Years ago, I was going down a steep hill on the way to class, when somebody made an illegal left turn right in front of me. The front half of the bike was crumpled and I flew over the car and landed on my unhelmeted head, knocking me out for about twenty minutes and multiple contusions on my left leg.

For the next month or so, I walked with a cane at about half a mile per hour. I could neither push in the clutch pedal of my car nor ride a bike, so my world became very large. The trip to my office or class required nearly an hour, and was very difficult.

Once I was able to ride and drive again, I had no issues, simply because I was so happy to be mobile again. Any anxiety I might have had about road travel was overwhelmed by the feeling of liberation.

Paul