It was a hot summer day, and I was driving home along the countryside roads. The hot air and brilliant sunshine created grey shadows in the open grain fields spotted with oak trees. Cyclists were in full swing, busy enjoying their summer rides. The sport was in my genes, so fixing my friends’ bicycles was one of my hobbies.
As I was about to reach home, a black pickup truck swerved in front of me, lost control, and collided with a cyclist, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, riding on the side of the road. The impact caused the cyclist to fall off his bike and hit his head on the pavement.
I maintained sufficient distance and safely pulled over onto the shoulder, but the pickup didn’t follow suit and drove away instead. I yelled loudly and waved furiously at the driver to stop, but they just kept going.
With no time to lose, I came to a complete stop and turned on my parking lights. The cyclist was lying unconscious on the side of the road, and his head was bleeding badly. I ran toward him while taking off my shirt, tore it into several long shreds, and put them to his head to prevent additional blood loss.
Once by his side, I also quickly called 911 and reported the nature of what’d happened. I placed another piece of my shirt underneath the cyclist’s head, still talking with the operator until the ambulance, paramedics, and police eventually arrived.
As the cyclist was attended to and taken away to the hospital, police officers investigated the scene and controlled the traffic. After telling the police officer about the nature of the incident, they shook my hand for taking charge of the situation and saving the cyclist’s life.
They said that if the cyclist had been wearing a helmet, they could have prevented their head injury. I agreed, said goodbye to the police officer, and walked to my car.
A few weeks later, I received an update that the driver who hit the cyclist had been apprehended by the police, and the cyclist was in stable condition and on their way toward recovery.
The moral of the story is that cyclists must always wear helmets when riding their bicycles. Although it is a small safety product, wearing one can save a lot of lives.