Modesto bicyclist lucky to live after being hit by truck. How many fatal crashes in 2023?
Robyn Aye, a 70-year-old cyclist born and raised in Modesto, has ridden the streets of the city and beyond more times than she can remember.
But that’s not the only place her memory fails her — it went blank when Aye was struck by a dark gray truck towing a trailer on River Road near Ripon.
She’s not the only bicyclist or pedestrian struck on Stanislaus County roadways in 2023, of course, and while it seems strange to call her lucky, she fortunately was not among the 23 killed.
The California Highway Patrol investigated 12 fatal vehicle vs. pedestrian collisions within Modesto city limits in 2023. And the Modesto Police Department investigated 11 fatal vehicle vs. pedestrian or bicyclist collisions last year.
“I actually don’t remember what happened,” Aye said of the mid-autumn morning she was struck. “I was told what happened.”
Aye and her riding partner set a goal to go to Manteca from Modesto by way of Ripon on Oct. 28, 2023, but they didn’t get far before Aye was hit and dragged “a ways” down the road.
The bridge that goes over the Stanislaus River and connects Salida to Ripon was blocked off that fateful day, so the pair turned around to ride down McHenry Avenue and then down River Road.
“We just went on our regular ol’ way on River Road,” Aye said.
Two witnesses to the incident, a woman driving ahead of the truck and trailer and a man driving behind it, said the truck must have been going around 70 mph.
The factors of the 23 fatal collisions include DUI, pedestrian under the influence, failure to yield (by the vehicle or the pedestrian) and pedestrian in the roadway. Some cases remain under investigation.
“Four of the 12 (the CHP investigated) occurred on Highway 99, where pedestrians are prohibited,” said CHP Modesto area spokesman Officer Tom Olsen. “The other eight were on two-lane undivided highways within our community. Speeds limits vary but are never more than 55 mph.”
The male witness to Aye’s incident told the California Highway Patrol that he saw Aye’s “bike fly up and (her) fly with it” as the trailer clipped her.
“The CHP officer said he thinks that the guy’s trailer was too wide for the pickup,” Aye said. “So the guy made an adjustment where you then make it go a little bit to the right so that (he) wouldn’t be hitting the cars that were coming to the left.”
At the time she was hit, her riding partner was ahead of her — probably around 400 feet, she said. The female witness alerted the other cyclist that Aye was hurt and “looks pretty bad.”
“My clothes were all torn up,” Aye said. “My shoe is actually still missing.”
All 12 of the fatal incidents the CHP investigated occurred between 6:15 p.m. and 6:35 a.m. “Basically, during darkness,” Olsen said.
But that wasn’t the case for the incident involving Aye. She was hit around noon.
Witnesses said the truck driver took the next right, stopped for a moment, then kept driving.
“They said the man that was behind (the truck) was extremely shaken,” Aye said. “He just could not believe it, that they would just leave me there.”
Of the 11 fatal collisions Modesto police investigated, five were hit-and-run.
Officer didn’t expect cyclist to survive
When she woke up in the hospital after two surgeries the day of the incident, Aye said she didn’t know where she was.
“I was disoriented,” she said. “They said I was trying to pull out the tubes and stuff out of my neck.”
She suffered major injuries to her left leg, ankle, Achilles tendon, sternum, pelvis and left hand. She had 17 broken bones and required 14 units of blood at the hospital.
Aye was hospitalized for more than a month, and has 18 pins from her pelvis to her ankle.
She now uses a walker after having to relearn to use the left side of her body to walk, and she has a home health nurse as well as a physical therapist.
“I don’t get to do anything,” Aye said. “It’s gonna be a long road.”
Two months after the incident, Aye called CHP Officer Gustavo Ariana — who responded to the scene — to get details of what happened.
“I told him (who I was) and he goes, ‘I cant believe it. I was sure I would never talk to you again,’” Aye said.
Aye wants justice for what happened to her. For her, it’s not a matter of the city or the county needing to do more to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians.
“I think (motorists) need to watch for us and realize that bicycles are part of the road too and so are pedestrians,” Aye said. “Your car can be a lethal weapon.”
She said she’s not seeing enforcement of a law that requires vehicles to give bicyclists three feet of clearance when passing in the same direction.
Despite the incident, Aye said she’s hoping to get back on a bicycle soon.
“I will ride again,” she said. “That’s the thing about cyclists.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
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