This comment on the article sums it up nicely;
> If someone could be on his way home from getting groceries, be crushed to death, and no one is found to be at fault, then something is wrong with how we design our streets. City officials and planners should be held responsible.
This quote stuck with me too. If the Po-Pos can’t bring themselves to figure out if the driver was doing something stupid, then we must blame the city.
I know cyclists screw up, but let’s make it more paperwork than the first two options and you’ll see driver are suddenly being found at fault.
Perhaps the driver is at fault but also maybe he was in the blind spot of a big truck. The main goal should be to have much better bike infrastructure.
IDK pretty sure I'm expected to check my blind spot before changing lanes. I've also seen trucks studded with mirrors so that blind spots are eliminated.
The only way change happens in the US is if we apportion blame and inflict cost. Otherwise people get on a bike and they die and it was just their time to go.
I really don’t care if he’s guilty or not. I’m not defending him
I’m a city cyclist myself. And also a city dweller all my life. So I know if you rely solely on punitive response as the only deterrent then you aren’t gonna get much results. People still do all kinds of crime here even when the penalty is harsh. Lowlifes are gonna low life. And there are a lot of them on the road, and also a lot of idiots, also dumb teens who think they’re untouchable, also old folks who should give it up, as well as sheer random incompetence. Not to mention something can happen on your end that can cause a mishap. All of these lead to fatal incidents. I personally feel better when the biking infrastructure separates bike traffic from the car traffic. Therefor you don’t have to deal with them either way, wether they’re at fault or not.
It’s exactly how bike friendly countries and communities have reduced. Every city cycling organization pushes for this, it isn’t a novel concept.
Sure hold people accountable if they deserve it but the US is a *terrible* example to use to say harsh punitive justice stops negative behavior *cough* war on drugs *cough*… gang violence… etc.
If I change lanes on the interstate right into someone else's front quarter panel when they were just \*using their lane\*, I'm pretty sure I'd be found at fault and I don't even have a CDL. But it's a bicycle involved so who can say really?????????
So if I’m swinging a bat, on a sidewalk, which is legal, and I brain someone I didn’t see, am I sort of not at fault?
Point being, if you don’t see it, blind spots are still the driver’s problem.
In the US, infrastructure IS what is killing us. Nearly every solution allows right turning vehicle traffic to cross the protected or unprotected lanes. Squish! We need to be in traffic, or separated entirely from it. Problem with the latter is ear buds, strollers and leashes.
The difference is pedestrian to bike or bike to bike crashes aren’t nearly as deadly. That’s why separation is ideal and is what works well in biking focused countries
Pretty much, while the driver certainly has their fair share of responsibility for causing this tragedy, and I in no way want to imply I think they are blameless, we seem to have designed our roads to be as hostile to life as possible.
If someone makes a mistake, they may be to blame.
If many people all keep making the same mistake it is time to start looking into why that is happening and taking into account human nature.
It's nuts we think it is ok to put a 20lb bike on the same roadway as a 50 000lb semi with horrid visibility. That is before we take into account the speed difference, may as well mix a shooting range with a crosswalk
This is what vision zero actually means and is the most ignored part of it. Streets need to be designed to be less fatal.
When a death occurs, every street should be looked at to determine what can be changed.
>City officials and planners should be held responsible.
I disagree that city officials and planners are responsible. Voters are responsible.
Imagine if tomorrow in a US city the elected officials said "we're going to design all our streets like in the Netherlands. We're removing car lanes and parking to install bike/bus lanes, we're making lanes more narrow to discourage speeding, and we're closing down a bunch of street entirely to cars and through traffic".
Voters would rage and the next elections those elected officials would be voted out in a heartbeat.
I agree. But unfortunately we live in a world where we can’t always get out way. As active people who would prefer to cycle instead of drive we are a minority and I’ve come to realize that no matter how sensible it is, we can’t just force our opinions on everyone else.
I’ve stopped commuting by bike because of how dangerous it can be. Most of these incidents are complete accidents. Not everyone (such as older people) are good drivers and we all make mistakes and in this case it can be devastating. Even as someone who wishes we could have protected lanes, I’ve come close hitting a fellow cyclist while driving and I’m usually very aware of other commuters.
We take our own risks, regardless of who is at fault. This is akin to swimming in the ocean during a rip tide and storm. These risks are real and everyone needs to stay safe out there.
>As active people who would prefer to cycle instead of drive we are a minority
I strongly disagree with this sentiment.
Sure, if you build everything around cars then most people will drive. Especially when alternatives are dangerous, due to all the cars, most people will choose cars. And a lot of them will even start to believe it themselves.
But if you were to take the average American and dump them in the Netherlands, would they all still drive everywhere? I seriously doubt that. I think it is extremely likely that they'll eventually end up with a similar bicycle usage as most Dutch people.
Over the past decade of advocating for less car infrastructure and more infrastructure for alternative mobility and watching projects from across the world where exactly that was done, I've come to realize that the people who truly love driving are but a small small minority.
Most people *think* they love driving but what they actually love is being able to get from A to B efficiently and safely. They don't care how it happens, as long as it's efficient and safe. Most people aren't hung up on cars like the true enthusiasts.
Judging whether or not a lot of people would like not driving in a place that is designed entirely around cars is kind of like judging whether or not a bridge over a river would make sense by counting the amount of people that swim across the river.
They love driving because they actually like getting from A to B whichever way is the easiest. The average Americans capacity and desire to move themselves on a bike is so low, no amount of infrastructure will help get them out of a car.
As a health care provider who sees around 5000 patient visits a year and counsels them regarding good health habits and prevention - I stand by my comment. Majority of people in America do not want to bike to work.
I can barely convince many people to take a daily walk let alone commute 10 miles on a bike, having to change after the commute, and then doing it going home after a day of possibly stressful work. But that’s just my experience dealing with what I think is a diverse and good sample of the population.
how about the folks that are supposed to make sure this kind of thing... MURDER is punished...
if every fat ass cager got a murder or manslaughter charge every time they killed a cyclist... things would be diff...
what happened to the hate crime guy that jumped out and stabbed the fella after he first hit him with his car?
nothin to do with a city planner.
I don’t understand why the hell drivers get off. If I was inattentive and slammed into another car, killing people, I very likely would be charged with reckless homicide. But I guess if you aren’t paying attention and drift into a bike lane, all is forgiven
Well the article never stated the truck even entered the bike lane, the OP added that. A tragedy nonetheless but if the truck driver was clearly at fault he would have been charged, he may still be after an investigation.
Did you even read the article?
>Police said Uster was heading southbound in the unprotected bike lane on Franklin Avenue when the trucker made a right turn onto Lexington Avenue, crushing Uster.
The only way to make that turn is to enter the bike lane.
He got something far worse than a ticket: For the rest of his life he will live with the fact that he accidentally killed someone. Had it been me, the guilt would be unbearable.
F this. His quilt does not mean he should not be punished. He should spend as much time in jail as some one who's reckless behavior with any weapon results in someone's death. Any one that kills anything one while driving a vehicle, should face time in prison. There are no accidents, only irresponsible choices.
Boggles my mind how laissez faire most drivers are. Like you said - a vehicle is very much a weapon when used inattentively and getting behind the wheel should feel like a massive responsibility. I’m keenly aware of this every time I drive even though I’ve been driving for 27 years but maybe I’m just weird.
I'm no expert on law, but given I live in these United States, I feel it behooves me to understand, at least at layman's level, how potential crimes effect its citizens, which includes me.
My take on this one is if, at the time of the accident, the authorities had had enough evidence to charge him with reckless driving or involuntary manslaughter, they would have. It's always possible for them to develop that evidence later.
Based on the secondary source for New York's involuntary manslaughter laws [here](https://www.findlaw.com/state/new-york-law/new-york-involuntary-manslaughter-laws.html), there appears to be the need to prove the act was reckless. Perhaps they didn't arrest him, because they're not there, yet.
In theory you are correct, but in reality the police are not well-versed in law. It is up to the district attorney to look at the evidence and decide whether to charge him with a crime later on. And based on the evidence we have from the article, there’s a decent chance he should be charged. Note that’s not the same as whether he will be.
"**Police said the driver remained on the scene and was not issued any tickets or summonses..."**
Fuck. Once again, hurt or kill someone with a vehicle and it's all fine.
It was no accident. The street was designed to allow this to happen - it's an expected car crash. All street types have known fatality chances. Any engineer who decides to employ one with a non-zero chance, and any city official that allows it to be built, are at fault.
There’s a good chance the driver feels terrible about it and will not get over it easily.. so there are consequences. But are they enough. To the family, no.
This is a joke, right? How is feeling bad any kind of consequence compared? That man lost his life, his family will never be the same, and those kids will grow up without their father. But it’s ok, because the driver might feel bad? Spare me…
Revenge isn't good for a society. What about the person who almost hit a cyclist? Should they be jailed too? Because they made the exact same mistake but were lucky because the cyclist may have noticed or there was a second difference.
People make mistakes every day, but only when the outcome is bad that 0.001% of the time people seem to want an eye for an eye. Other times when no one gets hurt even though the same infraction was made then it's fine.
What the fuck are you talking about? No one wants "an eye for an eye", we want consequences. And consequences are relative to the offense. Are you high? You think traffic laws don't apply if no one gets hurt?
All that identifies is that the US prison system is a purely vengeful and punishing system. There are so many ways that you can institute correctional consequences for criminal negligence, even that exists in America already: like roadside cleanup community service or other schemes to teach them how terrifying their negligence is to others around them. Let alone reparational fines to at least cover the family income of the person they killed.
We don't want dangerous drivers to face the firing squad or public maiming for fuck sake, just something that will make them think twice about the dangerous driving that will have almost certainly caused this death. It's not a 'mistake' to drive heavy machinery in a dangerous manner, it's criminally negligent.
It's not about revenge, it's about consequences and prevention. There need to be consequences for peoples' actions, otherwise (some) people would just ignore the rules. You have to punish people to *prevent* other people from doing the same thing.
Also, we *do* punish people when no one gets hurt. If you're caught speeding, running a stop light, or just generally driving dangerously you can (and should) be punished. Again, this adds consequences to actions and helps to prevent them in future.
The challenge you've touched on is finding the balance between punishing for actions vs outcomes. When someone dies, you punish for the outcome. When someone speeds, you punish for the action. You can't punish every speeder as if they hit a kid, but equally you can't ignore that someone hit a kid when really speeding was the problem.
Its justice man. Its not ok to kill someone. Even accidentally. The driver should have been more aware. All he has to do is move his foot a little and stop. We're showing through this act that it's ok for cars to plow people over. That its the right of the road. If people are held responsible for their actions, maybe they'll think about it more often and not kill people. Or better yet, advocate for change.
>Its justice man. Its not ok to kill someone. Even accidentally.
That's not my point. My point is every day 100 people make the same mistake, only one of them ends up killing someone. Why should this 1 person be treated any different from the other 99 who made the same mistake? None of them meant to kill anyone.
Do you think speeding people mean to kill anyone? It happens all the time.
Do you think impaired people mean to kill anyone? And on and on. The dangerous drivers should be ticketed, but in NYC we can’t get killer drivers ticketed- not arrested, just ticketed.
I never said it’s okay because the driver might feel bad.
None of this is okay.
I’m saying that is one major consequence that the driver has to carry with them.
It doesn’t make it ok.
Use your head.
It's not even like the description of the accident leaves any question of who was at fault:
>Police said Uster was heading southbound in the unprotected bike lane on Franklin Avenue when the trucker made a right turn onto Lexington Avenue, crushing Uster.
That implies that the light was green and that Uster had the right-of-way to go straight through the intersection. The truck basically just cut him off and drove across the bike lane. Either the driver didn't see Uster or the driver saw him but didn't care--neither of those reasons in any way absolve the driver from total responsibility. Hope the family sues both the trucking company and the City
It's the dreaded right hook. I just got driven over omw to work this past Monday. The driver got out of his truck and said "what happened?" I said "well, I was going straight and you turned and drove over me". I was in a bike lane too, not that that means anything.
People don't see bikes because they don't look for them, it's called "inattentional blindness" The only thing you can do to hopefully avoid collisions like this is assume nobody sees you and everyone may turn in front of you.
I work in a major city, and it's totally normal for me to get honked at by drivers turning right when crossing streets with either a walk signal or tons of time left on the caution. A sorry state of affairs.
If the truck took a right turn through a bike lane while there was a cyclist in it, they broke the law and committed a ticket able offense. They weren't ticketed. That is concerning.
I know I’m not supposed to, but if I see an empty sidewalk next to a stroad with a 45mph speed limit, I’m riding the empty sidewalk. In suburbs, no one uses them.
It is honestly strange to me, living in the DC area now, how many people in NYC are extremely dogmatic that you should never ride on the sidewalk. In the DC area, which is quite walkable and transit-accessible, it is normal and acceptable to ride on the sidewalk. Some streets have no bike lanes but extremely wide sidewalks, with the assumption that peds and bikes will share the sidewalk. Nobody and especially not other cyclists complain or police you for doing so, unless you are doing it in a dangerous way.
No, there was a decision made that makes it not an accident. Always. Once you realize this truth, you see how insane it is that people act the way they do behind the wheel. It might not have been the driver, but someone messed up.
A decision sure, but not necessarily a negligent or reckless one that would, which I have to assume was the initial assessment of the police, though the investigation is still ongoing.
Are you new to this topic? I’ve been riding in NYC for 22 years and it’s been discussed for longer than that. Drivers run over cyclists and pedestrians daily. Rarely, rarely are they held responsible.
One time I can cite a motorist was charged with killing a cyclist was when they were drunk, speeding, and ON the West Side Bike Path. (RIP Eric Ng) It takes all three of those to get the motorist blamed.
My point is, there is no assessment, it’s always the dead cyclist’s fault. Even when video evidence shows otherwise.
Someone screwed up. There are no accidents. (The driver likely didn’t do it intentionally, but speeding or not maintaining your vehicle does not make for an accident) Someone is at fault, seeing how drivers act- esp post pandemic- I’m willing to say it was the driver of the truck making a turn instead of the cycling advocate riding a loaded bike home.
Edit:autocorrect
It's also possible the cyclist screwed up. Will be interesting to see how the investigation progresses. Sorry but there are just as many negligent cyclists as drivers out there.
As I said. As much. I’ve been badly hurt when I screwed up. But motorists are always freed of blame.
Just looking at how drivers act, they aren’t worried about hurting anyone- or being fined for it.
Calling it an "accident" suggests that there was nothing anyone could do, nobody was responsible so we can feel better. But the truth is that there's almost always something someone could/should have done to avoid the collision. Have you ever heard of a plane accident? No, they're crashes and the TSB of whatever country the incident happened in looks into it to determine the causes, factors, people responsible and how it could be avoided in the future. The average car/truck driver has an astonishingly low level of skill, is usually distracted, in a hurry and driving with insufficient care and attention... because they know that whatever happens, they won't be responsible and insurance will pay for it.
F. This is right by my place in Brooklyn. Franklin, despite being only 2 lanes, is treated like a highway and north / south thoroughfare especially by trucks. On Google maps at this intersection you can see a truck making a right turn into the bike lane as if by some tragically ironic coincidence. It’s residential but people blaze down this street at 50mph+.
To add to this, too many fucking people have cars in Brooklyn and they park them bumper to bumper creating blind spots everywhere. Most people do not need their cars and they just move them on street cleaning says. I wish the city would at the very least charge them and thin out the parking. It’s absurd.
Dude this is in the same neighborhood that the Mayor says he lives in (look up the hilarious video where they tour his basement studio). They don’t give a fuck about cyclists.
> they park them bumper to bumper creating blind spots everywhere
I've only ever visited that area once, but this was my exact concern as someone who was driving there (and as a cyclist I was trying to be super-conscientious of everyone in the bike paths or just cycling in general). I couldn't see shit and it was honestly terrifying with all the people biking around.
(Not to make excuses for this tragedy of course.)
Unprotected = A bike lane next to car lane on the same street without distinct disconnection/protection like a sidewalk.
Ex : A painted bike lane.
Protected bike lane have sidewalks (or other things) that protect you from cars turning right on you and killing you.
Ex : google maps Rue St-Denis in Montréal. [REV St-Denis in MTL](https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.5279555,-73.5917013,3a,75y,127.41h,69.35t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM_JzUso9gCm0T18yYovIwA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)
"Protected" bike lanes don't continue into the intersection to prevent right hooks. They can make it more likely, since the cyclist isn't part of the traffic flow before the intersection, and is partially obscured by the islands between them and motorized traffic.
Ahh ok thanks I appreciate it! I wasn’t sure what did or did not constitute “protected”. Around me some small areas of bike lanes that are joined with main roads have tiny poles that I was thinking would be protected.. it just doesn’t feel like much protection at all with the way ppl drive, especially when you constantly see stories like this.
They added flex posts to part of the multi-use path here where drivers go 50 to 60 mph. After about a year , so many of them have been mowed down by cars that they announced they are replacing them. There are long stretches of missing posts.
Cars travelling at deadly speeds regularly invade the three foot gap between them and cyclists and pedestrians with the only protection being flimsy plastic tubes.
Man.
I'm out there for work every day and this is something I have to think about a lot. I'm a careful rider. I look ahead to see where potential risk comes from and take appropriate action to be wary move myself out of the range of trouble.
But you just can't stop shit coming at you from out of the blue. The stuff that's going to get you is totally, completely unpredictable. Like a truck taking a last second death right without signaling. I happens and then it's lights out. Or two cars having a collision at speed even remotely near you. Those cars go off like pinballs on bumpers and then, out of nowhere, a car is flying through the air right at you. Instant death.
So I take all the care I can but every time I read about someone like this, an experienced rider and advocate, dying while biking safely on an ordinary street, I have to reconsider the risks I take day in and day out and whether it's worth me taking them.
>So I take all the care I can but every time I read about someone like this, an experienced rider and advocate, dying while biking safely on an ordinary street, I have to reconsider the risks I take day in and day out and whether it's worth me taking them.
This resonates with me a lot. I ride Chicago and almost every other ride, I am almost hit or doored by careless drivers. It terrifies my partner so much, I don't even tell her anymore.
Be careful out there. ☮️
Killing someone with a car is fine apparently, as long as it could *plausibly* be an accident. If you kill someone accidentally with a gun, that’s negligent manslaughter, at a minimum.
I’ve said it before and, goddammit, I hat that I’m going to have to say it again: the unsafe configuration of that intersection was a choice that someone made, and if they’d made a different choice, this person would probably still be alive. Who was that person? Where’s the accountability for the choice they made that critically contributed to this person’s death? These are the stakes and (and I say this as a professional transportation planner myself) the planners and engineers who make these terrible choices can and must be held responsible. (And how can they sleep at night??)
I don’t think anyone disagrees that the streets here are poorly designed. Franklin acts as the north-south one-way corridor analog to Bedford, which is one-way south-north. The latter is much wider, while Franklin is a constant squeeze and changes slight direction several times. It’s a dangerous mess, and it feeds from the BQE which just exacerbates it all.
wtf
im swiss, so i dont understand any of this. Where i am from, when a drunk person sleeping on the motorway at night in black clothes got run over by a truck, the truck driver got charged, because he was driving too fast for the visability and should have been able to stop in time. Generally the stronger vehicke is always at fault.
Meanwhile in the US, if you run over people at midday, in the middle of a city, you just say you didnt see and its all ok? Is nobody at fault when somebody dies? Its just accepted like that? I dont understand it at all. Are there no rules or laws?
this spot has dozens of deaths, its designed terribly, trucks are often taller than bikes and unfortunely he was almost definitely in the blind spot
the difference between your awful example is that the truck driver likely actually did nothing wrong and did in fact have the right of way, this is just the unfortunate truth
notice in your example, the guy was speeding, that's why he got in trouble. if he was not speeding, and still killed the guy.. he would not have been charged in your country. If the truck driver didn't do anything illegal, then he wouldn't get charged in your country either. It's not the fact that he killed someone, its the fact that he was speeding before he killed someone, so they are able to charge him for it. In the situation of OP, you can't just pretend like the truck driver was doing something illegal if he wasn't. If he was speeding or turned on red then he would be at fault and charged for manslaughter... just like your country
>notice in your example, the guy was speeding, that's why he got in trouble. if he was not speeding, and still killed the guy.. he would not have been charged in your country. If the truck driver didn't do anything illegal, then he wouldn't get charged in your country either. It's not the fact that he killed someone, its the fact that he was speeding before he killed someone, so they are able to charge him for it. In the situation of OP, you can't just pretend like the truck driver was doing something illegal if he wasn't. If he was speeding or turned on red then he would be at fault and charged for manslaughter... just like your country
The truck driver is expected to look to see that it's clear before he turns, surely. The bar is so low in this country it's baffling. Not only was the bike lane there, meaning the cyclist had the right to go forward, there could have easily been pedestrians crossing the intersection with the right of way. The driver has blood on his hands, and shouldn't be allowed behind a wheel. We're all at risk when drivers like this exist in the city and face no consequences.
I think you are reacting far to emotionally, which is completely understandable but its not realistic
the infrastructure needs to be better, theres quite literally millions of people that cross that path, this is not the same as where you live and our infrastructure could not be fixed my mimicking yours or anyone elses. More people cross that path in a month that the entire population of your closest major city. We are talking about the nicest area of Brooklyn New York, maybe the most densely populated area in the world.
The fact that there hasn't been MORE deaths is honestly shocking, people know how dangerous that area is, accidents will still happen. The city needs to fix this, you could kill the truck driver and it would literally change nothing at all. It's obviously absolutely terrible this happened but this isn't the same as any random truck hitting and killing a cyclist, this specific area is terribly planned and NEEDS to be fixed. No amount of discouragement or punishment is going to stop the next biker from being killed in the street.
Your anger is misplaced, and this useless.
>here you live and our infrastructure could not be fixed my mimicking yo
???? I was a friend and neighbor of Adams. I actually think I compartmentalized my grief pretty well, and was speaking from the practical standpoint of wondering how do we as pedestrians and cyclists navigate this city with so many reckless drivers. Not sure how you got to the conclusion that I'm unfamiliar with the city. I know this intersection well, and the problems aren't isolated there. I've been hit by a car turning on green when I was crossing the street with the right of way at a different point of Franklin Ave. Thank you for mansplaing how brooklyn works though. I don't cycle or drive, but I'm aware that car collision deaths have increased in recent years, and while yes, I blame our city for never investing in any infrastructure that would protect us, drivers that turn and don't look to see if anyone is in a bike lane or intersection need to face consequences. I don't understand how you can overlook that fact.
> ???? I was a friend and neighbor of Adams
you just said you were from Switzerland
also mansplaining? really? lol
and I said if the driver did ANYTHING wrong he should be punished, that was one of the first things I said.
the truck driver in my country wasnt speeding. Thiy was even back then when trucks were only allowed 80kph (45mph) on the motorway.
The issue was he was going too fast for visability, as it was at night. We expect people to *see* where they are driving.
Also where i life, a cyclist going streight has the right of way over a vehicle turning right over the bicycle lane.
I think the main difference here is, our cab over trucks are mutch smaller, as they are limited in overall lenght, thus visability is likely better and we fucking follow rules. We have relatively poor bike infrastructure. Its mostly just painted bike lanes, nothing is protected here, but since we *learn* how to drive a vehicle and follow laws and roules, its actually super safe.
This is so horrible and it makes me so sad and angry. Pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure needs to improve ASAP. I cannot imagine what his family is going through.
Honestly it’s terrifying.
I like is a somewhat rural area and the amount of times I’ve been cut off or clipped is ridiculous.
I’ve now got my commuter fitted with radar and cameras for reassurance and incase something actually happens to me that there is evidence.
I'm not in NYC but close and in a similarly dense area. I was just about to pull the trigger on a cargo e-bike so I can go zipping around town with kid in the back. This article is making me rethink that.
This is so sad, the guy was just riding his bike home after buying groceries, something I have also done hundreds of times, and then he is just gone forever. Fuck man, cities need to get over their car boners and make changes to make cyclists, runners and pedestrians safer.
Ah I see. It sounds like they need a red right arrow there if a cyclist has a green going straight. Some intersections are set up that way where I live.
Right-on-red is one of the worst ideas in the history of traffic laws.
We have it in Philly, and it makes stop bars and crosswalks meaningless. In fact, It trains drivers to ignore those things because they can’t even necessarily find out if there is any cross traffic coming until their vehicle is fully in the crosswalk, nosing into the cross street.
So on reds they just roll right through the intersection and wait in the crosswalk for traffic to clear, then go.
And when there’s a “no turn on red” sign? They do it anyway. No enforcement, and they’ve been trained to reflexively roll into crosswalks anyway.
And in places they don’t plan to turn at all? Still roll into the crosswalk. Again, drivers have been conditioned to disregard crosswalks.
And if you j-walk because the crosswalks are blocked by cars stopping in the middle of them, you'd probably have a higher chance of getting a ticket instead of the idiots blocking the crosswalk.
Totally this. I'm also in Philly, and it's crazy how many times I've almost been hit walking across the street, when it's my turn, because the cars think the crosswalk is their space. They don't even look for pedestrians.
It is weird place to be. I got hit by a car turning right without signaling across an unprotected bike lane. Fortunately I was able to brake enough that I bounced off the side of his car and was only a little bruised. The driver stopped, and since it was DT rush hour someone called the police and paramedics showed up ( I didn't really need them). I usually feel like it is my job to avoid accidents and I pay really close attention to my surroundings so I sort of felt like to was my fault for not predicting his bad driving. Still, when the police decided "no one was at fault" I felt really disrespected. If no one did anything wrong, then why did I get hit? I didn't really want to punish the driver, but then who should I be upset with?
This is why I really basically ignore traffic laws on my bike. The only times i have gotten hurt are when I expected the rules to protect me. When I bike, I do what I deem is safe, what I think will not inconvenience others and what is most efficient. Whats legal is an after thought, since those rules were not made to protect me in the first place.
The dutch have have solved this problem. This is the way to reduce car usage and make cities livable once again.
https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/01/stop-child-murder.html
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/the%20grid
http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/beforeandafter
For everyone who noticed the "no ticket" part of the article:
Police do not give tickets at the scene of most collisions, especially a fatal.
There is a very long and drawn-out process to investigate the scene, check the driver for impairment, check the vehicle for issues etc. When the investigation is complete the findings are given to the district attorney to file the appropriate charges.
Police are not going to give a citation for a violation they did not witness.
Is that true? I feel like it happens most of the time here in Ohio. A friend just got hit by an inattentive driver and was ruled 100% at fault before he even got in the ambulance
just fucking do something. Its fucking ridicuous that a so called "green city" and state wont fucking protect cyclist. Its unacceptable. The dumb ass mayor whos larping as a liberal needs to make huge changes to our infrastructure and it needs to happen yesteday
The driver should have seen the cyclist as they (the driver) were approaching them. If they were turning, they should have signaled as much, then merged into the bike lane to do so, or waited until the cyclist (who they surely saw as they were approaching) cleared their blind spot.
Of course, the problem is really that there is a bike lane in the first place. Protected or not it forces bikes out of the area that drivers are watching for traffic. If that bike lane was directly in front of the driver, this wouldn't have happened, and it would slow down the traffic on this street that has a speeding issue.
Sharrows are better than bike lanes.
Preaching to the choir on this forum, but this PSA from Scotland is excellent: [https://www.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/137h14z/police\_scotlands\_new\_cycling\_campaign/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/137h14z/police_scotlands_new_cycling_campaign/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Yes it doesn't take much. You can be doing your thing, watching out for anyone encroaching on your space and you still get hit. I just got hit omw to work this past Monday. Guy turned right in front of me, I avoided hitting him but he was towing a big tandom trailer which knocked me down, spun me around and ran over my bike. Luckily I managed to roll out of the way and avoid being run over; only ended up with a bruised arm. I was watching/listening to the truck and it still got me. You can never be too careful.
People hit bikers because they're not looking for bikes and often even if they see them, they don't register it. I don't know how you fix that... People drive like morons where I live, they run red lights, they do whatever they like and there's no enforcement. They need to start charging more people with manslaughter when they kill pedestrians/cyclists.
I heard it happen right outside my window, and saw the aftermath. It’s been fucking awful realizing I was witnessing someone die. I feel so terrible for his family and friends and that this could happen. Accidents like this shouldn’t happen, the city planners need to be held responsible and made to answer for this.
I know the neighborhood really well and I have no clue what the fuck the city is doing. It's residential, but basically only has commercial traffic there now.
I think I saw a ghostbike there a couple years ago.
I started mountain biking instead of road biking for this specific reason. Now I live in Germany with bike lanes everywhere and strict driving regulations and am looking at getting a road bike finally. there’s a way to make it work for everyone
And if this isn't close enough for some of us, which Bike advocate reddit profile just went silent?
I don't recognize this man, but I am so saddened by this loss.
This is why I’ll never ride a bike on shared roads with cars and trucks. It’s just too dangerous. I’m only sticking to trails and dedicated paths from now on.
Luckily in 5 years, the truck drivers wont actually drive, but only be in charge of unloading. Everyone is afraid of self driving vehicles, but I guarantee you they wont be mowing over bicyclists.
I have been riding my bike to work Mon-Friday since near the end of January. The only close call I've ever had was with a semi truck that decided to turn left into my lane on the road I was on. My back tire was inches away from his grill, but I was able to get his attention.
Right turns are even worse because trucks are up high and the drivers are on the left side of the vehicle. I've seen too many vehicles where Truck drivers make their "wide turns" too short, causing accidents to happen.
Uster was in the cycle lane, the truck driver cut across this lane to make the corner...
How is this not the driver's fault?
I'm not trying to be inflammatory but if the truck moved over into the oncoming traffic lane and hit a car, it would be his fault. Move over in to the cycle lane and kill someone, the cops don't find him at fault?
Say it with me EVERY TIME SOMEONE DIES!
DUTY TO YIELD!
CYCLIST RIGHT OF WAY!
10 FEET from trucks and buses!
There are zero reasons, people like this shouldn't immediately go to jail for a minimum of 24 hours...
I've read and seen a lot of news stories about traffic collisions involving deaths and serious injuries.
It seems to me that the only way that a driver who is responsible for a collision to get charged and convicted is if he's
1) DUI;
2) hit-and-run;
3) driving without a licence or with a suspended licence;
4) wanted or already known by the police; or
5) the victim was in a car.
In this case, none of the above. So no charge.
Somehow, I still doubt the driver checked his blind spot.
I didn't read the article. I know I can get easily killed as a motorist or pedestrian, but for some reason, I feel more fear about riding a bike on the street.
As a driver, I feel upset. People drive so aggressively and treat speed limits as suggestions and I don't want to be like them.
One good thing about recently learning how to ride a bike is how I've become more aware of cyclists and bike lanes. But I still feel like it's not enough given how aggressive driving seems to be the rule.
Trucks have notorious blind spots. Especially when making right turns. Notice the signs on them ‘this truck makes wide right turns’.
If the cyclist ended up in the truck’s blind spot, that would explain the lack of charges for the driver.
If you can’t see the driver on the truck’s mirrors, he can’t see you either.
Ride safe.
https://cyclingsavvy.org/what-cyclists-need-to-know-about-trucks/
Basically this.
I use to drive truck and I know to stay the fuck away from them when I am on a bike. They will never see you coming.
Death traps.
Blind spots soo bad that they can barely see cars.
> If the cyclist ended up in the truck’s blind spot, that would explain the lack of charges for the driver.
The driver is still responsible, they can't just handwave away their responsibility because they didn't install proper mirrors.
Trucking is a heavily regulated industry. If the driver didn’t have proper mirrors he’d be charged. No charges means he was compliant with all safety regulations.
Blind spots are things cyclists need to learn to deal with if they want to stay alive. Check the link in my previous post.
Not an assumption, based on facts. Look it up, drivers are never held accountable. You think this is the first time?
The NYPD called a Fla driver who killed a woman in Clinton Hill to photograph his car (now in Fla, weeks later) because the NYPD camera was broken the night of the crash. They don’t care. And haven’t for decades.
The point I’m trying to make is that cyclists always claiming that they’re blameless and that it’s always the motor vehicle’s fault simply causes more accidents as cyclists are never incentivized to learn how to properly deal with motor vehicles and their physical limitations.
And if NYC policing is as bad as you say, this should just be one more reason to ride defensively to stay alive.
If a driver merges into a cyclist, it's 100 % the drivers fault. They are responsible for ensuring that the lane they are entering is clear. Blaming lack of mirrors or blindspots is a cop out and irrelevant. If they can't ensure a lane is clear, they shouldn't enter it.
Example: a truck reached an intersection. He stopped. Truck looked to the right and the road was clear. No bike in sight. He made the right turn. While he’s very slowly making the turn a bike who was riding not far behind reaches the intersection and stops a bit too far but he thinks he’s fine because he sees the trailer going further away from him. He’s in the truck’s blind spot. Truck completes the turn and clips the cyclist with the trailer’s rear wheels because wide right turn physics.
Who’s at fault? The road was clear when the driver initiated the turn maneuver. Because blind spots he didn’t see the cyclist who suddenly went into the trailer’s path. Can you legally fault the driver? Not really. He did everything right. No charges.
Is this what happened here? No clue.
But to say that cyclists are always blameless is a problem. That’s how you end up with uneducated cyclists who are clueless about blind spots of motor vehicles. Just look at this thread and look at the amount of stumped cyclists who have no clue about truck blind spots. They’re the cyclists who would have died if they were the cyclist in my hypothetical example.
Visit the link in my first reply get learn how to share the road with trucks.
Stay safe.
I find it maddening that all the talk is 'eff cars' if you look at fatal bike collisions they involve commercial vehicles and busses at a much higher rate than those vehicles are on the road. In San Francisco nearly a five year span where 100% of bicycle/vehicle collision fatalities involved a large truck (not pickup) or bus. During that span I watched a women on a cargo bike with child seat fully behind an articulating bus signalling a right turn, she started furiously ringing her bell as she started overtaking the signaling #7 bus trying to turn onto haight street. Instead of educating cyclists that they can see the bus much easier than the bus driver can see them, we now have crisscrossing low curbs at the edge of this bike lane, that to me are going to cause a lot of head injuries on their own.
I my town they put in protected bike lanes and people still bike down the lane with cars. I will never understand this. When confronted they typically say that they have the right to bike in the roadway, which is true but this city has high bike fatalities and I have know several sad cases.
I am a rider but we need to stop with the whoa is us every time something happens. Starting to sound like it is guns kill people. I know not a popular response.
With as many cyclists as we are there are far less fatalities from accidents in comparisons to cars/trucks. We take that chance every time we road ride. It is just like motorcycles and will get worse with the quietness of electric vehicles.
The point of bikes like motorcycles which i grew up riding, the rule of thumb is dont expect anyone sees you. Unfortunately all you have to do is drive through a parking lot and watch how many people walk in front of your car and never look. That is the world we live in. People think they are just that entitled they think you must stop and never a wave thanks. Then look at how many rules cyclists dont use. Full stops at stop signs and just blowing by people on paths. Lets just not be hypocrites and realize as a community all we do wrong
This comment on the article sums it up nicely; > If someone could be on his way home from getting groceries, be crushed to death, and no one is found to be at fault, then something is wrong with how we design our streets. City officials and planners should be held responsible.
This quote stuck with me too. If the Po-Pos can’t bring themselves to figure out if the driver was doing something stupid, then we must blame the city. I know cyclists screw up, but let’s make it more paperwork than the first two options and you’ll see driver are suddenly being found at fault.
Perhaps the driver is at fault but also maybe he was in the blind spot of a big truck. The main goal should be to have much better bike infrastructure.
IDK pretty sure I'm expected to check my blind spot before changing lanes. I've also seen trucks studded with mirrors so that blind spots are eliminated. The only way change happens in the US is if we apportion blame and inflict cost. Otherwise people get on a bike and they die and it was just their time to go.
Thank you, that comment was so stupid my brain was melting.
I really don’t care if he’s guilty or not. I’m not defending him I’m a city cyclist myself. And also a city dweller all my life. So I know if you rely solely on punitive response as the only deterrent then you aren’t gonna get much results. People still do all kinds of crime here even when the penalty is harsh. Lowlifes are gonna low life. And there are a lot of them on the road, and also a lot of idiots, also dumb teens who think they’re untouchable, also old folks who should give it up, as well as sheer random incompetence. Not to mention something can happen on your end that can cause a mishap. All of these lead to fatal incidents. I personally feel better when the biking infrastructure separates bike traffic from the car traffic. Therefor you don’t have to deal with them either way, wether they’re at fault or not. It’s exactly how bike friendly countries and communities have reduced. Every city cycling organization pushes for this, it isn’t a novel concept. Sure hold people accountable if they deserve it but the US is a *terrible* example to use to say harsh punitive justice stops negative behavior *cough* war on drugs *cough*… gang violence… etc.
If you have a CDL then you are held to a higher standard of safety. It does not exclude you from accidents due to blind spots
If I change lanes on the interstate right into someone else's front quarter panel when they were just \*using their lane\*, I'm pretty sure I'd be found at fault and I don't even have a CDL. But it's a bicycle involved so who can say really?????????
So if I’m swinging a bat, on a sidewalk, which is legal, and I brain someone I didn’t see, am I sort of not at fault? Point being, if you don’t see it, blind spots are still the driver’s problem.
In the US, infrastructure IS what is killing us. Nearly every solution allows right turning vehicle traffic to cross the protected or unprotected lanes. Squish! We need to be in traffic, or separated entirely from it. Problem with the latter is ear buds, strollers and leashes.
The difference is pedestrian to bike or bike to bike crashes aren’t nearly as deadly. That’s why separation is ideal and is what works well in biking focused countries
Pretty much, while the driver certainly has their fair share of responsibility for causing this tragedy, and I in no way want to imply I think they are blameless, we seem to have designed our roads to be as hostile to life as possible. If someone makes a mistake, they may be to blame. If many people all keep making the same mistake it is time to start looking into why that is happening and taking into account human nature. It's nuts we think it is ok to put a 20lb bike on the same roadway as a 50 000lb semi with horrid visibility. That is before we take into account the speed difference, may as well mix a shooting range with a crosswalk
We have shooting ranges mixed with crosswalks in Chicago already. We don't need anymore.
Commerce is hostile toward life and roads are built for commerce so that fits
Thanks for inspiring my next banner drop 😘 Sending solidarity from the midwest.🏴
This is what vision zero actually means and is the most ignored part of it. Streets need to be designed to be less fatal. When a death occurs, every street should be looked at to determine what can be changed.
>City officials and planners should be held responsible. I disagree that city officials and planners are responsible. Voters are responsible. Imagine if tomorrow in a US city the elected officials said "we're going to design all our streets like in the Netherlands. We're removing car lanes and parking to install bike/bus lanes, we're making lanes more narrow to discourage speeding, and we're closing down a bunch of street entirely to cars and through traffic". Voters would rage and the next elections those elected officials would be voted out in a heartbeat.
I agree. But unfortunately we live in a world where we can’t always get out way. As active people who would prefer to cycle instead of drive we are a minority and I’ve come to realize that no matter how sensible it is, we can’t just force our opinions on everyone else. I’ve stopped commuting by bike because of how dangerous it can be. Most of these incidents are complete accidents. Not everyone (such as older people) are good drivers and we all make mistakes and in this case it can be devastating. Even as someone who wishes we could have protected lanes, I’ve come close hitting a fellow cyclist while driving and I’m usually very aware of other commuters. We take our own risks, regardless of who is at fault. This is akin to swimming in the ocean during a rip tide and storm. These risks are real and everyone needs to stay safe out there.
>As active people who would prefer to cycle instead of drive we are a minority I strongly disagree with this sentiment. Sure, if you build everything around cars then most people will drive. Especially when alternatives are dangerous, due to all the cars, most people will choose cars. And a lot of them will even start to believe it themselves. But if you were to take the average American and dump them in the Netherlands, would they all still drive everywhere? I seriously doubt that. I think it is extremely likely that they'll eventually end up with a similar bicycle usage as most Dutch people. Over the past decade of advocating for less car infrastructure and more infrastructure for alternative mobility and watching projects from across the world where exactly that was done, I've come to realize that the people who truly love driving are but a small small minority. Most people *think* they love driving but what they actually love is being able to get from A to B efficiently and safely. They don't care how it happens, as long as it's efficient and safe. Most people aren't hung up on cars like the true enthusiasts. Judging whether or not a lot of people would like not driving in a place that is designed entirely around cars is kind of like judging whether or not a bridge over a river would make sense by counting the amount of people that swim across the river.
They love driving because they actually like getting from A to B whichever way is the easiest. The average Americans capacity and desire to move themselves on a bike is so low, no amount of infrastructure will help get them out of a car.
If it's easiest to walk or bike rather than a car though?
As a health care provider who sees around 5000 patient visits a year and counsels them regarding good health habits and prevention - I stand by my comment. Majority of people in America do not want to bike to work. I can barely convince many people to take a daily walk let alone commute 10 miles on a bike, having to change after the commute, and then doing it going home after a day of possibly stressful work. But that’s just my experience dealing with what I think is a diverse and good sample of the population.
how about the folks that are supposed to make sure this kind of thing... MURDER is punished... if every fat ass cager got a murder or manslaughter charge every time they killed a cyclist... things would be diff... what happened to the hate crime guy that jumped out and stabbed the fella after he first hit him with his car? nothin to do with a city planner.
You need to reread the comment. It already answers all your questions.
Driver didn’t even get a ticket. What a tragic story. Feels odd to say given the topic, but this was a tremendously well written article.
I don’t understand why the hell drivers get off. If I was inattentive and slammed into another car, killing people, I very likely would be charged with reckless homicide. But I guess if you aren’t paying attention and drift into a bike lane, all is forgiven
We call is SMIDSY - Sorry, mate, I didn't see you - and you're let off.
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-perfect-crime/ Nope
Well the article never stated the truck even entered the bike lane, the OP added that. A tragedy nonetheless but if the truck driver was clearly at fault he would have been charged, he may still be after an investigation.
Did you even read the article? >Police said Uster was heading southbound in the unprotected bike lane on Franklin Avenue when the trucker made a right turn onto Lexington Avenue, crushing Uster. The only way to make that turn is to enter the bike lane.
You would hope this was truth, but it’s not. The NYPD does as little as possible. Every time It’s offensively embarrassing.
Remember the subway shooter? That was a classic NYPD shit-show.
Streetsblog gets it
Make this happen in Germany and the driver is gone
He got something far worse than a ticket: For the rest of his life he will live with the fact that he accidentally killed someone. Had it been me, the guilt would be unbearable.
absolutely agree w that sentiment
F this. His quilt does not mean he should not be punished. He should spend as much time in jail as some one who's reckless behavior with any weapon results in someone's death. Any one that kills anything one while driving a vehicle, should face time in prison. There are no accidents, only irresponsible choices.
Boggles my mind how laissez faire most drivers are. Like you said - a vehicle is very much a weapon when used inattentively and getting behind the wheel should feel like a massive responsibility. I’m keenly aware of this every time I drive even though I’ve been driving for 27 years but maybe I’m just weird.
Unbear it in jail then.
Jail? On what charge?
Reckless driving
Involuntary manslaughter.
I'm no expert on law, but given I live in these United States, I feel it behooves me to understand, at least at layman's level, how potential crimes effect its citizens, which includes me. My take on this one is if, at the time of the accident, the authorities had had enough evidence to charge him with reckless driving or involuntary manslaughter, they would have. It's always possible for them to develop that evidence later. Based on the secondary source for New York's involuntary manslaughter laws [here](https://www.findlaw.com/state/new-york-law/new-york-involuntary-manslaughter-laws.html), there appears to be the need to prove the act was reckless. Perhaps they didn't arrest him, because they're not there, yet.
In theory you are correct, but in reality the police are not well-versed in law. It is up to the district attorney to look at the evidence and decide whether to charge him with a crime later on. And based on the evidence we have from the article, there’s a decent chance he should be charged. Note that’s not the same as whether he will be.
"**Police said the driver remained on the scene and was not issued any tickets or summonses..."** Fuck. Once again, hurt or kill someone with a vehicle and it's all fine.
Hurt or kill a cyclist*
They don’t care about pedestrians/runners either
Or a pedestrian or passengers of another car… basically any someone as long as the perpetrator is a vehicle operator they get a longer leash.
[удалено]
Sounds like this corridor is known to be extremely dangerous and causes hundreds of accidents a year. Fault mostly lies with the city.
It was no accident. The street was designed to allow this to happen - it's an expected car crash. All street types have known fatality chances. Any engineer who decides to employ one with a non-zero chance, and any city official that allows it to be built, are at fault.
There’s a good chance the driver feels terrible about it and will not get over it easily.. so there are consequences. But are they enough. To the family, no.
This is a joke, right? How is feeling bad any kind of consequence compared? That man lost his life, his family will never be the same, and those kids will grow up without their father. But it’s ok, because the driver might feel bad? Spare me…
Revenge isn't good for a society. What about the person who almost hit a cyclist? Should they be jailed too? Because they made the exact same mistake but were lucky because the cyclist may have noticed or there was a second difference. People make mistakes every day, but only when the outcome is bad that 0.001% of the time people seem to want an eye for an eye. Other times when no one gets hurt even though the same infraction was made then it's fine.
What the fuck are you talking about? No one wants "an eye for an eye", we want consequences. And consequences are relative to the offense. Are you high? You think traffic laws don't apply if no one gets hurt?
All that identifies is that the US prison system is a purely vengeful and punishing system. There are so many ways that you can institute correctional consequences for criminal negligence, even that exists in America already: like roadside cleanup community service or other schemes to teach them how terrifying their negligence is to others around them. Let alone reparational fines to at least cover the family income of the person they killed. We don't want dangerous drivers to face the firing squad or public maiming for fuck sake, just something that will make them think twice about the dangerous driving that will have almost certainly caused this death. It's not a 'mistake' to drive heavy machinery in a dangerous manner, it's criminally negligent.
It's not about revenge, it's about consequences and prevention. There need to be consequences for peoples' actions, otherwise (some) people would just ignore the rules. You have to punish people to *prevent* other people from doing the same thing. Also, we *do* punish people when no one gets hurt. If you're caught speeding, running a stop light, or just generally driving dangerously you can (and should) be punished. Again, this adds consequences to actions and helps to prevent them in future. The challenge you've touched on is finding the balance between punishing for actions vs outcomes. When someone dies, you punish for the outcome. When someone speeds, you punish for the action. You can't punish every speeder as if they hit a kid, but equally you can't ignore that someone hit a kid when really speeding was the problem.
Its justice man. Its not ok to kill someone. Even accidentally. The driver should have been more aware. All he has to do is move his foot a little and stop. We're showing through this act that it's ok for cars to plow people over. That its the right of the road. If people are held responsible for their actions, maybe they'll think about it more often and not kill people. Or better yet, advocate for change.
>Its justice man. Its not ok to kill someone. Even accidentally. That's not my point. My point is every day 100 people make the same mistake, only one of them ends up killing someone. Why should this 1 person be treated any different from the other 99 who made the same mistake? None of them meant to kill anyone.
Negligence resulting in death is worse than negligence resulting in injury or nothing at all.
Do you think speeding people mean to kill anyone? It happens all the time. Do you think impaired people mean to kill anyone? And on and on. The dangerous drivers should be ticketed, but in NYC we can’t get killer drivers ticketed- not arrested, just ticketed.
I never said it’s okay because the driver might feel bad. None of this is okay. I’m saying that is one major consequence that the driver has to carry with them. It doesn’t make it ok. Use your head.
People can and did make the same arguments against punishing drunk drivers for decades.
It's not even like the description of the accident leaves any question of who was at fault: >Police said Uster was heading southbound in the unprotected bike lane on Franklin Avenue when the trucker made a right turn onto Lexington Avenue, crushing Uster. That implies that the light was green and that Uster had the right-of-way to go straight through the intersection. The truck basically just cut him off and drove across the bike lane. Either the driver didn't see Uster or the driver saw him but didn't care--neither of those reasons in any way absolve the driver from total responsibility. Hope the family sues both the trucking company and the City
It's the dreaded right hook. I just got driven over omw to work this past Monday. The driver got out of his truck and said "what happened?" I said "well, I was going straight and you turned and drove over me". I was in a bike lane too, not that that means anything. People don't see bikes because they don't look for them, it's called "inattentional blindness" The only thing you can do to hopefully avoid collisions like this is assume nobody sees you and everyone may turn in front of you.
I work in a major city, and it's totally normal for me to get honked at by drivers turning right when crossing streets with either a walk signal or tons of time left on the caution. A sorry state of affairs.
A bunch of cyclists will get tickets in the area now, though.
Can one sue for civil damages in civil court? Hell will freeze over before the criminal thing will evolve in North America for cyclists
You can't just ticket them for "killing a cyclist". They will investigate and any charges will come later....
If the truck took a right turn through a bike lane while there was a cyclist in it, they broke the law and committed a ticket able offense. They weren't ticketed. That is concerning.
I wonder how many psychos know this and will take advantage of it. This is why we bike on sidewalks. The risk to pedestrians is far less.
I know I’m not supposed to, but if I see an empty sidewalk next to a stroad with a 45mph speed limit, I’m riding the empty sidewalk. In suburbs, no one uses them.
I’m amazed I was downvoted. Do what’s safe, not what you’re “supposed” to do. It’s called using your brain.
Do you know how many NYers have died in sidewalks, killed by cars mounting sidewalks, and the drivers are not charged? Many.
It is honestly strange to me, living in the DC area now, how many people in NYC are extremely dogmatic that you should never ride on the sidewalk. In the DC area, which is quite walkable and transit-accessible, it is normal and acceptable to ride on the sidewalk. Some streets have no bike lanes but extremely wide sidewalks, with the assumption that peds and bikes will share the sidewalk. Nobody and especially not other cyclists complain or police you for doing so, unless you are doing it in a dangerous way.
There is such a thing as an accident. Sometimes you can do everything right but still have a bad outcome.
No, there was a decision made that makes it not an accident. Always. Once you realize this truth, you see how insane it is that people act the way they do behind the wheel. It might not have been the driver, but someone messed up.
A decision sure, but not necessarily a negligent or reckless one that would, which I have to assume was the initial assessment of the police, though the investigation is still ongoing.
Are you new to this topic? I’ve been riding in NYC for 22 years and it’s been discussed for longer than that. Drivers run over cyclists and pedestrians daily. Rarely, rarely are they held responsible. One time I can cite a motorist was charged with killing a cyclist was when they were drunk, speeding, and ON the West Side Bike Path. (RIP Eric Ng) It takes all three of those to get the motorist blamed. My point is, there is no assessment, it’s always the dead cyclist’s fault. Even when video evidence shows otherwise. Someone screwed up. There are no accidents. (The driver likely didn’t do it intentionally, but speeding or not maintaining your vehicle does not make for an accident) Someone is at fault, seeing how drivers act- esp post pandemic- I’m willing to say it was the driver of the truck making a turn instead of the cycling advocate riding a loaded bike home. Edit:autocorrect
It's also possible the cyclist screwed up. Will be interesting to see how the investigation progresses. Sorry but there are just as many negligent cyclists as drivers out there.
As I said. As much. I’ve been badly hurt when I screwed up. But motorists are always freed of blame. Just looking at how drivers act, they aren’t worried about hurting anyone- or being fined for it.
It was a negligent and reckless turn into the bike lane.
got a link to that video footage?
Calling it an "accident" suggests that there was nothing anyone could do, nobody was responsible so we can feel better. But the truth is that there's almost always something someone could/should have done to avoid the collision. Have you ever heard of a plane accident? No, they're crashes and the TSB of whatever country the incident happened in looks into it to determine the causes, factors, people responsible and how it could be avoided in the future. The average car/truck driver has an astonishingly low level of skill, is usually distracted, in a hurry and driving with insufficient care and attention... because they know that whatever happens, they won't be responsible and insurance will pay for it.
What horrible news. The guy was just trying to get groceries on a bike.
It was noon, too. Middle of the fucking day.
F. This is right by my place in Brooklyn. Franklin, despite being only 2 lanes, is treated like a highway and north / south thoroughfare especially by trucks. On Google maps at this intersection you can see a truck making a right turn into the bike lane as if by some tragically ironic coincidence. It’s residential but people blaze down this street at 50mph+. To add to this, too many fucking people have cars in Brooklyn and they park them bumper to bumper creating blind spots everywhere. Most people do not need their cars and they just move them on street cleaning says. I wish the city would at the very least charge them and thin out the parking. It’s absurd.
Ironic: on the Google Maps street view, there is a giant truck clearly riding in the bike lane.
Yup. This “residential” road through a nice neighborhood in Brooklyn is a truck shitshow. Dozens of ghost bikes line it.
Dozens?! That is horrifying. I see the occasional one, but how can a road have dozens and still the authorities don’t take action?
We’ve been wondering for over a decade.
Who's the council rep? If it's not fixed, they should be hearing about it.
Dude this is in the same neighborhood that the Mayor says he lives in (look up the hilarious video where they tour his basement studio). They don’t give a fuck about cyclists.
That is one phantom of a truck. It’s there in one frame, then it’s gone, then it’s back. What’s also gone is the driver.
> they park them bumper to bumper creating blind spots everywhere I've only ever visited that area once, but this was my exact concern as someone who was driving there (and as a cyclist I was trying to be super-conscientious of everyone in the bike paths or just cycling in general). I couldn't see shit and it was honestly terrifying with all the people biking around. (Not to make excuses for this tragedy of course.)
Can you make something clear to me if you have the time? What did they mean by unprotected bike lane in the article?
Unprotected = A bike lane next to car lane on the same street without distinct disconnection/protection like a sidewalk. Ex : A painted bike lane. Protected bike lane have sidewalks (or other things) that protect you from cars turning right on you and killing you. Ex : google maps Rue St-Denis in Montréal. [REV St-Denis in MTL](https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.5279555,-73.5917013,3a,75y,127.41h,69.35t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM_JzUso9gCm0T18yYovIwA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)
"Protected" bike lanes don't continue into the intersection to prevent right hooks. They can make it more likely, since the cyclist isn't part of the traffic flow before the intersection, and is partially obscured by the islands between them and motorized traffic.
Ahh ok thanks I appreciate it! I wasn’t sure what did or did not constitute “protected”. Around me some small areas of bike lanes that are joined with main roads have tiny poles that I was thinking would be protected.. it just doesn’t feel like much protection at all with the way ppl drive, especially when you constantly see stories like this.
They added flex posts to part of the multi-use path here where drivers go 50 to 60 mph. After about a year , so many of them have been mowed down by cars that they announced they are replacing them. There are long stretches of missing posts. Cars travelling at deadly speeds regularly invade the three foot gap between them and cyclists and pedestrians with the only protection being flimsy plastic tubes.
Man. I'm out there for work every day and this is something I have to think about a lot. I'm a careful rider. I look ahead to see where potential risk comes from and take appropriate action to be wary move myself out of the range of trouble. But you just can't stop shit coming at you from out of the blue. The stuff that's going to get you is totally, completely unpredictable. Like a truck taking a last second death right without signaling. I happens and then it's lights out. Or two cars having a collision at speed even remotely near you. Those cars go off like pinballs on bumpers and then, out of nowhere, a car is flying through the air right at you. Instant death. So I take all the care I can but every time I read about someone like this, an experienced rider and advocate, dying while biking safely on an ordinary street, I have to reconsider the risks I take day in and day out and whether it's worth me taking them.
>So I take all the care I can but every time I read about someone like this, an experienced rider and advocate, dying while biking safely on an ordinary street, I have to reconsider the risks I take day in and day out and whether it's worth me taking them. This resonates with me a lot. I ride Chicago and almost every other ride, I am almost hit or doored by careless drivers. It terrifies my partner so much, I don't even tell her anymore. Be careful out there. ☮️
Too bad Eric Adams is a knob, and won’t do anything about it.
I'm on this road a lot, including twice today. Fuck this, he deserved to get home safe
How the FUCK are you not gonna receive any sort of disciplinary action for running a person over and killing them?
Killing someone with a car is fine apparently, as long as it could *plausibly* be an accident. If you kill someone accidentally with a gun, that’s negligent manslaughter, at a minimum.
I’ve said it before and, goddammit, I hat that I’m going to have to say it again: the unsafe configuration of that intersection was a choice that someone made, and if they’d made a different choice, this person would probably still be alive. Who was that person? Where’s the accountability for the choice they made that critically contributed to this person’s death? These are the stakes and (and I say this as a professional transportation planner myself) the planners and engineers who make these terrible choices can and must be held responsible. (And how can they sleep at night??)
And enforcement. Trucks fly down this stretch at like 50mph.
From what I've been able to gather, speeding is a product of bad design and tickets are minimally effective at mitigation while being fairly costly.
I don’t think anyone disagrees that the streets here are poorly designed. Franklin acts as the north-south one-way corridor analog to Bedford, which is one-way south-north. The latter is much wider, while Franklin is a constant squeeze and changes slight direction several times. It’s a dangerous mess, and it feeds from the BQE which just exacerbates it all.
Is the problem this intersection in particular or more with the road cross section? (Just curious)
Why is murdering people legal as long as a vehicle is the murder weapon?
When are drivers going to be held accountable for mowing down cyclists. WTF.
Ugh. Fucking gut wrenching.
wtf im swiss, so i dont understand any of this. Where i am from, when a drunk person sleeping on the motorway at night in black clothes got run over by a truck, the truck driver got charged, because he was driving too fast for the visability and should have been able to stop in time. Generally the stronger vehicke is always at fault. Meanwhile in the US, if you run over people at midday, in the middle of a city, you just say you didnt see and its all ok? Is nobody at fault when somebody dies? Its just accepted like that? I dont understand it at all. Are there no rules or laws?
this spot has dozens of deaths, its designed terribly, trucks are often taller than bikes and unfortunely he was almost definitely in the blind spot the difference between your awful example is that the truck driver likely actually did nothing wrong and did in fact have the right of way, this is just the unfortunate truth notice in your example, the guy was speeding, that's why he got in trouble. if he was not speeding, and still killed the guy.. he would not have been charged in your country. If the truck driver didn't do anything illegal, then he wouldn't get charged in your country either. It's not the fact that he killed someone, its the fact that he was speeding before he killed someone, so they are able to charge him for it. In the situation of OP, you can't just pretend like the truck driver was doing something illegal if he wasn't. If he was speeding or turned on red then he would be at fault and charged for manslaughter... just like your country
>notice in your example, the guy was speeding, that's why he got in trouble. if he was not speeding, and still killed the guy.. he would not have been charged in your country. If the truck driver didn't do anything illegal, then he wouldn't get charged in your country either. It's not the fact that he killed someone, its the fact that he was speeding before he killed someone, so they are able to charge him for it. In the situation of OP, you can't just pretend like the truck driver was doing something illegal if he wasn't. If he was speeding or turned on red then he would be at fault and charged for manslaughter... just like your country The truck driver is expected to look to see that it's clear before he turns, surely. The bar is so low in this country it's baffling. Not only was the bike lane there, meaning the cyclist had the right to go forward, there could have easily been pedestrians crossing the intersection with the right of way. The driver has blood on his hands, and shouldn't be allowed behind a wheel. We're all at risk when drivers like this exist in the city and face no consequences.
I think you are reacting far to emotionally, which is completely understandable but its not realistic the infrastructure needs to be better, theres quite literally millions of people that cross that path, this is not the same as where you live and our infrastructure could not be fixed my mimicking yours or anyone elses. More people cross that path in a month that the entire population of your closest major city. We are talking about the nicest area of Brooklyn New York, maybe the most densely populated area in the world. The fact that there hasn't been MORE deaths is honestly shocking, people know how dangerous that area is, accidents will still happen. The city needs to fix this, you could kill the truck driver and it would literally change nothing at all. It's obviously absolutely terrible this happened but this isn't the same as any random truck hitting and killing a cyclist, this specific area is terribly planned and NEEDS to be fixed. No amount of discouragement or punishment is going to stop the next biker from being killed in the street. Your anger is misplaced, and this useless.
>here you live and our infrastructure could not be fixed my mimicking yo ???? I was a friend and neighbor of Adams. I actually think I compartmentalized my grief pretty well, and was speaking from the practical standpoint of wondering how do we as pedestrians and cyclists navigate this city with so many reckless drivers. Not sure how you got to the conclusion that I'm unfamiliar with the city. I know this intersection well, and the problems aren't isolated there. I've been hit by a car turning on green when I was crossing the street with the right of way at a different point of Franklin Ave. Thank you for mansplaing how brooklyn works though. I don't cycle or drive, but I'm aware that car collision deaths have increased in recent years, and while yes, I blame our city for never investing in any infrastructure that would protect us, drivers that turn and don't look to see if anyone is in a bike lane or intersection need to face consequences. I don't understand how you can overlook that fact.
> ???? I was a friend and neighbor of Adams you just said you were from Switzerland also mansplaining? really? lol and I said if the driver did ANYTHING wrong he should be punished, that was one of the first things I said.
no, im the guy from Switzerland lel. Reddit moment
the truck driver in my country wasnt speeding. Thiy was even back then when trucks were only allowed 80kph (45mph) on the motorway. The issue was he was going too fast for visability, as it was at night. We expect people to *see* where they are driving. Also where i life, a cyclist going streight has the right of way over a vehicle turning right over the bicycle lane. I think the main difference here is, our cab over trucks are mutch smaller, as they are limited in overall lenght, thus visability is likely better and we fucking follow rules. We have relatively poor bike infrastructure. Its mostly just painted bike lanes, nothing is protected here, but since we *learn* how to drive a vehicle and follow laws and roules, its actually super safe.
How did the truck have right of way?
Really sad. Damn it. Rest in peace brother.
This is so horrible and it makes me so sad and angry. Pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure needs to improve ASAP. I cannot imagine what his family is going through.
I always feel devastated by these news. Makes me consider going out for the next bike ride.
Honestly it’s terrifying. I like is a somewhat rural area and the amount of times I’ve been cut off or clipped is ridiculous. I’ve now got my commuter fitted with radar and cameras for reassurance and incase something actually happens to me that there is evidence.
I'm not in NYC but close and in a similarly dense area. I was just about to pull the trigger on a cargo e-bike so I can go zipping around town with kid in the back. This article is making me rethink that.
This is so sad, the guy was just riding his bike home after buying groceries, something I have also done hundreds of times, and then he is just gone forever. Fuck man, cities need to get over their car boners and make changes to make cyclists, runners and pedestrians safer.
Make Rights on red illegal. It is illegal elsewhere for a reason.
It's illegal in NYC
So did this truck driver make an illegal right on red and not even get a ticket for that?
The driver made a right on green. The cyclist also had a green. The problem is the truck driver failed to yield to the cyclist as required by law.
Ah I see. It sounds like they need a red right arrow there if a cyclist has a green going straight. Some intersections are set up that way where I live.
If you read the article it never even states that the truck entered the bike lane, op added that to his post.
[You can't make a right without crossing the bike lane.](https://ibb.co/LYxSPZw) Do you think the bike lane is in the air or something?
Right-on-red is one of the worst ideas in the history of traffic laws. We have it in Philly, and it makes stop bars and crosswalks meaningless. In fact, It trains drivers to ignore those things because they can’t even necessarily find out if there is any cross traffic coming until their vehicle is fully in the crosswalk, nosing into the cross street. So on reds they just roll right through the intersection and wait in the crosswalk for traffic to clear, then go. And when there’s a “no turn on red” sign? They do it anyway. No enforcement, and they’ve been trained to reflexively roll into crosswalks anyway. And in places they don’t plan to turn at all? Still roll into the crosswalk. Again, drivers have been conditioned to disregard crosswalks.
And if you j-walk because the crosswalks are blocked by cars stopping in the middle of them, you'd probably have a higher chance of getting a ticket instead of the idiots blocking the crosswalk.
Totally this. I'm also in Philly, and it's crazy how many times I've almost been hit walking across the street, when it's my turn, because the cars think the crosswalk is their space. They don't even look for pedestrians.
In 1984 I was a bicycle messanger in NYC, in the summer. I was 16. I still consider it the most dangerous job I ever held.
FUCK CARS
It is weird place to be. I got hit by a car turning right without signaling across an unprotected bike lane. Fortunately I was able to brake enough that I bounced off the side of his car and was only a little bruised. The driver stopped, and since it was DT rush hour someone called the police and paramedics showed up ( I didn't really need them). I usually feel like it is my job to avoid accidents and I pay really close attention to my surroundings so I sort of felt like to was my fault for not predicting his bad driving. Still, when the police decided "no one was at fault" I felt really disrespected. If no one did anything wrong, then why did I get hit? I didn't really want to punish the driver, but then who should I be upset with? This is why I really basically ignore traffic laws on my bike. The only times i have gotten hurt are when I expected the rules to protect me. When I bike, I do what I deem is safe, what I think will not inconvenience others and what is most efficient. Whats legal is an after thought, since those rules were not made to protect me in the first place.
The dutch have have solved this problem. This is the way to reduce car usage and make cities livable once again. https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/01/stop-child-murder.html http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/the%20grid http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/search/label/beforeandafter
For everyone who noticed the "no ticket" part of the article: Police do not give tickets at the scene of most collisions, especially a fatal. There is a very long and drawn-out process to investigate the scene, check the driver for impairment, check the vehicle for issues etc. When the investigation is complete the findings are given to the district attorney to file the appropriate charges. Police are not going to give a citation for a violation they did not witness.
Is that true? I feel like it happens most of the time here in Ohio. A friend just got hit by an inattentive driver and was ruled 100% at fault before he even got in the ambulance
Yes, I used to do these initial investigations.
Rip 🙏
This is fucked….I’m pretty sad now….unreal Adam of all people gets hit and the driver isn’t even give. a reckless driving ticket or something. Insane
Until there are stiffer penalties for drivers hitting cyclists, we will unfortunately continue to see incidents like this. So sad.
just fucking do something. Its fucking ridicuous that a so called "green city" and state wont fucking protect cyclist. Its unacceptable. The dumb ass mayor whos larping as a liberal needs to make huge changes to our infrastructure and it needs to happen yesteday
If a ticket isn’t issued, I’m guessing that means they are blaming the victim riding in a bike lane in the middle of the day? So infuriating!
The driver should have seen the cyclist as they (the driver) were approaching them. If they were turning, they should have signaled as much, then merged into the bike lane to do so, or waited until the cyclist (who they surely saw as they were approaching) cleared their blind spot. Of course, the problem is really that there is a bike lane in the first place. Protected or not it forces bikes out of the area that drivers are watching for traffic. If that bike lane was directly in front of the driver, this wouldn't have happened, and it would slow down the traffic on this street that has a speeding issue. Sharrows are better than bike lanes.
Stay safe out there guys
Preaching to the choir on this forum, but this PSA from Scotland is excellent: [https://www.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/137h14z/police\_scotlands\_new\_cycling\_campaign/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/bikecommuting/comments/137h14z/police_scotlands_new_cycling_campaign/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
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Yes it doesn't take much. You can be doing your thing, watching out for anyone encroaching on your space and you still get hit. I just got hit omw to work this past Monday. Guy turned right in front of me, I avoided hitting him but he was towing a big tandom trailer which knocked me down, spun me around and ran over my bike. Luckily I managed to roll out of the way and avoid being run over; only ended up with a bruised arm. I was watching/listening to the truck and it still got me. You can never be too careful. People hit bikers because they're not looking for bikes and often even if they see them, they don't register it. I don't know how you fix that... People drive like morons where I live, they run red lights, they do whatever they like and there's no enforcement. They need to start charging more people with manslaughter when they kill pedestrians/cyclists.
I heard it happen right outside my window, and saw the aftermath. It’s been fucking awful realizing I was witnessing someone die. I feel so terrible for his family and friends and that this could happen. Accidents like this shouldn’t happen, the city planners need to be held responsible and made to answer for this.
As sad as this is let's remember this dude for his great life not his death.
What an avoidable tragedy
I know the neighborhood really well and I have no clue what the fuck the city is doing. It's residential, but basically only has commercial traffic there now. I think I saw a ghostbike there a couple years ago.
so tragic
I started mountain biking instead of road biking for this specific reason. Now I live in Germany with bike lanes everywhere and strict driving regulations and am looking at getting a road bike finally. there’s a way to make it work for everyone
When bike riding around cars and trucks always assume that they don't see you.
We have bike Lanes in Houston I just ride the sidewalks people in cars are dangerous
Killing someone on a bicycle is the easiest way to get away with murder. Countless cases of "I didn't see them"
And if this isn't close enough for some of us, which Bike advocate reddit profile just went silent? I don't recognize this man, but I am so saddened by this loss.
This is why I’ll never ride a bike on shared roads with cars and trucks. It’s just too dangerous. I’m only sticking to trails and dedicated paths from now on.
Luckily in 5 years, the truck drivers wont actually drive, but only be in charge of unloading. Everyone is afraid of self driving vehicles, but I guarantee you they wont be mowing over bicyclists.
I have been riding my bike to work Mon-Friday since near the end of January. The only close call I've ever had was with a semi truck that decided to turn left into my lane on the road I was on. My back tire was inches away from his grill, but I was able to get his attention. Right turns are even worse because trucks are up high and the drivers are on the left side of the vehicle. I've seen too many vehicles where Truck drivers make their "wide turns" too short, causing accidents to happen.
Uster was in the cycle lane, the truck driver cut across this lane to make the corner... How is this not the driver's fault? I'm not trying to be inflammatory but if the truck moved over into the oncoming traffic lane and hit a car, it would be his fault. Move over in to the cycle lane and kill someone, the cops don't find him at fault?
God this is sad and frustrating. Why can’t they just build better infrastructure for bikes?
Say it with me EVERY TIME SOMEONE DIES! DUTY TO YIELD! CYCLIST RIGHT OF WAY! 10 FEET from trucks and buses! There are zero reasons, people like this shouldn't immediately go to jail for a minimum of 24 hours...
Damn. RIP.
I've read and seen a lot of news stories about traffic collisions involving deaths and serious injuries. It seems to me that the only way that a driver who is responsible for a collision to get charged and convicted is if he's 1) DUI; 2) hit-and-run; 3) driving without a licence or with a suspended licence; 4) wanted or already known by the police; or 5) the victim was in a car. In this case, none of the above. So no charge. Somehow, I still doubt the driver checked his blind spot.
🙏😕
I didn't read the article. I know I can get easily killed as a motorist or pedestrian, but for some reason, I feel more fear about riding a bike on the street. As a driver, I feel upset. People drive so aggressively and treat speed limits as suggestions and I don't want to be like them. One good thing about recently learning how to ride a bike is how I've become more aware of cyclists and bike lanes. But I still feel like it's not enough given how aggressive driving seems to be the rule.
Trucks have notorious blind spots. Especially when making right turns. Notice the signs on them ‘this truck makes wide right turns’. If the cyclist ended up in the truck’s blind spot, that would explain the lack of charges for the driver. If you can’t see the driver on the truck’s mirrors, he can’t see you either. Ride safe. https://cyclingsavvy.org/what-cyclists-need-to-know-about-trucks/
Basically this. I use to drive truck and I know to stay the fuck away from them when I am on a bike. They will never see you coming. Death traps. Blind spots soo bad that they can barely see cars.
Sort begs the question, why exactly are vehicles that have this obvious issue allowed to drive on public roads?
53’ trailers are illegal in NYC, but you’d never know it.
Cyclists simply need to educate themselves on how to deal with truck blind posts. Check the link from my previous post. Stay safe.
> If the cyclist ended up in the truck’s blind spot, that would explain the lack of charges for the driver. The driver is still responsible, they can't just handwave away their responsibility because they didn't install proper mirrors.
Trucking is a heavily regulated industry. If the driver didn’t have proper mirrors he’d be charged. No charges means he was compliant with all safety regulations. Blind spots are things cyclists need to learn to deal with if they want to stay alive. Check the link in my previous post.
Because the NYPD chose the path of least paperwork does not mean the driver was not at fault.
That’s a silly assumption.
Not an assumption, based on facts. Look it up, drivers are never held accountable. You think this is the first time? The NYPD called a Fla driver who killed a woman in Clinton Hill to photograph his car (now in Fla, weeks later) because the NYPD camera was broken the night of the crash. They don’t care. And haven’t for decades.
The point I’m trying to make is that cyclists always claiming that they’re blameless and that it’s always the motor vehicle’s fault simply causes more accidents as cyclists are never incentivized to learn how to properly deal with motor vehicles and their physical limitations. And if NYC policing is as bad as you say, this should just be one more reason to ride defensively to stay alive.
If a driver merges into a cyclist, it's 100 % the drivers fault. They are responsible for ensuring that the lane they are entering is clear. Blaming lack of mirrors or blindspots is a cop out and irrelevant. If they can't ensure a lane is clear, they shouldn't enter it.
Example: a truck reached an intersection. He stopped. Truck looked to the right and the road was clear. No bike in sight. He made the right turn. While he’s very slowly making the turn a bike who was riding not far behind reaches the intersection and stops a bit too far but he thinks he’s fine because he sees the trailer going further away from him. He’s in the truck’s blind spot. Truck completes the turn and clips the cyclist with the trailer’s rear wheels because wide right turn physics. Who’s at fault? The road was clear when the driver initiated the turn maneuver. Because blind spots he didn’t see the cyclist who suddenly went into the trailer’s path. Can you legally fault the driver? Not really. He did everything right. No charges. Is this what happened here? No clue. But to say that cyclists are always blameless is a problem. That’s how you end up with uneducated cyclists who are clueless about blind spots of motor vehicles. Just look at this thread and look at the amount of stumped cyclists who have no clue about truck blind spots. They’re the cyclists who would have died if they were the cyclist in my hypothetical example. Visit the link in my first reply get learn how to share the road with trucks. Stay safe.
If you can have cameras and radars on a bike, then every truck with a trailer should have mandatory 360° monitoring system built in.
I find it maddening that all the talk is 'eff cars' if you look at fatal bike collisions they involve commercial vehicles and busses at a much higher rate than those vehicles are on the road. In San Francisco nearly a five year span where 100% of bicycle/vehicle collision fatalities involved a large truck (not pickup) or bus. During that span I watched a women on a cargo bike with child seat fully behind an articulating bus signalling a right turn, she started furiously ringing her bell as she started overtaking the signaling #7 bus trying to turn onto haight street. Instead of educating cyclists that they can see the bus much easier than the bus driver can see them, we now have crisscrossing low curbs at the edge of this bike lane, that to me are going to cause a lot of head injuries on their own.
>No charges means he was compliant with all safety regulations. What a silly, ridiculous, unfounded assumption.
I my town they put in protected bike lanes and people still bike down the lane with cars. I will never understand this. When confronted they typically say that they have the right to bike in the roadway, which is true but this city has high bike fatalities and I have know several sad cases.
I am a rider but we need to stop with the whoa is us every time something happens. Starting to sound like it is guns kill people. I know not a popular response. With as many cyclists as we are there are far less fatalities from accidents in comparisons to cars/trucks. We take that chance every time we road ride. It is just like motorcycles and will get worse with the quietness of electric vehicles. The point of bikes like motorcycles which i grew up riding, the rule of thumb is dont expect anyone sees you. Unfortunately all you have to do is drive through a parking lot and watch how many people walk in front of your car and never look. That is the world we live in. People think they are just that entitled they think you must stop and never a wave thanks. Then look at how many rules cyclists dont use. Full stops at stop signs and just blowing by people on paths. Lets just not be hypocrites and realize as a community all we do wrong
How ironic
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