The human toll of streets that are unsafe for bicyclists
Connor Bolton was hit while riding his bicycle on 1st Ave. No. near 42nd Street in St. Petersburg last October. He broke two legs, shattered his hip and fractured his skull. He was in canada goose outlet paypal a coma for two weeks at Bayfront and doctors told his mother that he might not survive. Bolton was finally discharged after a month in the hospital, along with a 42 pound weight loss, and has been in rehabilitation ever since. canada goose outlet toronto He has graduated from a wheelchair, to a walker and now uses a cane. [Courtesy of Bolton family]
Canada Goose Jackets Someone is pounding on the front door. It’s dark, well past bedtime. For Martha Bolton, those first few minutes are a blur of waking up and trying canada goose outlet washington dc to make sense of everything. Canada Goose Jackets
Canada Goose Parka The man at the door introduces himself as a St. Petersburg police detective. He begins asking canada goose parka outlet about her 23 year old son, Connor. Does he live here? Is he home? The questions made no sense canada goose outlet store near me until he asked: Canada Goose Parka
Does he own an orange bicycle?
canada goose coats on sale “That’s when it hit me. I said, canada goose jacket outlet uk ‘Oh, my God, is Connor okay?’ ” Bolton canada goose outlet black friday said. “He wouldn’t answer me. He just said, ‘I need you to come with me to the hospital.’ ” canada goose coats on sale
Is Connor okay?
There was no simple answer in the middle of that October night in 2017, and a year later it’s still a question full of qualifiers.
canada goose black friday sale A lifetime ago, his father was a professional mountain bike rider and so, naturally, two wheels had always been Connor’s favored form of transportation. He had hopped on his bike several hours earlier that Sunday evening to go see the new Blade Runner canada goose stockists uk sequel at a theater. canada goose black friday sale
canada goose Somewhere around First Avenue and canada goose outlet hong kong 42nd Street, a car ran into Connor and then drove away. Surgeons were already deep in action by the time Martha reached Bayfront Health St. Petersburg and was greeted by a chaplain. She would later find out Connor had broken femurs in both his legs, shattered his hip and fractured his skull. canada goose
Canada Goose online He was in a coma for two weeks, and then somehow took a turn for the worse. Canada Goose online
Canada Goose Coats On Sale The Wall Street Journal recently caused a stir around here with a headline and story that described Tampa Bay, and Pinellas canada goose outlet County in particular, as the most dangerous place in America to ride a bicycle. Canada Goose Coats On Sale
Turns out, the numbers cited by the Journal, while factually correct, were also a bit dated.
Canada Goose Online If you measure fatalities over a 10 year span, Pinellas County was, indeed, the nation’s hazard zone for bikers. Canada Goose Online
But, canada goose premium outlet as Tampa Bay Times reporter Daniel Figueroa IV reported this week, the bay area’s standing has improved somewhat in the past five years.
Even so, the fatality rate in Florida was more than double the national average. https://www.canadagoosejacketonlines.ca And it was even worse when you singled out Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas.
buy canada goose jacket cheap So what makes Tampa Bay’s streets so deadly? buy canada goose jacket cheap
There are plenty of factors, and no single explanation. Experts cite demographics that canada goose sale uk include high density, a sizable elderly population buy canada goose uk and tourists unfamiliar with streets. Many Florida communities also have been slow to embrace bicycle safety standards for their roadways. And there are suggestions that Florida is such a car centric state that drivers are not accustomed to looking for pedestrians and cyclists.
Any, or all, of those theories might be valid.
But for Connor Bolton, now 24, the true answer is a little more personal.
Martha and her other children spent days, nights and weekends in Connor’s hospital room.
buy canada goose jacket When he finally awoke, they thought the worst was past them. And then his lungs began filling up with fluid, and he became unresponsive once again. They played nature shows and music in his room. They followed all the proper protocols. But mostly, it seemed, they waited for him to pass. buy canada goose jacket
canada goose uk black friday “It canada goose outlet buffalo was horrible,” she says now. “Everyone in the hospital thought it was all over. I’d say, ‘He squeezed my hand,’ and they were like, ‘Yeah, that was just reflexes.’ They were sure he was gone. canada goose uk black friday
canada goose clearance sale “And then all of the sudden, he opened his eyes.” canada goose clearance sale
canada goose clearance A month at Bayfront was followed by another nine months in a hospital bed in the family living room. Connor’s therapy began in a wheelchair, progressed to a walker and later a cane. He lost more than 40 pounds in the hospital, and still has a burning sensation in his feet from nerve damage. canada goose clearance
canada goose store The life he canada goose outlet black friday sale once imagined had vanished overnight, and canada goose outlet toronto address he couldn’t even remember canada goose coats uk how it happened. He has only pieced together the events of that day from what family and police have told him. canada goose store
And now he dreads the idea of limping into a courtroom later this year to face 28 year old Quinn Hessinger, who was eventually charged with providing false information to police, driving an unregistered vehicle and leaving the canada goose outlet online scene of a crash involving injury.
Connor, meanwhile, has re enrolled in St. Petersburg College where he is pursuing a degree canada goose outlet real in business. He continues rehab daily, and even looks forward to getting back on a bicycle.
