Bikes-N-Drums

So I'm helping a friend move and she had bought one of those Shurgard Storage options where they bring the big crate to your house and come take it away once it's full. If anyone hasn't seen this, they bring the crates in on a flatbed tractor trailer with a forklift hooked on the back. So we fill up the crate and they come back to get it.
Now, this neighborhood isn't easy even for cars: a narrow one-way with cars parked on the shoulder all the way down. It's also predominantly a Muslim neighborhood, with a mosque on the corner, mixed in with drunk Ga. Tech students. So anyway, as the truck is loaded up and they're getting ready to pull off, we all came to find that two little children (apparently of Muslim faith) had been playing in the area and one of them had left their bike, well, kind of out in the street and behind the big tractor trailer. The driver, attempting to negotiate the street, found it necessary to back the rig up. Unfortunately, this manoeuver turn the child's little pink bike into a York Peppermint Flattie. It seemed to cause some alarm in the driver, who apparently noticed the noise and his flatbed wobbling around behind him.
The two non-English speaking children watch with a horrible look on their faces as the irked redneck driver gets out of the rig, surveys the damage and says something to the effect of: "Okay, uh, your bike got run over cuz you left it in the street, mmm-kay? Don't leave bikes in the street otherwise I'll run 'em over! See?". Of course, he's yelling it at the kids because they obviously speak no english. The kids, silent, still have a horrible look on their face as the driver heads off with no sympathy or compensation. They, without a word, drag the pink steel carcass back into their yard and go in the house.
I was busy and didn't have an interpreter so I was unable to right this wrong.

sscyco

If you had an interpreter - what wrong would you have righted?

Bikes-N-Drums

The driver walked right past the bike on the way to his rig, then backed over it. It didn't seem right to me. I would've given the family contact info for the company if they saw it that way too.

mechBgon

Poor kids

sscyco

Lucky it was the bike and not one of the kids - sounds like the driver was not doing his job - got to be carful driving on of those big things.

1oldRoadie

DO YOU WANT TO FEEL GOOD FOR A MONTH????

Find the kids, get their name, call the moving company and MAKE THEM GET THE KID A NEW BIKE!:thumbup:

I got faith in you man, you can harrass the moving company until they buy the kid a better bike than was wrecked.

oceanrider

Yeah. Ditto OldRoadie. I get happy just thinking about it. I'm sure there's a way to track down this truck and the driver.

JDP

Hey, I resemble that remark. At least, I used to.

joeprim

You didn't say that he walked past the bike without moving it at first. On the other hand do the kids share some responsibility for leaving the bike on the street? I feel bad for them and their loss but can't blame the driver complety especially if he hadn't seen it before he got in the truck even then he may not have realized that he would have to back up - ok in that envirnment he should have anticipated it and looked all around before getting in the truck.

Joe

cycletourist

I say leave it alone. The kid learned a valuable lesson... a lesson that will not be learned if you replace his bike.

As Ben Franklin said (or maybe it was Mark Twain), "By grabbing a cat by the tail you will learn something that can be learned no other way."

Ritalin

they may still have they bike. take pictures of it. and if the company doesn't want to pay for the bike, take it to the tech paper, I'm sure they'd print a story about it. or even a bigger atlanta area paper. bad press for the moving company will get their attention.... they may even get 2 bikes

RonH

Sounds like he saw that they were not "American" kids and thought this was partial payback for 9/11.
Too bad he was such a jerk.

I think 1oldRoadie has a good idea. Do what you can to get the moving company to pay for the bike.

sscyco

Oh! Harsh assumption - and you know what they say about people who assume - Let's just go by what was posted, not throw your twisted assumption into the mix.

Bikes-N-Drums

I doubt this was "9/11 payback", rather a simpleton who's probably socially challenged anyway trying to deal with a situation he didn't want to or know how to deal with. He was a sort of dim bulb kind of guy. There is a certain amount of blame on both sides of this story. But if it had been me driving the truck I probably would have handled it a little differently.

webist

A UPS driver once ran over my daughter's bike parked outside her college dorm. He left a note. Within 2 weeks UPS had purchased her a new bike.

I guess there're good and bad in the world.

MisterJ

I think that the moving company owes the kid a bike. Period.

If he had backed over a car, would there be any question?

It is the drivers responsibility to ensure that the way is clear. Period.

diamondback

The kids learned two valuable lessons. 1: don't be careless with your stuff or you won't have anything. 2: not everyone in the world likes you or cares, so get over it.

Why does anyone need an interpretor in their own neighborhood. If americans have to learn 64 languages we're through as a unified country and become a collection of borroughhoods and territories.

A walmart bike $25, lessons learned priceless. It's not about the bike because the kids will get a new bike and next time they won't leave it the street.

supcom

It is the truck drivers responsibility to ensure that he operates his vehicle safely. This includes avoiding hazards in street like potholes, bicycles and children themselves. I find the original poster's comments outrageous. He tells us multiple times that these kids are supposedly non-english speakers and are muslim (as if any of that makes a whit of difference) and was too busy helping his friend with the move that involved the truck in question. Yet he had plenty of time to watch the incident and report it to us.

Had the bicycle been the poster's brand new LBS bike locked to a lamp post at the curb, I'll bet he would have been all over that truck driver's ass and on the phone with the company CEO.

The only right thing to have done would have been to go down and tell the truck driver that he had seen the incident and get his name and license number from the truck. He, or his friend, should have interceded on behalf of the kids to find out where they lived and reported the incident to the company that the friend hired to do the move.

The truck driver's actions were reprehensible. He bullied some kids so that they wouldn't report him. He knew he was at fault.

webist

Accepting responsibility? In this day and age? In America? No. No. Blame someone else. Sue 'em if you can.

Inkwolf

I did a little training with the Post Office. One of the things they hammered into our heads a thousand times was DO-NOT-BACK-UP. Even if it's unavoidable, they make it clear that you, personally, are responsible for any disaster that occurs in any backing-up incident. Too many Post Office vehicles get backed up over kids, little old ladies, and dogs. You can't see behind your back wheels, so you make SURE there's nothing there before you move that way.

The driver should have made sure the way was clear before backing up the truck. He owes those kids a new bike. "Teach them a lesson" eh? Suppose it had been a kid on a trike sitting behind the truck instead of a bike--that lesson would be pretty permanent, wouldn't it? The truck driver is older and bears the responsibility for this incident--what about the lesson HE should learn? Isn't it more important to learn to be careful of safety when backing up a multi-ton vehicle than it is to learn to put your toys away? Or are 'lessons' only applicable to the small and helpless?

I'm with those who say follow up and see justice done.

oceanrider

Lessons learned: the world is not a nice place to live and adults are selfish pigs.

-or, in the case of a replaced bike-

in a world where bad things happen, good still exists. There is hope. I will be more careful with my bike next time.

Bikes-N-Drums

Interesting point. The fact they were Muslim does make no difference, I was only illustrating that they spake no anglais. I knew I'd regret stating it that way sooner or later.
And true, if it was my bike I would have been all over his ass but then again he probably couldn't have got away with telling me what he told those kids.
Also, I was there to move a friend, not to address the situations I thought were unscrupulous which I happened to encounter during my duty. Nor, am I claiming I did the right or wrong thing. I'm only reporting what I saw.

joeprim

Interesting! You learned the greatest lesson! Never be a bystander - you knew at the time, in your heart what to do. Here I can only guess but you knew if you should have grabbed the driver and choked him till he got the kids a bike or if the bike got there after he looked around...

Joe

supcom

A five minute call to ShurGard from one of their customers would probably have gotten both the kid and the truck driver what they deserve.

Next time that guy might run over a bike with a kid still attached.

kingajo

The answer to this problem is simple. Write or tell the parents of the kids the name of the storage company. You or your friend must have it since she used their services. But I am wondering if you are so upset by this accident I have to ask, while you were watching all of this transpire why didnt you just yell at the driver to give him some warning of what was about to happen behind him. He should have done a walk around his truck before backing up. But even that sometimes isnt enough. A vehicle can pull up behind him or a child can drop their bike or worse step behind the truck as soon as he walks back up to the cab and still end up hitting it or them. Maybe he was a new driver and unfortunately made a mistake. And trucks have large blind spots so it is impossible to see everything. And in answer to what if it had been a vehicle he hit? They both would have been at fault and the insurance companies would have hashed that out. But if you actually feel that the driver was a jerk Call the company yourself. Then again the driver may have actually been shaken up by the incident himself and just made a bad decision as to how to cope with the problem. Remember this is his livelyhood and every accident goes against him. Be it avoidable or not. Then again he may just be a jerk who didnt give a rats behind about the bike or kids. Make the call. oh by the way I too drive a truck, 40 ton concrete truck everyday.