All Joshua Gray remembers is that it hurt – a lot.
The six-year-old was out cycling with his family on Redwood Avenue West at about 7 p.m. on Wednesday night when he bolted across the busy road and collided head on with a passing vehicle.
The youngster bounced off the car and fell head-first onto the pavement. Luckily he was properly wearing his helmet, a fact that just may have saved his life, not to mention the fact the driver of the vehicle was traveling at 44 kilometres an hour, well below the posted limit.
"If the car had been going 10 kilometres faster (Joshua) would have been in the hospital for a long time," said Thunder Bay Police Services traffic Sgt. Glenn Porter. "If he hadn’t been wearing his helmet…"
There was no need for Porter to complete his sentence. The skid marks that scar the asphalt a day later are a stark reminder of the tragedy that might have been.
"I was riding my bike and I crossed the street and got hit by a car," a shy Joshua said on Thursday afternoon, after being presented with a new bicycle helmet by police to replace the dented one that saved his life.
His mother, Sarah Rommel-Gray, said she immediately thought her son was dead in the slow-motion seconds that followed the collision.
Rommel-Gray said she told Joshua to wait to cross the street until they arrived at the traffic lights at the James Street intersection, but youthful exuberance won out and he darted between two parked cars, not realizing a Honda Civic, operated by a 22-year-old female driver, was on the move in the middle of the street.
"The (driver) didn’t see him coming and therefore didn’t slow down and he hit it very hard and literally bounced off the hood and went flying ahead. It was very scary to watch, because we thought he was really dead," Joshua’s mother recalled, 18 hours after the incident occurred. "It was just horrible. I thought he was horribly hurt. I just can’t believe he came away from it unscathed."
Joshua’s older brother Brandon Rommel, 17, was also along for the bike ride, and immediately thought the worst.
"I thought he was dead," he said. "Once I realized he was going to be OK, it was relief, definitely. He was lying on the ground. My mom came and picked him up and right away put him down on the grass. He didn’t look that hurt at all. He looked like himself, in shock. Right away I started thinking it wasn’t that bad after all."
Const. Gord Snyder, a collision reconstructionist with TBPS, attended the accident Wednesday night and said it was quickly determined the driver was obeying traffic laws and subsequently wasn’t charged.
While initially police feared Joshua might have suffered significant injuries, Snyder said he and his colleagues are counting their blessings on this one.
He added it’s a good reminder, if not a painful one for Joshua, who spent much of the night in hospital before being released around midnight, that bike helmets save lives.
"They’re mandatory for all children and they’re strongly recommended for all adults. Something as simple as putting on a bicycle helmet could save your life and definitely this case is a prime example that at the very least it saved serious injury for the young child."
