TJ Day liked riding his bike to and from work at Walgreens. It helped him stay fit and gave him time to wind down in the evening.
He wore a reflective vest, helmet and added lights to the front and back of his bike for safety. He did everything right, said his sister Kelli Day.
Still, TJ was hit by a car on his way home from work on Feb. 18.
Another driver who found him in a snowbank on Lovers Lane near Stryker Way after the hit-and-run. That driver stayed in contact, and later offered to buy TJ a new bike. But in the meantime, supporters of TJ had already raised more than $20,000 to buy him a car.
As of Thursday, March 6, a GoFundMe Kelli organized has raised $23,427, with a goal of $28,000.
TJ has always been apprehensive about driving, but now he’s more nervous of biking, Kelli said. The generosity of his community will help him get a safe and reliable car.
They aren’t hypothetical. They are both, in fact, completely true. Whether or not they “run” is really not a huge consequence compared to whether or not they “hit”. Human beings are not capable of operating cars in a safe manner 100% of the time. We’ve decided that’s okay, and your “good drivers don’t kill people” mindset is a way of rationalizing away that risk so that you imagine it doesn’t concern you. It’s how we function psychologically when on one hand we know that every time we get behind the wheel someone might die, but on the other hand we really want drive-thu.