Motorist heroes, as reported by The Statesman

Earlier this afternoon Tom Wald mentioned a rather interesting story in the Austin-American Statesman that I wanted to repeat here:

Man and woman help save cyclist: Man grateful for local heroes.

By Isadora Vail
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, December 18, 2008

Andrew Cordova remembers driving from Cedar Park to Georgetown on March 14 and seeing a pair of feet still clipped into a bicycle while the bicycle's tire spun in the air on the side of Parmer Lane near RM 1431.

Cordova immediately drove into the grass median so he could turn around to help the person who lay motionless on the shoulder of the road, he said.

If it weren't for Cordova and another good Samaritan who stopped, Stephanie Lee, 73-year-old James Robinson would have died. Cordova and Lee received awards from the Texas Department of Public Safety on Dec. 10.

"I just knew that something was not right with this picture," said Cordova, a father of three. "It was like instinct, so I stopped to help him."

Cordova, 38, dialed 911 as he approached Robinson, a retired Los Angeles police officer. He asked if Robinson could hear him and saw that Robinson was turning purple and not breathing, he said.

Robinson had suffered a heart attack.

That's when Lee, a 19-year-old student at Temple College in Taylor who is studying to be an emergency medical technician, nearly jumped out of her boyfriend's moving car to help. She said she saw Robinson on the ground and Cordova trying to assist him.

Both Cordova and Lee said they were appalled at how many drivers passed without stopping.

Lee said she began cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Robinson, who was still not breathing. After a few minutes, he gained a very slight pulse.

As Cordova and Lee worked together, Department of Public Safety trooper Scott Isbell showed up.

The three worked together until an ambulance arrived, and eventually a helicopter came to get Robinson. He was then flown to University Medical Center at Brackenridge.

"We, as a human race, have to look after one another," Public Safety Capt. Raul Vargas said at the awards ceremony. "Because of what you all did, you helped save an individual's life."

Robinson, who has since fully recovered, was unconscious for three days after the accident and says he has no memory of what had happened.

"It was such a surprise to wake up in the hospital like that," Robinson, who is now 74, said. "I wrote letters right away to everyone: the governor, representatives, police. I just wanted everyone to know I was so thankful."

Nice! I know I rant and rail against drivers a lot on this site, but in reality I'm a driver, I'm married to a driver, and many of my best friends are drivers. Oftentimes they're an inattentive lot but here's a great example of a drivers' attentiveness saving a cyclists life. Hell of a job you two, you're well deserving of that award, and definitely a beer or two from any cycling friends you may have.

One thing I've noticed while biking around is that if a cyclist passes another another cyclist who's stopped on the side of the road, chances are they'll ask if they need a hand with anything. I do this every time I see someone with a problem, and more often than not when I'm broken down someone'll do this for me. To me it's just common courtesy, but in a car it seems that it's so uncommon that the state has to give out an AWARD to people who show this courtesy to their fellow commuter (no matter their form of transportation). As the heroic motorists of the aforementioned story mentioned, "they were appalled at how many drivers passed without stopping". I too find this appalling, but am glad to read that these too stepped up and did more than was expected of them. A (very grateful) life was saved in the process.