It had to happen sooner or later given the jungle-like chaos of Market Street. You may have witnessed it yourselves from time to time, or possibly have been inconvenienced while waiting on piled-up Muni buses from an occurrence several blocks ahead. You just never expect it to happen to you.
First, a little back story: I was hustling down Market on my bicycle as I usually do and crossed New Montgomery onto that weird block where vehicles in the right lane turn onto 2nd Street while the cheese-gratered left lane is reserved for through-traffic. Knowing this, I stayed in the left lane while also being careful to avoid the treacherous Muni tracks and BART vents when all of a sudden a taxi cab pulled out directly in front of me from the line of cars waiting in the right lane.
I only had time to yell before I collided with the window above the rear left door side and tumbled onto the pavement (I’m sure his passenger was quite surprised as well). I popped back up (as many bikers do instantly after getting in accidents of various severity–why does this happen so often???) and walked over to the side of the road where a bunch of bystanders immediately came over to see how I was doing.
I was actually overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who stopped to help. One kind woman even offered to take me upstairs to her office so I could wash up in the restroom (my elbow was bleeding quite a bit). Another person walked by and asked what happened, to which a witness responded, “That crazy taxi just hit that guy!” Someone else said, “I’m calling the police.” Just as I mumbled, “Oh, please don’t do that,” a squad car pulled up behind and buzzed the siren.
Before I could say anything, another person exclaimed “That taxi over there hit him!” The officer asked if I was injured and required any medical attention, but I said I just needed something to soak up my now quite-bloody arm, which he quickly provided. Then he went over to get the taxi driver who had been waiting in his cab after pulling to the curb. Since I wasn’t too badly hurt, the officer said he was just going to provide collision information cards for the driver to fill out in case I woke up the next day and couldn’t move.
The cab driver, a young and polite African fellow, was terrified, however. While the officer was getting the cards from his car, the cabbie pleaded with me, begging me not to report anything, saying he would lose his job and imploring me with sad details about his family. He kept repeating “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you, please, tell the man, please,” over and over again. I told him I felt fine and didn’t think I would have to make a statement or anything, but I just wanted his info as a precaution in case I ended up with some freak injury once the adrenalin wore off. At the same time, I also warned him that he needed to be much more careful in the future, especially on a crazy street like Market, and that the move he pulled would have been unsafe under any circumstances.
With the situation resolved, we all went on our separate ways. Hopefully the whole incident left a lasting impression on the cab driver so he drives a little more carefully from now on! It’s not like he did it on purpose, but there’s a reason why cabbies in this city have such a notorious reputation. As for me, hopefully my sore elbow won’t affect my drumming during the recording we’re planning on doing in the coming weeks. It could easily have been much worse, so I’m happy that we were all able to walk away and go about the rest of our day. Be careful out there, folks!
Previously:
Pedestrian Struck by Taxi on Market; Muni gives up
Cyclist Down at Fremont and Market
