By Frank Muller Santa Monica
(Re: “Damn the bikes in Santa Monica,” opinion, Nov. 21) Are people afraid to say what they really mean?... “Striking me in the back of the head as I pedaled home on my bike” and “Bicycles are often less visible, therefore worry drivers...”
Have you ever heard paramedics applying paddles in vain, and hear them say, “He’s gone,” as his wife frantically runs down the street, dreading what had happened?
Well I heard, and saw that myself near the end of San Vicente Boulevard in Santa Monica as a grandfather shepherding his two grand-daughters, who strayed outside the bicycle lane, and was struck by a Volvo station wagon. I have never ridden my bike again, choosing instead to walk for exercise. The U.S, and especially litigious Southern California, is not Europe that is still class-stratified, where lawyers are mainly active in lateral disputes among the upper classes! Some vertical litigation prevails between the middle class, and the upper class but it is virtually non-existent for the working class. Moreover, socialized medicine takes care of any injuries sustained and a driver is not faced with a lifetime of medical expenses if the bicycle rider survives.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 29, 2007. Read the original PDF.