A man in San Francisco is recovering after hitting a bump in the road that caused some serious injuries.
He was on a bike on Clay Street and neighbors say he’s not the only one who’s suffered that fate because of construction work.
Ralph Bower is an experienced triathlete and had ridden the route many times before.
But earlier this month, he said a bump in the road sent him flying off his bike and ended up needing surgery.
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He was riding home after a long ride training for the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii when out of nowhere he hit a big bump in the asphalt stretching across the entire street -- one that wasn’t there before.
“Very familiar, they did this street repair, it wasn't well marked and when I hit it I just went flying,” he said.
Bower said he was laid out in the middle of the street which is a slow street.
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“I was really seriously hurt. I didn't know what happened cause I didn’t see the bump,” he said. “There were some neighbors who saw the accident happen and they came out and helped me.”
Bower said he broke some ribs and his collarbone and needed surgery -- an extremely painful experience and he said he learned he wasn’t alone.
“I am getting contacted now on a daily basis by other people who were injured,” he said.
Colin Smith lives on the block and there had been some work going on in the street, he didn’t think about it, then he saw the aftermath of another bike crash.
“We saw some ambulance lights and looked down and there was a guy on the ground,” he said. “Next day they put some cones up try to make it a little more obvious but it was fairly significant bump and we’re on a slope here.”
Smith said crews came back and removed the bump. The city’s Public Utilities Commission said they’re looking into what transpired. They say they installed a water line on Clay Street in August first, and then paved a temporary patch, as usual.
A contractor completed permanent repaving on August 11.
But bower sees it this way, “I think the way that they put that repair incorrectly really made it unsafe.”
