An outbound’ Green Line trolley ‘clipped’ a’ Boston University student crossing Commonwealth Avenue on his bicycle Saturday evening.
The student, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was forced onto his back as he pushed off the side of the T with his feet to avoid going under with the rest of his bike. He received minor injuries to his right leg after his bike landed up on top of his leg. He said at one point his foot may have been under the train as he tried to stop himself from going under.
‘I just did not want to go under the T, for obvious reasons,’ he said after the ambulance had examined his injuries and sent him on his way.
The student said he was leaving the College of Arts and Sciences towards South Campus around 5 p.m. and had difficulty seeing if Commonwealth Avenue was clear because both the 57 Bus and the BU Shuttle were stopped.
He said he inched out in front of the buses to see if he could cross, when a woman in a vehicle waved at him twice to cross. After the woman waved at him to cross a third time, he decided to go. But because he was so focused on the car, he did not check for the T, he said.
‘By the time I got to the middle of the street, the T started honking, and she was slowing down,’ he said. ‘I tried to jump off my bike but still got pulled with it.’
He said the T eventually came to a stop, and after he got up, people ran over to see if he was okay. Two of his friends witnessed the event, he said.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority drivers had passengers exit the T, but they could not exit through the front door because the biker’s pedal was jammed in the door, he said. His bike received no damage.
The Boston Police Department, BU Police and EMT arrived within about three to four minutes, he said. But the T drivers did not say anything to him after the accident.
‘For some reason, the T drivers didn’t talk to me,’ he said, suspecting it was for policy reasons.
BUPD was unavailable for comment at press time.
The biker said neither party was entirely at fault in the accident, but that it was just a ‘one out of a million’ coincidence.
He joked that if he had any advice to bikers it would be to ‘stay calm even though you are about to get hit by a T.’
‘I’m a pretty lucky guy, so guess I was just lucky again,’ he said.
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The lesson is to ignore well-meaning drivers who wave you ahead. They frequently are oblivious to what is happening behind them & along side of them to your peril; even if it means turning your back to them to make them leave.