MacKenzie Elmer

melmer@dmreg.com

Footage from an Iowa City bicyclist's camera shows he had seconds to react when a two-ton truck crossed the center line and nearly struck him before it barreled into a ditch.

A.J. Johnson had to dive over his handle bars to avoid the collision.

The 28-year-old cyclist was on mile 90 of an 130-mile ride the afternoon of July 29 when he spotted the truck ascending a hill along Vine Avenue near Riverside. Johnson said it looked like the truck was speeding up when it suddenly crossed the center line and headed straight toward him.

"I’ve had that happen several times where people swerve over, honk and swerve back. I thought it was just some jerk trying to scare me again," he said. "(It) wasn’t until last second that I decided, I’m going to get hit, I need to bail off the road."

Johnson landed in a ditch and escaped the incident unhurt aside from some scrapes.

He's fortunate. Nine cyclists have been killed in Iowa this year — that's double the number from 2015 and the highest total since 2010. The most recent fatality happened July 24 when a motorist struck Wayne Ezell, 72, from behind on a rural highway near Glenwood. The Florida cyclist was riding out to join the start of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

Laying in the ditch, Johnson said he heard a loud bang as the truck smashed into some trees. Johnson grabbed his phone and called 911. He ran to the truck.

The driver's wife told him her husband had fallen asleep behind the wheel. "He had little to say to me. He was making phone calls right away," Johnson said.

Law enforcement and ambulances arrived within minutes. The driver, Donald Eugene Bean, 63, of Columbus Junction was taken to the hospital.

Johnson walked the scene with an investigator who took pictures of the road and his damaged bike.

The Iowa State Patrol determined Bean had fallen asleep while driving, according to the crash report. He was cited for failure to maintain control, which carries a $100 fine. Bean could not be reached for comment.

"They’ve done what they can," Johnson said of the police officers at the scene. "Unfortunately, there aren’t those laws out there to cite that person with a close call or near miss."

A Des Moines Register investigation that looked at cyclist fatalities in Iowa resulting from crashes with motor vehicles over the last five years showed most drivers who kill cyclists are fined about $250 and receive no jail time. Bicycling advocates say the lack of harsher punishments too often leave them feeling like targets.

Make the law stricter and more people will pay attention, Johnson said.

"Fifty years ago, you’d drink all you wanted, jump in a car and drive away. But because of these new laws, people are smarter about (drinking and driving)," Johnson said. If there were a law requiring motorists to leave 10 feet when passing a cyclist, "people aren’t going to blaze by them at two feet," he said.

Bicycling advocates pushed for a safe passing law during the last legislative session. It would have required motorists overtaking a bicyclist traveling in the same direction to pass in an adjacent lane or on the opposite side of the road.

The bill would have enhanced the penalty for killing a cyclist to $1,000. But it died in the Republican-controlled House.

Mark Wyatt, executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, says Johnson's close call also highlights the need for Iowans to eliminate dangerous driving habits.

"Drowsy driving, distracted driving and drunk driving are all in the same boat and all affect everybody’s traffic. It's not just an issue for bicyclists," Wyatt said.

As of Wednesday, 233 people have died on Iowa roads this year, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Gov. Terry Branstad said in June that he wants the Iowa Legislature to find more effective ways to keep impaired drivers off the state’s roads and put an end to distracting driving.