Drivers hate Cambridge cyclists, but killing them is a little extreme

Those wipers won't work anymore via Lacrymosa

Last night, on my bus ride home, I was almost an accessory to a murder. For reals, y’all. I was standing on the bus, minding my own business (mostly – who minds their own business on the bus?) when suddenly the driver slammed on the breaks with so much force that I lifted off my right foot, balanced on my left, and clung for dear life to the pole in front of me with both hands.

In case you’re wondering, even for Boston drivers, that was one wild stop.

When the bus finally stopped moving, and the passengers were able to breathe again, the mutterings started up immediately.

“Oh my goodness”

“Did you see?”

“He almost hit her!”

“Is she ok?”

“She was in the way.”

“She was trying to turn.”

“Oh.”

What’s happening? I peeked over the crowd toward the front of the bus just in time to see the bus doors open. Outside of them, the shrieking female voice of a cyclist with a blinking backpack yelled at the driver for being reckless.

“You could kill somebody that way!” She shouted (that’s all I could make out).

He got off the bus and talked to her, while the rest of us looked around and continued muttering to ourselves. When the bus driver got back on the bus, the crowd started in on him in accusatory tones:

“Sir, is she all right?”

“Did you hit her?”

The bus driver sighed audibly (I mean, if I could here it from where I was standing, it was WAY too loud of a sigh), then shouted out of the door:

“Ma’am, do you need medical attention?”

Now...wouldn’t you think he asked her that the first time around?

“Ma’am?”

I couldn’t hear the woman anymore, but I could see her. She was on the side of the bus, massaging her arm, not responding to the bus driver at all.

It was only then that I realized the bus driver had nearly taken that poor girl’s arm right off. She was out riding at night (which I would never do period, let alone in Boston). Attempting to make a turn, she stuck her arm out to the left. The driver, barreling down the street like a hell hound, saw her at the last minute (despite her blinking red biker light), and avoided – just barely – amputating her arm clean off.

The driver got back on the bus, climbed into his seat and closed the doors.

“Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital?” Someone said, piping up from the crowd.

“No,” the driver replied, “she’s alright. I asked her if she needed medical attention and she said no. She’s fine. She’s just in shock.”

Yeah, we were all in a little bit of shock. It’s not everyday you ride on a bus that practically mows someone down. Sheesh!

Several people got off at the next stop. At first, I thought that was their destination, but most of them stood at the stop, patiently waiting for the next bus. They weren’t willing to gamble their lives on continuing to ride with our driver.

No, I didn’t get off the bus. I was utterly exhausted and needed to get home.

To his credit, the driver did show some sort of remorse. He kept apologizing to the riders as they got off the bus.

Of course, his apology was entirely negated by the fact that kept speeding like a maniac.