A Little More Serious Than A Fender Bender

I'm standing on the corner right in front of the Starbucks that I usually frequent. I wasn't facing the street when the accident actually happened. I was drinking a coffee and reading the paper, facing away from the street. At first I wasn't really sure what had happened, just that I'd heard brakes squealing, tires skidding, and a couple of loud bangs, the sound of metal hitting metal one right after the other. Several of us immediately called 911 on our cell phones and within minutes the rescue trucks and police were on the scene.

I guess its as good a place as any to get hit. One fire-rescue station is less than a mile to the north, another maybe half a mile south west, and a third one half a mile beyond that one. They were on-scene within minutes. As near as I could figure out a guy on a bike got hit and in the excitement another car slammed on his brakes causing the car behind him to rear end him. They soon had the bike rider evaluated enough to strap him on a body board. They extricated one of the other drivers and put him on a body board also. The others had less serious injuries, but all were transported to local hospitals.

Police officers photographed the scene and directed traffic until the mangled bike and the smashed cars could be loaded on wreckers and hauled away. Within half an hour people were once more drinking their coffees, chatting, and reading the newspaper. Life goes on.