Crash support group helps victims cope

By Falon Mihalic

As part of my job for the Active Transportation Alliance, I field calls from people who have been in crashes.

Over the summer, a friend who had been doored called me. I gave her basic advice about the city ordinance the motorists violated (MCC 9-80-35) and the importance of filing a police report. My friend confided in me that she was afraid to ride her bike in the city. We talked about the door zone and how to avoid the common bike crashes (left hook, right hook and dooring), but that didn’t ease her fears.

Many people feel shaken mentally and emotionally after they are in a crash. For some, it is a long time before they get back to riding regularly.

The Active Transportation Alliance works to cut the number of crashes in half by 2026.

But crashes do and will continue to occur. Those victims need support. We have joined with an Active Trans member and doctor to form a crash victim support group to help those who have been in crashes.

The crash support group exists to connect people with others who have been in a crash so that they may recover more quickly.

Cyclists who have experienced emotional or mental trauma (most times physical trauma as well) as the result of a crash attend the meetings. The group is also open to people who have lost friends or loved ones to crashes.

If you are interested in attending the group, please contact me at crashsupport@activetrans.org.

Falon Mihalic is the Active Transportation Alliance's social marketing director.

Support Group

By Susan Levin

While riding my bike to work in August 2007, I was in a crash. I suffered some pretty severe physical injuries. They mostly healed, and there are some lingering physical effects. Even worse was the mental and emotional trauma that followed.

Mostly, I was afraid to ride again and had panic attacks sometimes just crossing the street or hearing a car honk. On a smaller scale, it was depressing to see and hear about everyone else riding. I stopped volunteering at the Active Transportation Alliance (then the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation) and quit going to their events. I felt trapped in my house because cycling was my main form of transportation and I wasn’t comfortable doing that anymore.

I started seeing a therapist to deal with my anxiety. My goal was – and still is – to be back on a bicycle as much as I was before the crash: riding to work a few times a week, doing errands and social things all by bike. Even after several months of therapy, I still could not ride without an escort.

My therapist suggested I find a support group to help me ride again. I called the Active Transportation Alliance and spoke to Falon Mihalic, the safety coordinator there. She did not know of any groups, nor did the person I spoke to at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Instead, they put me in touch with Edmond Yomtoob, Psy.D. Falon, Edmond and I decided to meet to create the group. Active Trans agreed to sponsor, and Edmond said he would facilitate.

One thing people ask is, “Isn’t there already a group?” We could not find one in the city, and Falon couldn’t find any when she looked at the national level. I went to the library and checked out books on support groups.

This is what groups generally offer: You learn you are not crazy or even unusual for what you are going through. There are people who know what you are going through and listen. Your friends and family don’t understand; they love you, but they are tired of hearing you talk about it. They think you should be “back to normal,” but everyone heals on his or her own time. In the group, sometimes talking helps, sometimes listening helps.

I have never been a member of a support group before; and I hope to find out how long it will be before I am back to normal (or the new normal, whatever that ends up being), how to ride on the street where the crash was, and what riders do to make themselves most visible. Some of this I am learning just on my own, but it seems to take a long, long time.

Susan Levin is an Active Transportation Alliance member.