eofelis 

Today in Grand Junction, Colorado:

https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/conte...crash_WWW.html

Elderly couple crashes downtown bike shop

Wednesday, April 26, 2006
By MIKE SACCONE
The Daily Sentinel

A downtown bike shop received an automotive makeover this afternoon when an elderly couple’s car accelerated over the curb and through the shop’s front.

Police Officer Martin Donohue said the driver of a light-blue Oldsmobile accidentally placed the car in gear from a nearby parking space and accelerated up over the curb, through a large metal water box and finally through the plate-glass shop window.

No one was injured in the accident, though the elderly couple was taken away by emergency responders to be checked out.

Chris Brown, owner of the damaged bike shop, said in addition to the plate glass window, he estimated he lost between $3,000 and $4,000 in bikes and a big-screen TV.

Brown said that at the time of the accident, he and several shop workers were sitting in the back enjoying a late lunch when they heard what sounded like a car crash. He said he got up, looked and “saw a parked car on our showroom floor.”

Even though shops on Main Street occasionally have these sorts of incidents, Brown said he was amazed the couple’s car squeezed between the sculptures and other obstacles on the curb.

“I don’t think I could have done that with a bike!” he said.

Robert Adams, who was window-shopping for bikes when the car popped the curb, said he heard the collision with a water box and jumped out of the way.

“They couldn’t have missed me by more than 2 inches,” Adams said.

Adams said his heart nearly stopped as he stepped aside only to see glass and brick rain down on the car, then lodge in the shop front.

DCCommuter

Was the bike shop being operated in a vehicular manner?

UmneyDurak

I'm a strong believer in mandatory testing every 5 years. Written and driving test.

baj32161

Let the flame wars commence

jur

Someone please break it to the LBS owner that big screen TV was actually the shop front window. And they were loafing in the back on their backsides instead of fixing bikes.

Dead Extra #2

You get a gold star for the day.

56/12 and 22/28

What a bunch of n00bs.

If they were on bikes, it wouldn't have happened.

DCCommuter

Yeah, when I read that I assumed "late lunch" was a euphemism for illicit behavior.

Gotta go get some late lunch!

ericgu

I've never understood the way newspapers write stories like this. It's always the car's fault...

"...an elderly couple’s car accelerated over the curb and through the shop’s front."

Why not just write:

"a driver mistakenly drove over the curb and through the shop's front."

(presuming, of course, that it was a mistake, and the shop hadn't messed up the drivers Orbea or something...)

eofelis 

I had just gotten home, turned the TV on to wait to watch the Simpsons, when there was a news clip about this incident. There are two bike shops on Main St. One of them (one of my favorite LBSs in town) is right on a corner in a place more likely to get hit.

So I had to get on my bike and go downtown and see for myself. I was surprised that it was the other bike shop. The LBS that the car ran into has several large brick pedastel/planters out front. The car squeezed right between two of them. I was amazed. By the time I got there, the car was long gone and most everything had been swept up. It was turned into an open-air bike shop.

This shop doesn't sell much high end stuff. It caters to towner riders, tandems, and even has sold a pedal car or two. I told Chris Brown that if those folks had been driving a pedal car, it wouldn't have happned.

There really was a big screen TV in there!

I knew people who have worked at this shop (including my bf). It's pretty low key, they probably were "just having lunch."

colinm

Hang out by the dumpster for the scraps of whatever was toasted in the incident. And it's always a blue Olds, isn't it...

yespatterns

+1

zowie

lawsuits

atbman

I think we should be congratulating the driver on his/her efficiency and consideration to cyclists.

It is rare for a motorist to destroy several bikes at one go without injuring a single rider.

Big Tommy C

Guns always "go off" in all the stories, too, when in fact they are fired.