Crawling Along In Traffic The Hard Way + Video

John Burns
by John Burns

Reason #8,457,231 why you should always gird for battle.

California 91 is a notorious traffic chokepoint, which in this particular case is a good thing. As Armando Vergara was making his way home during rush hour last Friday (May 1), he fell off his bike (some say he was pushed) and found himself hung up in the undercarriage of a Ford pickup truck (one of several million on its way to the Inland Empire). Luckily, a driver two lanes over spotted what he thought was a bumper underneath the Ford until he saw it had legs. Even more luckily, traffic was only lurching along at about 5 mph, and that driver and several others jumped out of their cars and brought it to a complete halt.

According to the Riverside Press Enterprise, Byron Holeman was the man who jumped out of his vehicle and captured the moment on video. Another motorist who stopped was Andrew Hubbard, a firefighter-paramedic on his way to work.

In an instant, a group of the same people who often seem to be trying to kill us snapped into action to rescue Vergara, using borrowed jacks to lift a rear wheel and rear axle into the air until he could be safely pulled out. Paramedics arrived and took Vergara to Riverside Community Hospital, where he was treated for minor scrapes, bruises and road rash.

Wear your gear, people, and be very, very careful in heavy traffic. And try to be nice to the cars. You never know when you might need a bunch of them to come to your rescue.

John Burns
John Burns

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