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Road rash
Since December, bike-o-phile Doug Woods has had two head-on collisions. The first was with a gold 1996 Toyota Corolla. The second was with Colorado’s insurance system. The first collision left Woods with lingering back pain and extensive time off work from his local business, Boulder Bike Taxi. The second collision, thanks to new state insurance policies and what Woods sees as unfair practices by the Boulder police, could leave Woods out on the street and penniless. If you’ve ever spotted bright yellow three-wheeled vehicles escorting passengers down Pearl Street in open-air luxury, you’ve seen Woods’ business in action. Two years ago this local gear nut, who knows his way around Boulder’s bike shops, decided to take his love of alternative transportation to a whole new level, and Boulder Bike Taxi was born. Woods now runs a fleet of seven pedicabs, shuttling tourists from their hotels to the mall, escorting late-night revelers home, whisking families from their front door to the Boulder Creek Festival. "I keep thinking of more and more ways to use [the taxis] positively for the community," says Woods. He says he plans to shoot for the moon, "but I can’t if I get screwed for something I didn’t do." Woods is referring to the evening of Dec. 17, 2003, when he was riding his personal bike to a Chamber of Commerce meeting. At around 5:30 p.m., Woods was heading eastbound in the bike lane on Pearl Street. As Woods pedaled across the intersection of Pearl and 26th Streets–traveling at about 22 miles per hour–he says the driver in the automobile to his left turned right without signaling or checking for pedestrians. Woods slammed into the side of the car and vaulted across the hood. "Blam!" says Woods. "I was seeing a lot of Sundays." John Wrenn, the driver of the car, stopped and tried to help Woods, who was feeling dazed, dizzy and nauseous. Wrenn offered to take Woods wherever he needed to go, and Woods agreed. As the two were leaving, Woods says he noticed medical and fire personnel arriving at the scene of the accident. "I should have waited, but I wasn’t thinking straight," says Woods. "When you get conked on your head, it’s hard to say why you do or don’t do something." Little did Woods know things were about to get a lot more confusing. Ever since the accident, Woods says he’s suffered severe lower back and neck pains. He’s just preparing to start riding again, which means he missed out on prime business during the holiday season. He’s been receiving chiropractic treatment and massage therapy from friends on credit, but he feels his tab is nearing its end. Including nearly $300 he spent repairing his bike, Woods estimates the accident has cost him $10,000. While Woods doesn’t have insurance to cover his expenses, he assumed Wrenn’s insurance would foot the bill. After all, Woods believes Wrenn accepted responsibility for the situation on the night of the accident. When contacted by phone, Wrenn didn’t admit fault in the accident, but agreed Woods should be compensated. "I assume the insurance company will take care of helping him out, at least… taking care of his minimum needs," says Wrenn. But so far help is the last thing Woods has received from Wrenn’s insurance company, thanks to the state legislature. On July 1, 2003, Colorado’s no-fault auto insurance system, which covered all injuries in accidents regardless of who was at fault, expired. Because state legislators and lobbying groups couldn’t agree on a new insurance policy, the state in effect defaulted into a tort-based insurance system, where the driver at fault in an accident is responsible for all medical costs. Under the old system, medical expenses incurred in accidents by others, including pedestrians and bicyclists, were covered. Now such coverage is optional–and John Wrenn’s insurance policy doesn’t include it. When Woods contacted Wrenn’s insurance company, Farmer’s Insurance Group, he was told that since Wrenn wasn’t clearly at fault, Woods wouldn’t necessarily be compensated for his medical expenses. "I have to become totally broke [paying medical bills], and then afford to take him to court, and show all my receipts, and hope for a settlement," says Woods. Woods turned down an offer of $1,500 from Wrenn’s insurance company and instead filed a $7,500 claim against Wrenn in small-claims court, "as sort of a wake-up call." Only now, says Woods, under the threat of lawsuit, is Farmer’s Insurance taking him seriously, asking for specific records of his expenses. Woods is especially frustrated because while he believes Wrenn was clearly at fault in the accident for failing to signal and look before turning, Farmer’s Insurance Group doesn’t see it that way. "There is still some dispute as far as who is at fault at this accident," says Robert Kononen, Wrenn’s claims representative at Farmer’s Insurance Group. Usually traffic citations issued at the scene of an accident are used to help determine fault. But when Woods contacted the Boulder Police Department several weeks after the accident, he was told the police couldn’t issue a citation because both parties left before officers showed up. "We can’t go back and recreate [the accident], and for us to take the word of one driver over the other doesn’t establish the reasonable grounds that are needed to issue the ticket," says Boulder Police Commander Greg Testa. "In Colorado, you are supposed to wait on the scene." Woods doesn’t think it’s fair that he’s being penalized because he was too confused from his accident to realize he should stay where he was hit. He also wants to know why, if you’re not supposed to leave the scene of an accident, Wrenn isn’t being cited for leaving and taking Woods with him. "It was the officer’s discretion, and that’s not something we typically we do," says Testa about issuing such a citation. "It has to do with not so much leaving the scene of the accident, but not reporting it to the police. When there is a mutual exchange of information… the requirement is, report it as soon as you can." Testa’s explanation doesn’t sit well with Woods. "He got out of being cited for an illegal turn by committing another violation, so you commit two violations and then it’s like, we won’t cite you for either one because you were smart enough to get out of there to avoid getting a ticket," says Woods. Stories like Wood’s could becoming increasingly common in Colorado, say critics of the state’s new tort-based insurance system. While the average Coloradan is enjoying a 15 percent drop in auto insurance premiums because of the tort-based system, many say there’s a price: Since auto insurance companies no longer automatically cover medical expenses in accidents, the burden is shifted to health-care providers and those who are uninsured. "I don’t think a lot of people [promoting the tort system] thought about uninsured people getting in accidents and not being able to have their medical procedures covered," says Catherine Han Montoya, public policy director for the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative. "Unfortunately for an uninsured person who is hit, there are [now] limited options." Woods’ options seem to be dwindling by the day. Because he hasn’t earned enough to cover rent, he found an eviction notice on his door last week. If he’s thrown out on the street, he doesn’t have a car to crash in. He doesn’t like to talk about the possibility of losing his business. While he expects his insurance claim will be settled eventually, he fears it will be too little, too late. "I’m a survivor, but man," he says with a sigh, "I’m sick and tired of getting screwed." Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
Polluters write anti-pollution rules by Jim Hightower Instead of following America’s environmental rules, polluters have found a better deal: Bush & Company lets polluters write the rules for their own fun and profit! At issue are long-delayed EPA rules to regulate the amount of toxic mercury spewing out of the smokestacks of some 1,100 coal-fired power plants across America. This airborne mercury is grotesque–it’s a neurotoxin that causes brain damage in unborn children and infants. Power plants produce 41 percent of all industrial mercury contamination–48 tons a year–and they’re presently the only unregulated source of this pollution. So the Bushites have boldly stepped into the breach with new regs that they say will eliminate 70 percent of mercury emissions by 2018. Progress, right? Hardly. Why 2018? That’s 12 years and untold numbers of brain-damaged children down the road. The technology exists today to eliminate 90 percent of these emissions. But utility lobbyists balked at a more stringent rule, saying that the companies didn’t want to incur the expense of the more effective technology. Bush’s EPA not only went along, but actually let a top industry lobbying firm, Latham & Watkins, write much of the language used in the agency’s proposed rule, lifting many of the paragraphs verbatim from Latham & Watkins memos. The head of the EPA’s air policy office, Jeffrey Holmstead, said the use of the lobbying firm’s language was merely the result of an interagency mix-up. "That’s not typically the way we do things, borrowing language from other people," Holmstead said. What Jeffrey didn’t say is that he came to the EPA from–guess where?–Latham & Watkins. There’s more, the chief counsel of the air policy office also came from Latham & Watkins. To fight this corrupt rule-making process, call the Clean the Rain campaign: 202-797-6692, or contact www.nfw.org/cleantherain. Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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by Joel Warner
