In an instant a hit-and-run driver derailed bicyclist Fletcher Parker’s plans for a better future.
The 26-year-old Kauai native who moved to Honolulu three months ago was riding home the night of Jan. 14 from tending bar at Longhi’s restaurant at Ala Moana Center when a vehicle making a right turn struck his bicycle’s rear tire, sending him over the handlebars.
He landed face first on the pavement, breaking his jaw in three places, chipping his upper teeth and badly misaligning his lower teeth.
The driver didn’t stop.
"I never lost consciousness but I saw stars," Parker said. He managed to crawl onto the sidewalk at Ward Avenue and King Street, where he called his sister and a roommate. They took him to Straub Hospital.
Parker and his family said they hope talking about his ordeal will bring attention to the need for drivers to look out for bicyclists and for bicyclists to watch out for themselves.
His sister, Rachel Parker, said she wants people "to know that bicycles are out there. I was personally hit twice. … People just don’t look."
A state Department of Health analysis of data from 2007 through 2011 shows 13 of the 15 residents who died in bicycle crashes in that period were hit by a motor vehicle. While the number of fatal crashes is low, 856 resident bicyclists were struck by motor vehicles.
Police Maj. Sean Naito said Parker’s case will be directed to the Traffic Division for investigation because it was a hit-and-run.
Parker did not get a look at the car, but guesses it was a smaller car "because it didn’t run me over."
He said he harbors no anger for the driver and that the driver may have had good reason not to stop. Still, he added, "I’m a firm believer in karma."
Rachel Parker said, "For the driver not do anything about it, it’s just cold. My brother could have died."
Parker underwent five hours of surgery Jan. 16 at the Queen’s Medical Center to repair his jaw, which involved splitting it open to graft plates to the chin bone and wiring his mouth shut for six weeks. He may need a second round of surgery.
He will be unable to return to work for at least six weeks.
The former Lawai resident is fit, surfed a lot and rode his bike a lot on Kauai.
While riding mauka on Ward Avenue, Parker said he would hug the right curb, not wanting to hold up traffic, then ride in the crosswalk on King Street in preparation for riding onto the sidewalk on the mauka side of the street since the road narrows, leaving no space for a bicyclist.
Hawaii Bicycling League Executive Director Chad Taniguchi says Parker made two mistakes: not having lights on his helmet and on the front and back of the bike while riding at night and failing to ride in the middle of the lane before and while crossing the intersection.
(Taniguchi pointed out that the right lane on Ward makai of King is a dedicated right-turn lane.)
He advises cyclists to ride the middle of a lane and to stay there well before reaching, and while crossing, an intersection.
"Car drivers are not looking for bicyclists in the crosswalk; they’re looking for slow pedestrians or a fast car coming in the opposite direction," Taniguchi said.
Inexperienced riders and children should walk their bicycles across the intersection in the crosswalk and ride on the sidewalk if the street is too narrow. (Riding a bicycle on the sidewalk is illegal in downtown Honolulu and Waikiki.)
Taniguchi recommends that bicyclists take bike safety classes including a commuter class. (See hbl.org for more information and click on the Education tab.)
Parker’s accident is a setback for his plans to attend Honolulu Community College, where he wants to study marine fabrication and mechanics.
"It puts my whole life on hold, my aspirations, my plans," he said.
"It’s going to be quite an expensive bike ride," Parker said, then added, "Everything happens for a reason. At least I’m not dead."
