A 19-year-old male Binghamton University student escaped serious injury Tuesday morning after getting hit by two cars as he rode his bicycle across the campus’s West Drive, police said.
The bicyclist was heading toward the center of campus at 11:36 a.m. when he cleared the eastbound lane of the West Drive between Hinman College’s Hughes Hall and the dock entrance of Lecture Hall. But as he biked across the westbound lane, a 2006 black BMW 330 struck him, sending him into the hood of an eastbound 1999 white Buick Park Avenue.
Harpur’s Ferry ambulance transported the student, who suffered a scratch on his forehead and a sore back, to Wilson Memorial Regional Medical Center in Johnson City. He was treated and released the same day.
The first driver, an 18-year-old male student, and the second driver, a 21-year-old female student, were within the 20 miles per hour speed limit, police said.
‘If the speeds had been a little different, he would have gone under someone’s tires,’ said Investigator Dennis P. Bush of Binghamton’s New York State University Police. ‘He is a very lucky man.’
The bicyclist told police he accepted all responsibility for the accident. He was not in the crosswalk and did not check appropriately before crossing the street, he said. He did not press charges against the drivers. No arrests were made.
The crash twisted the seat and damaged the wheels of the student’s Mongoose mountain bike. The hoods and driver side doors of both cars were dented and scratched.
The student told police that it was a very ‘eye-opening experience’ for him, Bush said.