivers were out on the sidewalk, talking on their cell phones. The first vehicle in front was a city works truck, some sort of utility vehicle. The vehicle in the back was a minivan. The minivan had major front end damage and it was clear it had rear-ended the city truck. There were pieces of the minivan all over the road and I think I even saw bits of it stuck to the back of the truck. Luckily, none of the drivers seemed injured. It sucks for the driver of the minivan because nearly 100% of the time, insurance companies will assign all the blame for the one doing the rear-ending.
My commute home today was uneventful though! I didn’t see any accidents this evening!