Here is Gladstone's own account of the accident:
"Around 5 pm on Thursday 30 October, I was riding from the South End to Brighton. Turned left from Berkeley St. onto Comm. Ave. I saw the light was red at Clarendon, so I started to brake. The light turned green so I picked up speed again. I was going about 15-18 mph (I'm confident of this, since I have a computer on the bike I was riding) when I reached the intersection.
Just before I reached the intersection, the pedestrian, who was apprently rushing across the street (from my left) because the light had changed, crossed in front of me. I tried to yell and brake, but it was too late. I must have instinctively turned my head down, because my scalp hit the pedestrian's face. I ended up standing. My bicycle was on the ground.
The pedestrian was face down in the crosswalk, next to my bike. I asked him if he was ok and got no answer. I then yelled for someone to call the police and an ambulance and radioed my dispatcher to tell him what happened and to get an ambulance.
I put my hand on top of my head and felt something hard and jagged and removed my hand quickly. I checked to see if the pedestrian was breathing (while passerby asked questions like "whose fault was it?", "is he [me] a courier?" etc...). He was breathing, but not responding to my questions.
Traffic (including the vehicles who the pedestrian had passed in front of before the collision) moved along the whole time, except for a taxi-driver on Clarendon who stopped and radioed for help. The fire department arrived first. They made me sit down, because I was bleeding a lot, and inspected my head and bandaged it (they told me there was something - possibly a tooth - stuck in it), while others tended to the pedestrian. Eventually, the police and ambulances arrived. I described what happened to the police and was taken to Brigham and Women's hospital, where the ER folks removed a crown, part of a tooth, and part of a filling from my head, and closed the wound (it cut down to the skull apparently).
I retrieved my bicycle from the Police on Saturday and it was generally in good shape, except for some bloodstains (mine, from when I picked the bike up when the police told me to move it). I noticed afterwards that the handlebars are bent somewhat as well. I believe I somehow pressed down on them quickly when the collision occured.
My head is ok. I still have a bump and it hurts a little, but I had the stitches removed last Friday and am told it is healing well.
I gather that Mr. Spring is being kept in a medically-induced coma by doctors, to aid healing, and should recover, although I'm not positive what this means. I piece this together from what I've been told by police, Ms. Daly (the Globe 'journalist' who wrote Friday's article), and my father, who has spoken to Mrs. Spring several times to express his and my concern for Mr. Spring's condition.
I'm less interested in discussing who was right/wrong in this particular case than the way people have reacted.
There are many troubling things about this. People were more concerned with the fact that I may be a courier, and the issue of who was at fault than with the well-being of someone lying unconcious on the pavement, bleeding. Motorists were in such a hurry to get home that they did not stop, and none have come forth as witnesses. Ms. Daly told me she was aware of the facts of the case and still wrote the article she did. The Boston Police will not issue me a courier license, claiming they cannot while the accident is under investigation, although the investigator (Officer Vincent Adduci, who has been extremely helpful during all of this) says the investigation is over and is trying to make it possible for me to work again.
I'm concerned about (but not surprised by) the reaction in the papers and in the business community in general. I would hope that publicizing an accident like this would make everyone realize how dangerous the streets can be and be more careful. Of course, riding around during the past week (with a helmet now) I'm even more impressed by how willing pedestrians are to run into the street, ignoring the dangers around them.
Ms. Daly wrote: ''There is almost no one who doesn't have a story about couriers,'' said Boston attorney Carmen Durso, who was hit last year as he tried to cross Bromfield Street downtown. ''That messenger said to me, `If I was going faster, I would have really hurt you.' ... They have no concern.''
Nowhere does she say that the attorney was not at least partly at fault in the accident. Also, while I don't know what tone the messenger used, his warning seems to me to possibly indicate some concern. Most people don't realize the real danger of a pedestrian/bicycle collision and his warning should have made Mr. Durso think a little. But listening to and considering the words of others seem to be forgotten tools for some.
While I'm sure that, as has been noted, there are lots of reckless cyclists (and motorists and pedestrians) I feel like no one is willing to own up to his own responsibility. Pedestrians have the most to lose and are the most able to change direction quickly, yet everyone just complains about "protecting the rights of pedestrians". While I'm for protecting one's rights, shouldn't people be concerned with protecting their persons first? What good is being in the [legal] right when you are seriously injured or killed? You have to be looking out for people doing stupid things, not just exercising your own legal rights and ignoring the well-being of yourself and others.
I know. I'm preaching to the converted. And I feel like a kindergarten teacher saying some of these things.
Hopefully, Mr. Spring will recover, I will be able to work as a messenger again, and people will think just a little more.
If only life were that simple...
Jonathan M. Gladstone
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