Colorado bicyclist who survived accident wants to foster respect between drivers and cyclists
A Colorado cyclist who survived being hit by a car is using his life-altering experience to create change among cyclists and drivers.
The accident happened in May at the intersection of Crowfoot Valley Road and Founders Parkway in Castle Rock. The driver has not been charged. The cyclist, Gary Robinson, has one passion.
"I've been riding a bike since I can remember," Robinson said.
He founded the Colorado Avid Cyclist blog to share that passion with the world.
But in May, that passion nearly cost him his life.
"I signaled to turn. I had changed two lanes over from the far right to the far left," Robinson said.
While riding, he was hit by a truck.
"I can remember hearing a crash, like a loud crash, and then instantly I realized it was me," Robinson said.
The impact threw him 60 feet.
"I remember just flying and then rolling," Robinson said. "I shouldn't be here."
Robinson remembers the driver shouting profanity at him.
"I didn't see him call 911. He didn't even say, 'are you okay?'" Robinson recalled.
After being rushed to the hospital, Robinson got a text from a friend.
"He said, 'is this you?'" Robinson said.
It was a screenshot of a post in a Facebook group, apparently made by the driver.
"The post had a picture of me laying there with paramedics working on me. It said this guy had cut in front of him, used some explicit words, and in the first comment he said, 'I need to find out if anyone knows who he is to make sure he pays for the damage to my truck,'" Robinson said.
Robinson was shocked by the post but even more shocked by the comments.
"It was very derogatory and I would say almost inhumane kind of talk. I don't think any of them knew it was me. Some of these guys I actually knew pretty well," Robinson said.
Weeks later, he noticed similar comments on a post about cyclists from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
"'You should just go behind them with a snowplow,'" Robinson said, quoting a comment.
The vitriol disturbed him.
"All I could think of was, 'would you say that if your daughter or wife was one of these cyclists?'" Robinson said.
So he reached out to Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly.
"It was obviously a very sensitive subject with the community," Weekly said.
Now his office is stepping up its enforcement and education on road laws.
"The thing is, people need to just obey the law on both sides. They need to not let their emotions get the better of them," Weekly said.
Robinson is partnering with them.
"It's not an 'us versus them' all the time," Robinson said.
He hopes his passion can foster compassion between drivers and cyclists.
"We live and breathe in this community together," Robinson said. "Why don't you want to try to get along and respect each other?"
Luckily, Robinson was not severely injured in the accident. He says doctors called it miraculous that he didn't break a bone. He did have severe road rash, scrapes and bruises, and he says the recovery has been painful, both physically and emotionally. But he believes he survived for a reason: to share his message of respecting others.
