Hit-and-run wreck injures, angers Fort Worth cyclist

By Alex Branch

abranch@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- Zac Ford left a friend's house about 9 p.m. on Aug. 8 and started pedaling home on his road bike, helmet fastened and LED lights flashing.

He crested a hill on the red bricks of Camp Bowie Boulevard near Crestline Road and rolled toward downtown.

Then, as if a light snapped off, his world went black.

Next thing he knew, it was three hours later. He was in the emergency room at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth with a concussion, road rash on his face and body and stitches in his lower extremities.

Apparently, no witnesses saw what happened to him. But after talking with doctors and the man who found him bleeding and face down in the grassy median, he gradually made sense of it.

A motorist had smashed into him from behind and kept driving.

"Whoever hit me didn't stop and didn't even know if I was alive or dead," said Ford, 26. "It just kind of blows my mind."

Police are investigating the incident as a hit-and-run, but have no "workable leads," said officer Sharron Neal, a police spokeswoman.

Ford, who works as a waiter and keeps a blog about cycling, spent two days in the hospital. He still has symptoms from the concussion and red scabs cover the left side of his body. The injuries to his back make him resemble a burn victim, he said.

On top of the injuries, he hasn't owned a car in nine years and he is stuck walking until he is well enough to ride again.

Cyclists have rights

Ford was riding in the center of the right eastbound lane on Camp Bowie when he was hit, he said. He chose to ride in the middle of the lane because riding on the far right side only encourages drivers to try and squeeze by rather than change lanes to go around him.

Cyclists have the same rights and duties as motorists, a fact that is stressed in the city of Fort Worth's comprehensive bicycling plan.

"When you ride on the far right side, that's how you get hit by a side mirror when a car tries to pass you in the same lane," he said. "Last winter I was riding on Camp Bowie under I- 30 and a girl just came up and all of sudden the side mirror hit my elbow. She said she didn't see me, but she saw me, she just didn't move over far enough when she went around me."

Ford estimated that when he was hit last week he was going at least 20 mph downhill.

A resident of an apartment in the area heard the wreck, found Ford in the grass and called 911. The man later told Ford that, immediately after the wreck, Ford was able to talk to him and tell him how to contact his mother, though Ford had no memory of that.

Bicycle parts scattered

Friends would later find parts of his bicycle scattered around the road, Ford said.

"One of them found my saddle on the far opposite lane, another one found pieces of my wheel and another one found my tire," he said.

After he was released from the hospital, Ford wrote a blog about the incident and posted a picture of the gash in the back of his head. The man who called 911 commented on the blog post, saying he was glad Ford was safe and recovering

Ford said he hopes someone with information about the incident calls police, noting that his 6-foot-5-inch frame likely did some damage to the other vehicle. He said he also hopes the incident is a reminder to the public to drive carefully around cyclists.

The city's bicycle plan strives to triple the number of bicycle commuters, decrease bike-related incidents by 10 percent and attain official designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community through the League of American Bicyclists, according to the city's website. Bicycle lanes have been created south and west of downtown.

Since he blogged about the wreck, Ford has heard from other cyclists sharing stories of similar incidents or close calls, he said.

"It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens pretty frequently," he said. "People really need to be reminded that we're all sharing the road out there."

Alex Branch, 817-390-7689

Twitter: @albranch1

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