Right in front of my building this morning I saw the aftermath of a collision between a bike and a car.....generally not a good outcome for the cyclist.
Based on the damage to the front wheel of the bike, the passenger-side car door, and where he was lying face-down in the street, I expertly deduced that he was motoring down the sidewalk and saw a red light and a "Walk" sign, giving him the ok to cruise on across the pedestrian crosswalk. What he didn't notice was the SUV turning right on red into his path.
Two faults here: 1, the lady in the SUV should have made sure the pedestrian crosswalk was clear before she turned right on red. 2, bikes shouldn't be in the pedestrian sidewalks or crosswalks....they are supposed to be operated in the street.
I didn't see a helmet and the guy was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but if you are going to operate a bike unsafely in traffic, I guess the center of a medical school campus and like 3 major research hospitals full of doctors and nurses on the way to work is where you'd want to do it.
I hope he's ok, the ambulance arrived maybe 10 minutes after I walked by so it had just happened.
7 comments:
I hope he's OK. My wife and I love to bike - on bike paths wearing helmets. I see the most hair-raising behavior around non-bike friendly Atlanta on busy streets during morning rush where frustrated and distracted drivers are at their worst. You really want "he had the right-of-way" on your tombstone?
Exactly Bill, cyclists or motorists who drive around with a right-of-way chip on their shoulder, ignoring other traffic because they KNOW they are in the right, are morons.
DC is a refreshing change f you are a cyclist or pedestrian. Frustrating as an Atlanta driver.
Last week I rode 22 miles round trip from my apt to see the cherry blossoms in DC. Beautiful
Dave, what kind of bike do you ride?
Any update on the injured cyclist?
No, but we're expecting a campus-wide message from the president of the university telling us to cut the crap and start wearing helmets.
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