Bicyclist airlifted to hospital

Life Flight responds to auto-bicycle accident, Washington, Utah, Aug. 10, 2013 | Photo courtesy of Dee Ann Bond

WASHINGTON – A bicyclist was taken to the hospital by Life Flight after hitting a car Saturday morning.

Ed Kantor, Washington City Police public information officer, said a 22-year-old male was riding a bike out of a cul-de-sac on Calle Del Sol Street when he ran into the side of a passing car around 7:35 a.m.

The rider experienced minor injuries, Kantor said, though Life Flight was called as a precautionary measure and the rider was airlifted to University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Kantor did not specify the exact nature of the bicyclist’s injuries.

No citations have been issued as the incident is still being investigated, Kantor said.

Ed. Note: The hospital location has been corrected. In the case of accidents involving potential head trauma, Life Flight will often take the patient to UMC in Las Vegas for examination.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2013, all rights reserved.

Life Flight responds to auto-bicycle accident, Washington, Utah, Aug. 10, 2013 | Photo courtesy of Dee Ann Bond
Life Flight responds to auto-bicycle accident, Washington, Utah, Aug. 10, 2013 | Photo courtesy of Dee Ann Bond

 

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26 Comments

  • Concerned Citizen August 10, 2013 at 10:24 am

    Airlifted with a $15,000 bill over a few miles for minor injuries as a precaution?

    • San August 11, 2013 at 1:26 am

      That was my first thought. I rolled my car 5x and wasn’t airlifted, let alone airlifted 3 miles down the freeway. Nonsense.

  • Adrian August 10, 2013 at 10:51 am

    Life flight with MINOR injuries!!!

    Apparently there’s no limit to how “other people’s money” gets spent. I watched this whup whup mentality in Santa Cruz, CA, for years. Well, there is a difference — in Santa Cruz it was usually gang bangers in knife fights who got airlifted to San Jose trauma centers.

  • Danny August 10, 2013 at 12:56 pm

    This is why bikers should be limited to the bike paths that so many tax dollars have gone into building. Accidents like this would rarely happen. It’s not the bicycle riders traveling to and from somewhere that are causing a problem it’s those out riding for “pleasure” riding right on the white line making it dangerous for traffic to pass them. It is the most frustrating thing in the world to be passing one or many of these hoo ya’s pulling a trailer and narrowly missing there heads with your mirrors because you have nowhere else to go. Granted I don’t know the whole story in this situation but I can see how it could have possibly been prevented.

  • Blutarsky August 10, 2013 at 1:25 pm

    Build enough bike paths to enable cyclists to get to where they need to go. Like it or not, the future is in cycle commuting, and mass transit.

    The first responders aren’t licensed to assess the same things that the E/R staff is. I would want my loved ones to be treated with caution too.

    B.

    • Gold cross sucks August 10, 2013 at 6:52 pm

      The first responders are idiots. Especially gold cross ambulance. They are not even competent. It’s easier for them to load the patient and get to the hospital before life flight even takes off. If he is seriously hurt then life flight is waiting at the hospital for them. They are idiots.

      • Joanna August 10, 2013 at 10:56 pm

        You must be a first responder. Thanks so much for your service.

    • John August 10, 2013 at 11:29 pm

      Btw there is no license for a common sense medical assessment. All levels of ems do it the same. The ER staff as you say are the same ones running the streets full time and flying part time.

  • Susan Ertel August 10, 2013 at 1:56 pm

    Danny, you are mistaken. As a cyclists I pay taxes to use the roads. I am traffic. I am considered a vehicle. The paths around town are leisure paths that are considered multi-use paths so that includes joggers, pedestrians, moms with strollers, pet owners with pets on leashes, and all other manner of obstacles for bicyclists. Also, the multi-use paths have speed limits which seriously hinders training runs or even commuting to and from work. The answer is just more awareness on everyone’s part. Sure, there are cyclists who disobey the traffic laws, just like there are motorists who disobey the traffic laws. No one is perfect, but no one – neither a motorist who causes an accident or a cyclist who causes an accident deserves the comments you gave. I am a mother, a wife, a teacher, and a taxpayer, and I deserve to come get to work and come home in one piece no matter what mode of transportation I choose.

  • ward August 10, 2013 at 3:55 pm

    then the county should pass a law for you to license your bicycle I Drive a commercial vehicle and pay actual road taxes dedicated to the maintenance of every road I travel bicycles are nothing but a hindrance because they’re afraid of getting a flat tire on the shoulder of the road

  • Mark August 10, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    I think the bikes should be subject to annual registration (if they’re not now) along with hefty fees to cover their use of the road.

  • Bill August 10, 2013 at 9:58 pm

    Cyclists can’t keep keep up with the speed limit on 40mph road and you are a hinder to the vehicles that are on the road. So what your saying is that the “slow” people on the paths make it annoying to ride them? Well slow people on their bikes in the middle of the road are annoying to drivers. Be a wife, father, mother, dad, teacher, whatever you want to be, but you are putting yourself in danger when you hop on a bike and ride with traffic. I will put my money on a person in a cars life vs a cyclist, you will lose every time. So make the case that you have every right to ride your bike on the road, you’re right you do, but its really just plain stupid!

  • Truth August 10, 2013 at 10:05 pm

    Really people you want one more thing for the government to tax? Hahaha maybe we should tax all of our children’s bikes too.. Since they ride in the road sometimes?? Get real

  • Nt4u August 10, 2013 at 11:10 pm

    It takes over an hour to process someone in the ER by ambulance. When taking, Lifeflight you actually bypass most of the process therefore getting in to be see faster than any ambulance can get you in and processed. So it’s quicker to fly. I don’t know about you, but before I start talking, I’d learn the profession of the people you bag on.

    • C August 11, 2013 at 9:41 am

      My best friend was in a motorcycle accident and ambulanced to DRMC she was seen immediately upon arrival at the hospital and besides, if this guys injuries were minor then he shouldn’t have needed immediate care upon entering the ER.

    • Ken August 11, 2013 at 9:53 am

      So a person coding brought in by a ground ambulance would take an hour to process? Wow I guess you really know what your talking about! Could you please tell us what profession your in?

  • John August 10, 2013 at 11:25 pm

    It is getting to be ridiculous listening to these flight bills racked up for NO reason. GC, first responders, seriously. I work in a metro ems system and we practically never fly people. It’s faster to drive them then to bring in the parade princess. Leave them to inter-facilities and long distance stuff. Leave the l local stuff out of it. And GC if you can’t figure that out on your own, Lifeflight sure as heck should do the job for them and not transport unless its necessary. Just IMO.

  • C August 11, 2013 at 9:37 am

    As a person who lives directly around the corner from the incident… I have two things to say 1) the area in which the biker was is a cul de sac of apartments there is no bike path because it is really just a glorified parking lot. He was probably just leaving home for the day.

    2) in the time it took them to put the injured man into the helicopter he could have already been at the hospital. We were all under the assumption he was seriously injured. Reading this article all of us local bystanders were stunned to discover he went to DRMC. How ridiculous!

  • Geeze Louise August 11, 2013 at 10:19 am

    But we have this fancy new toy, and we are going to use it, no matter what!

    Now I don’t know, but I’m going to stick my neck out here, and say that one of the reasons the bird is used so much for minor stuff, is that they likely have to have so many hours flight time a year to justify their existence here. It is wonderful technology, and I’m very thankful that we have it available for when it is needed. But I sure do hate to see it being abused.

  • Craig August 11, 2013 at 10:43 am

    You can build all the bike paths you want, but NOTHING will stop some idiot bike riders from weaving in and out of the bike lane. I would love to see wider bike lanes that will accommodate the two male fat … that insist on riding side by side on Dixie Drive, instead of single file when cars are approaching. You two fat … know who you are…you need a sign that says WIDE LOAD.

    Ed. ellipses

  • Mark August 11, 2013 at 11:35 am

    I was drove by just after the accident. There was two ambulances, life flight and at least three police cars.

  • EMT August 11, 2013 at 5:34 pm

    Just to let you know the bike rider had head trauma and was flown to Las Vegas not to the DRMC. He was on his way to work and ran into the van not the van hit him. All of you idiots that are complaining about the ride in the helicopter wouldn’t you want your family to get the best and fastest care if they had a head trauma. Kantor should have got his facts right before he starts to talk to the news.

  • Josh Dalton August 12, 2013 at 9:25 am

    I am thinking of becoming an I-reporter for STGNews! I am always at the incident before the media gets there. I have some raw footage of this incident before the cops and everybody showed up. This dude was responsive…but he hit his head pretty hard. I am pretty sure that the one thing that our emergency response teams know is if somebody needs lifeflight. It was just really cool seeing them land that chopper in the middle of the street. I got a great picture of my new VW GTI with the Lifeflight in the back drop! OH YEAH…wearing a helmut is COOL! if you think otherwise then you are an IDIOT! Like half of the Saint George residents on there motrocycles who are “TOO COOL” to wear a helmut. Nobody cares about your old balding, retired, and ignorant Harley riding status quo! GO FALCONS!

  • JoeAK49 August 12, 2013 at 1:33 pm

    Why does everyone here seem to have such hateful comments directed towards others? Are you trying to make yourself feel better by tearing down another person or persons. Why can’t there be civil dialog and respect for another opinion?

    • My Evil Twin August 12, 2013 at 2:02 pm

      You ain’t from around these here parts, are ya? LOL!

  • Mares August 12, 2013 at 2:07 pm

    Gotta agree with JoeAK49. Mean spirited people here.

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