Bike shop owner hit by car, survives with injuries

Bike shop owner Todd Muller was hit by a car Tuesday, resulting in serious but luckily not life-threatening injuries (story here). Todd signaled to make a left turn, got into the correct lane, then was hit from behind by a car that tried to pass him on the left, as he was turning left. The driver of the car and the police officer reporting to the scene unfortunately assumed Todd was at fault. The driver was eventually cited for crossing the yellow line, but not for striking a vehicle from behind or reckless driving (read more for details of Todd's crash).

Eric of Bike Roswell describes what happened:

Todd explained the details behind the incident:

He leaves a smaller road on his way to work and has to get on HWY 9 for about 500 feet then turn left onto another road. The traffic flow is in the other direction at that time in the morning. Todd turned onto HWY 9 and one van passed him and he looked back and saw no one. He continued and made his way into the center of the lane signaling his left turn then grabbed the handlebars ready to turn. Then all of a sudden he heard screeching and was hit from behind and propelled forward. He tried to hold it up but was unable to and went over sideways onto his hip. The car approached Todd in the same direction and lane and decided to go around Todd on the left, but Todd was turning left and that’s when he got hit.

Here is the sad part:

Todd went onto the middle of the street and intersection, the car came to a stop in the opposite lane. The driver came out accusing Todd that it was his fault. The driver didn’t care that Todd was laying in the street he just blamed Todd and walked away. 9 people in all stopped for the accident and only one came over to help Todd. The police officer knew the car driver and wasn’t going to cite him with anything. The officer told Todd he wasn’t sure what to do. Imagine that! The car was finally cited for crossing the double yellow line. The car wasn’t cited for striking a vehicle from behind as per GA law or reckless driving. Luckily there was a UPS driver that saw the whole thing and it wasn’t until the UPS driver collaborated Todd’s story that the citation was issued. Of course the car coming to rest in the oncoming lane didn’t mean anything.

I went by to see Todd this evening at Kennestone Hosp. Todd is in good spirits. I got to meet senior Muller and Todd’s younger sister. Todd will be going into surgery at 5PM tomorrow. His doctor has gotten many supporting calls and Todd has been told his doctor is the top hip orthopedic in the area. Keep him in your prayers tomorrow. He is dealing with the pain as he is on a very good drip medication.

Todd and I are very fired up to get our PD departments to realize that Bicycles are vehicles and that cyclists are citizens too. We would like to see the state and local governments proactively educate their enforcement officers on the laws of cycling and two wheeled vehicles. The fire has been lit.

Eric Broadwell
"Did you ride your bike in bicycle friendly Roswell today?"
Bike Roswell
Roswell, GA 30075
eric@atlantapro.com