Two bicyclists involved in auto accidents; conditi

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    By TIM RUSH and GEOFF DUPAIX

    A car struck an unidentified male bicyclist just east of the East Campus Drive and 1080 North intersection Thursday at 5 p.m.

    BYU Emergency Medical Services arrived on the scene to stabilize the victim while curious BYU students crowded around to survey the scene. The paramedics said the bicyclist was not wearing a helmet and had a fractured clavicle, but they did not offer any other comment on his condition.

    Angela Van Heel, a BYU student, was the driver of the car. She was headed west when she hit the bicyclist. She said she thought the road was clear.

    “I looked and no cars were coming. I just felt my windshield crush in; I felt glass land on top of me,” Van Heel said. Although Van Heel’s windshield was shattered, she was not injured.

    Van Heel said she was going pretty slowly, only about 10 mph, but she said the bicyclist was traveling quite fast.

    Matt Monroy, a witness to the accident, said the man hit the front of the car, smashed into the window and was then thrown 15 feet in the air before he landed on his head.

    “I wish I would have turned my head,” Monroy said.

    Another witness, Aaron Ready, a senior from Ventura, Calif., said the man flipped about four or five times before he hit the ground.

    As of press time Thursday night, University Police said they did not know the identity of the bicyclist or his current condition.

    “It made me realize how fragile life is,” Monroy said.

    Later, at 7:07 p.m., another bicyclist collided with a Volkswagen Jetta just west of the N. Eldon Tanner Building.

    As the driver of the car attempted to exit onto North Campus Drive and head east, he ran into Diane Rane, 18, a UVSC student from Encinitas, Calif., who was crossing the entrance to the Richards Building and the Smith Fieldhouse. Rane was headed to the Tanner Building for a meeting about being an EFY counselor.

    The impact slammed Rane’s head into the windshield.

    “It all happened quicker than I could think,” the driver said.

    He got out of his car and helped her onto the grass. “All she kept saying is `I’m fine, I’m fine.’ She knew her name and she was totally coherent. I only saw some blood on her hand and a bruise on her right leg, so I think she’s fine,” the driver said.

    Darron Woolley, 22, a junior from Santa Barbara County, Calif., majoring in human biology and volunteering as a BYU EMT, said Rane was lucky.

    “She’s not as hurt as she should have been,” Woolley said.

    Rane was taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, treated and released. She suffered a cut on her leg and some bruises.

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