Bicycle Austin forum

Songstress

Member

Registered: 2010-01-19

Posts: 1

Driver looking for cyclist she hit in front of St. Ed's

I feel a little nervous posting this here, but hopefully the fact that I AM posting it at all, and that I care about what happened to this person will exonerate me a bit --

I was driving South on S. Congress in the left lane around 7pm on Mon, Jan. 18.  When I came close to one of the crosswalks in front of St. Ed's, I noticed a car in the right lane paused in front of the crosswalk.  I didn't see anyone in the crosswalk, and thought the pedestrian was just then getting to the sidewalk (big mistake.  never making this assumption again.).  By the time I saw the cyclist riding towards the center of Congress (are you supposed to ride your bike or walk it across the street, legally?), I was feet away from the crosswalk.  I slammed on my brakes, but I know I hit this person.  I *think* I just hit their front tire.  Freaking out, I pulled into the turn lane in front of the collision with the intent of finding out if they were ok.  I briefly noticed the person standing in the middle protected area, checking out their bike.  But then I thought, 'I shouldn't just leave my car in the middle of the road. I should park somewhere on the side, and run back on foot,' so I pulled out of the turn lane and parked at the Motor Inn on the West side of S. Congress.  I promptly ran over to the crosswalk, across, and in the direction I thought the cyclist had gone, but didn't find anyone in sight with a bicycle.  Running back to my car, I saw another cyclist and asked if he was the one who got hit, but he said no, and after discussing what happened, he suggested I drive along Congress to see if anyone with a bike was down, mentioned he thought it was cool I actually ran after the cyclist, and wished me good luck.  So I did that, but didn't find anyone that fit the description of someone who had just been hit by a car.  Sigh.  So I went home, posted on facebook, through which a friend suggested I post here. 

My intentions are:
1) To make sure that person is ok, and find out if there's anything I can do for them. 
2) To hopefully communicate to that person that I wasn't actually one of those assholes who runs off, but quite the opposite!!! 

So, that's it, I guess.  The one thing that makes me a bit less panicky about the whole ordeal is that if they were able to get away so quickly, even considering my running after them, they and their bike are probably doing ok.  But still . . . I want to hear that from *them* if any peace of mind is to be had. 

Thank you to anyone who can be of help.