Coming in and out of consciousness, on the ground, confused, someone taking shears to my clothes, naked in the street with EMTs huddled around me. My bicycle was a twisted mass of metal. I had just become one of many terrifying statistics that track vehicle crashes in Maine.

In 2023, 21 pedestrians were killed on Maine roads after being hit by a vehicle. There were 234 vehicle crashes that resulted in injuries involving pedestrians. One bicyclist was killed and an additional 140 injury crashes involving bicyclists were reported. These numbers are consistent with previous years, and 2024 is not looking much different. 

My accident occurred in July, 2019. While riding my bicycle through the five corners intersection by Oceanside High School at 3 p.m., a car coming from the opposite direction hit me. I had taken every precaution to be seen by drivers, which included wearing an iridescent green cycling outfit.

I was life-flighted to Maine Medical Center in Portland where four surgeons operated on me for over 12 hours.

When I woke up in recovery, I had a breathing tube coming out of my neck, a feeding tube coming out of my stomach, and my jaw was wired shut.

I later learned that four titanium plates were put in the left side of my face and a fifth was holding together what was left of my jaw. Had it not been for the state-of-the-art helmet I was wearing, I would have died. I spent the rest of that summer in the hospital, followed by at-home nursing care.

Accidents involving bicyclists, pedestrians, and drivers occur far too often, and Rockland is no exception. Yes, some bicyclists do not obey the rules of the road, zipping through intersections. Yes, some pedestrians are not always careful when crossing the street.

But the fact remains that Rockland streets are not nearly as safe as they should be for those of us who walk, bike, and drive through them. 

As a candidate running for City Council, I am committed to making our streets safer for all residents. The good news is, we don’t have to start from scratch. Some council members have pushed for and passed a number of initiatives that we can build on. 

For example, City Council has endorsed the Complete Streets initiative, an approach to planning, designing and building streets that enables safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities.

A Bike Route Network Development Plan prepared for Rockland by a private consulting firm contracted by the city outlines steps the city should take to improve bicycle safety, such as adding shared lane markings, dropping speed limits on high-thoroughfare roads, and initiating traffic calming measures.

These plans are a good start, but now the hard part begins. These plans require action by City Council and our various city departments, and nothing will truly change unless there’s a concerted effort to educate the public about the importance of these measures. That means bringing to the table all types of users of our roads, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers.

I am not only committed to push forward for real change in this area, I am uniquely positioned to do so. And not only because I survived a traumatic accident.

Bringing various stakeholders together for the common good has been a theme of my life, whether it was as the chair of the education board of a community religious school, the chair of an academic department and of various committees of a small college, the faculty liaison for a study-away program at that college, or the president of the synagogue here in Rockland.

As your City Councilor, I will leverage our resources and the work we have already done to make Rockland safer for all residents.

David Statman, of Rockland, is running for Rockland City Council