Just another statistic

I'm not going to worry too much about whether or not I'm being redundant. I'm just going to go with whatever is on my mind when I come to the library. I've just had my 3rd accident in 5 weeks. It's scary to think how close all humans are to just becoming another statistic. Whether it be a person who was shot, hit by a car, killed in a car accident, we're just all so close.

I have numerous close calls daily as a pedestrian since there are no ped. rights in Baltimore. I read in the July issue of Urbanite magazine that a pedestrian is struck every 4 hours in Baltimore. And there are so many incidents each day where I come near getting hit.

Yesterday, I was getting ready to cross York Road (there was no crosswalk anywhere near where I had to cross) and I tripped at the curb and fell into York Road. So the top half of my body was in York Road and the bottom half of my body was on the sidewalk. Luckily I was able to push my body most of the way onto the sidewalk but not completely as I couldn't stand right away. About 5 people saw me but no one asked me if I needed help. I sat on the sidewalk in alot of pain for about 15 minutes and knew that I hadn't broken anything. Eventually I was able to stand up.

Luckily there were no cars near my to turn me into roadkill when I was in the street, but it was a close call. My knees are bruised and skinned up my hands are in pretty good shape. A woman in my building was hit by a car right where I fell, and she was sent to the hospital. It was a serious accident.

Also in the July issue of Urbanite magazine was an article on a plan to create numerous bike trails in Balto. within the next 5 years. It's going to be part of something called East Coast Greenway that will give hikers and bikers a "safe" way of getting from Maine to the Florida Keys. The reason I put "safe" in quotes is because as I've alluded to before, if you are on a bike or walking you have a very high chance of being mugged in Baltimore. The paths are a wonderful thing but won't change the fact that Baltimoreans absolutely need a car if they want to find and keep decent employment and to reduce their chances of becoming just another statistic!