Hit & Run

There's always a story when I travel on a bus. And as of late, there tends to be a story when I wait for buses as well. The latest one, not so pleasant.

I was waiting by the bus stop next to Devon House for a bus to go up Hope Road. I was looking in the direction of Waterloo Road when I heard a crash. I turned around, and I saw a helmet, a bike, and a man, all on the asphalt.

Most evenings as I wait fisr the bus I'm annoyed by the silly drivers who decide to beat the rules. The 'rule' in the case is that drivers heading down Hope Road between 7am & 7pm are not allowed to turn right onto Kingsway (the road just above Devon House). So what do the idiots do? They continue pass the turnoff, and then block traffic on both sides as they do a u-turn in the middle of rush hour traffic. After that. They make their way back up Hope Road and onto Kingsway. Some make the turn 10 or 20 metres after Kingsway, others do it after 5.

5 was the case today. But the driver paid for his decision. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper heading down Hope Road, but clear heading up (in the vicinity of Kingsway). What it appears happened was that a driver who was in the left lane heading down got the drivers in the right lane to allow him to cross them so that he could do his u-turn. Unfortunately, (s)he didn't take note of the biker who was passing to the right of the two lines. So, in turning, he drove straight into the biker, knocking him off the cycle.

The biker jumped up immediately and headed toward the car very quickly, which at that time was stationary. But not for long. All of a sudden, the driver slammed the vehicle into reverse, got him/herself clear of the sidewalk next to Devon House, then shifted into gear, completed the u-turn with a load screech and sped away onto Kingsway. This process took about 4-5 seconds. A bunch of us stood by the bus stop and witnessed the madness. It's unlikely that anyone caught the plates on the vehicle- the driver was out of there in a flash.

The immediate response by all was anger, anger for the fact that the driver didn't have the decency to stop and ensure that the victim was OK. It just seemed inexcusible. But a few minutes later, I reviewed what I'd just witnessed. "The biker jumped up immediately and headed toward the car very quickly." I can imagine the driver would've been frightened after the accident; what was (s)he thinking as the biker got up and approached the car?

All of a sudden, my opinion wasn't quite as black and white. I know the Jamaica we live in. It's not only in inner city communities that people get aggressive. At work I read accident reports everyday, and from very simple accidents where a driver jumps out of a car and verbally attacks the other party, and in some cases they attempt to get physical. So if I were the one in that car, frightened after the accident, and then I see this raging angry man heading toward me, would I really stop? I'd say 'yes' now, but I've never experienced that, so I wouldn't know. Who knows, maybe the driver went to the police immediately after. But the question is, is it ever OK to drive away?