On the way to work this AM I witnessed the near death of one commuter. Now I have been involved in several crashes all of which have been caused by my error (usually due to sand or other loose road material) but none involving an auto which this lucky rider had just avoided.
The near crash was at Williamson and John Nolen along the East side of the intersection. This AM there was a long train blocking all traffic except traffic heading west on Williamson turning left onto John Nolen and traffic heading east on John Nolen turning right onto Williamson. I was waiting for the train to pass on Williamson facing West looking towards the capital on the far right side of the street. There were four or five other riders waiting for the train to pass as well. Cars were backed up for at least a block in the far two right lanes on Williamson but traffic was flowing freely on the far left lane turning left onto John Nolen. Anyway I had been waiting for the train to pass for at least two minutes when a rider coming off the bike path on East Wilson enters the intersection crossing from my right heading towards the lake path at Machinery Row. I have no idea what this rider was thinking as he did not slow down or even look for oncoming traffic. I suspect he assumed all traffic would be stopped for the train but that's just a guess. Now as the rider it would have been difficult to see any approaching autos in the left third lane due to the stalled traffic in the first two lanes but he proceeded across the intersection traveling at maybe 10 mph. As you can guess there is an auto heading down the far left lane on Williamson turning left onto John Nolen when this rider crosses the auto's path. The auto driver slam on his breaks siding sideways into the intersection some how avoiding the rider and the stalled traffic to his right. I have to give the auto driver credit for his attentiveness as he would not have had much of a window to avoid the rider due to the stalled traffic. The train was a long one and I another minute or two to digest what nearly happened. One of the auto waiting for the train to pass had his window down and said "man he did not even look". He then looked at me and said "that's the luckiest guy on earth". I did not answer but watched the rider proceed down the lake path like nothing had even happened.
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