No Impact Man Avoids Impact

Colin Beavan, aka “No Impact Man,” slipped on a metal road plate while riding his bicycle, spraining his left arm and bruising a rib.  Thankfully, he was in the protected Kent Avenue bike lane.

“If it wasn’t for the bike lane, I would have gotten run over,” he said. “A car would have been bearing down on me. At least I could fall into an area safely.”

I’ve fortunately avoided any major injury, but have had a few close calls with cracked pavement, potholes, and metal plates where, had I gone down, I surely would have been crushed by a car.  Too many of our roads are completely unforgiving; one false move and you’re toast.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have more spaces where tiny mistakes aren’t punishable by death?

I’m glad that Beaven used his accident — and the normally controversy-prone Gersh Kuntzman — to provide a teachable moment.