A Maplewood Richmond Heights seventh-grader ‘suffered minor injuries’ Monday morning, Oct. 8 after colliding with a passenger vehicle at the intersection of Martini and Rannells avenues, according to Maplewood Police.
MRH director of communications, Ed Rich, sent a letter to MRH parents that day:
The Maplewood Police Department and paramedics arrived quickly, as did principal Mike Dittrich and the boy’s father. He was treated and was cleared to attend classes today.
This collision could have been much, much worse. Most of the time, when a cyclist and a car collide, it’s the cyclist who is most likely to be hurt. This holds true for anyone on foot or anyone riding a skateboard, too. We are thankful that this student chose to wear a helmet on his commute today.
In the last year, the district has taken steps to reduce the risk of these types of injuries, in the form of painted crosswalks and monitoring traffic during arrival and dismissal, but it requires a great deal of personal responsibility on your part to be absolutely safe.
Please take a moment to read this brief but informative guideline sheet from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The major takeaway is, ride your bike or your board as if you are another car on the road… obeying all traffic signs and signals and always think defensively.
Your safety is of the utmost importance to us.
I live with a biker who was hit by a car that ran a yield sign, so I have the utmost respect and concern for the danger that can befall someone on a bicycle. On the other hand, I was driving home from work today beside/in back of a biker on Taylor between Duncan and Chateau. The biker did not stop at even one stop sign, and there are several. I think there is a lot yet to learn by both drivers and cyclists, not the least of which is to always assume the other party has a good chance of behaving stupidly.
Re-stating Keith’s comment: “I’ve seen this all my life, motorists do not even look to see if a bike / pedestrian is coming and they all blow thru stop signs and some Red lights, what needs to be done is make it mandatory to take classes about driving safety, if i ever see an accident with a car involved because i seen them run a stop sign, i will stay and tell the truth, it was the drivers fault!!!!”
I wish you would have been around when a driver blew through a red light and hit me–the third car on a left green arrow at Big Bend & highway 40 in Feb. 2011. He lied and said he had a green light. If only witnesses would have come forward, it would have helped me a lot instead of being my word against his. My brain was scrambled and had trouble speaking – I probably had a concussion.
I forgot to say – schools used to offer Driver’s Ed classes and I took the class when I was in high school. I thought it was very helpful. I hear today many schools have eliminated the class or there is a long waiting list for it. I have thought maybe everyone should go through driving retesting every so many years, maybe 12 or 20? Some drive like they don’t know the laws.
I’ve seen this all my life, Bikers do not even look to see if a car is coming and they all blow thru stop signs and some Red lights, what needs to be done is make it mandatory to take classes about bike safety, if i ever see an accident with a bike involved because i seen them run a stop sign, i will stay and tell the truth, it was the bikers fault!!!!
Where does it say in the article the kid blew through a stop sign? All I see is that he collided with a passenger vehicle. Or did you see it happen?
Yes, I’ve seen bikers run stop signs, but I also see people in cars run the stop signs and especially ignore no left turn signs.
I never said he did, In general bikers do this, and I know there are people that run them in cars also, but i see it more bikers than drivers!!!
I don’t know what the point of your post is.
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