Oblivious Driver Pummels Bicyclist on Missoula’s Russell Street
For those of us who ride our bikes, or have loved ones who ride bikes around Missoula, this is our worst fear. You've seen it time and time again, and it really explodes my blood pressure when drivers do this in crowded school zones. A line of cars in one lane will be stopped for pedestrian traffic when a driver in that lane will become impatient and pop into the other lane to pass. Or, a driver already in the other lane will speed past the stopped drivers and nearly hit school kids crossing the road. Do these drivers think drivers are stopped for no reason!? Texting and driving will get the blame in many of these incidents, but honestly, even without the phone, too many drivers are not paying attention to the big picture around them.
In a video posted to Reddit on Sunday, October 17th, you can clearly see footage from a civilian dashcam. What is captured is the situation I described above: vehicles stopped to allow a man with a bike to use the crosswalk. A truck in the outside lane disregards this, speeding through and running over the man and his bike. It's definitely an "OH S***" moment to watch so be warned, some may consider it graphic or triggering, especially if you've been hit by a vehicle.
In the 48 second clip, you see the driver pull over and rush to help the victim, along with other concerned citizens in traffic. One person picks up the bike and a tire goes rolling, which the driver grabs. The person who owns the dashcam explains in the post that the driver repeatedly asked if he could take the bicyclist to the hospital, which he declined. The dashcam person also says the driver offered to buy the guy a new bike, which I hope he took him up on because his bike looks totaled.
In the comments, you can see people praising the man for stopping and not doing a hit and run, which, as much as his actions suck, is commendable. There are a lot of hit and runs on that stretch of Russell, especially at the nearby intersection of Russell and 3rd. We are happy to see the bicyclist up and walking before the video ends and we hope he got a new bike.