This weekend, Casey and I embarked on a new adventure. As you know, he has been riding his bike without training wheels. In a series of baby steps, he has gone from riding around our building, to exploring the 'streets' within our gated community, to riding on the sidewalks adjacent to city streets. Well, this time, we added an extra component. We ran errands on our bikes. First we rode to Supercuts to drop something off. What is significant about this is that it required us to cross an major intersection. Next, we rode to Target where Casey got a 'drinking treat' ie: ICEE. After browsing for some toy cars and trains, we rode home. The next day, Daddy had a (seemingly) great idea. We were going to ride to the 'Ice Cream Factory' ie: Baskin Robins and eat ice cream. The ride started out benign enough, Casey just very excited to be riding his bike to get ice cream. Our planned route was as follows. Plaza del amo to Crenshaw to Sepulveda. (See diagram below, click to enlarge).
We got to the corner of Crenshaw and Sepulveda. Of course Casey wanted to be the one to push the pedestrian walk button. At this point, the idea was to head east along Sepulevda, crossing Crenshaw. (See red arrow below, click to enlarge) For reference, at this location, Sepulveda has a 45 MPH speed limit and is heavily congested at this time of day. IE: wall to wall cars. We waited for the traffic signal to change, and got the white walk sign on the pedestrian box. Casey mounted his bike and proceeded into the intersection GOING SOUTH ALONG CRENSHAW, AGAINST THE RED LIGHT, DIRECTLY INTO TRAFFIC!!! (See pink arrow below, click to enlarge).
Casey crossed into two lanes of travel; cars had just began to cross the intersection, and thankfully drivers in both affected lanes were attentive, and stopped WITHIN 5 FEET OF HITTING CASEY. I had to let Casey go first, because he isn't always steady on his takeoffs yet, so I have to stay behind to make sure he launches OK. I was just exiting the sidewalk when I noticed he was going the wrong direction. I immediately yelled, "Casey" and simultaneously jumped off my bike, ran after him and picked him and his bike up together and ran back to the sidewalk. Horns were blaring and people were yelling. We waited on the sidewalk thru another light cycle, and WALKED our bikes across Crenshaw. Then we stopped on the corner and
I hugged him and consoled him we hugged each other and consoled each other. I asked if he was scared, and he was ready to cry and could only nod his head yes. And I was thinking, "Yeah buddy, me too". While I tried to be strong for both of us, I was torn up inside. Let's just say there were likely way more skid marks in our laundry than on the roadway... This incident affected me so deeply, I couldn't sleep last night. Buddy, I'm glad you're safe, that was a close call!
This is pretty much what was facing us... Kinda scary!
