A bicycle rider escaped serious injury Wednesday morning when he turned at the last possible second and was brushed by a light-rail train in midtown Sacramento.

“Luckily, he was tentative enough just in time to prevent himself from being injured,” said Sacramento Police Lt. Norm Leong, who oversees Regional Transit police services.

The incident occurred about 8 a.m., when the rider was traveling the wrong way on 19th Street at R Street. At the last second, when he was about to cross over light-rail tracks, he turned his bike in the same general direction of the southbound train.

“He prevented himself from directly colliding with the train,” Leong said. “But he was side-brushed by the train. He was taken to the hospital, but he is expected to be OK.”

SIGN UP

The train stopped for a short time and then continued on its way.

“He got lucky,” Leong said. “There were no gates directly in front of him because he was going in the wrong direction on one-way 19th Street. The bells should have been the indication for him that a train was approaching. Bicyclists are expected to go with the flow of traffic, not against it.”