During my drive home from the office yesterday evening, I came across an accident. It was close to home, looked interesting, and I had the K20 at hand...so I stopped.

It seems that a cyclist was on the sidewalk, riding against the direction of traffic and there's an entrance/exit to/from a shopping center in the path of the sidewalk. When a car exits, it's a right turn only, so drivers always look left and when the road is clear pull out. You can see where I'm going with this...

The cyclist obviously failed to make eye contact with the driver and the driver, looking left to make sure the road was clear, probably had no clue the cyclist, approaching from the right, was even there. As a result, the cyclist was hit by the exiting car and pinned under the front of the vehicle. The driver is not going to be charged and, fortunately, according to the local news, the cyclist is going to be OK.

I'm a cyclist/triathlete, so seeing this made my stomach churn a bit; at the same time, it p!$$ed me off that this guy failed to heed some basic principles/laws related to cycling in general and in Georgia and in doing so almost got himself killed.

The images are jpgs from the camera, barely touched in Lightroom. #1 is uncropped; #2-4 were cropped.

The top pic was the first pic I took. I parked and quickly made my way to the median that separated east/west-bound traffic and had a perfect vantage point (short of being next to the car with my 50mm). Unfortunately, as quickly as I snapped the first pic, the officer pointing in my direction told me to get back to my original location.

Pics 2-4 were from my original location.

But a cyclist comes by a lot faster than that old lady. And usually comes in from an angle that's hard to see. Forget about the fact that they aren't even going the direction of traffic.
Here in FLA it's against the law to ride on the sidewalk. But everyone seems to do it. And they say it unsafe to bike here. Well maybe, just maybe if they followed the rules it wouldn't be so damn dangerous.

I am not sure what angle you are describing since it is a sidewalk... and the bike or the pedestrian woud be coming down the sidewalk so same angle.

After 10 years of riding a bike in a large city, I can tell you that many folks get ready to make a right turn out of a business, they pull up look left and wait until they finally get a break in traffic, then pull straight out with out ever looking back to the right again... It could be 30 seconds to a minute and they still dont look back!
Jogger, old lady, bike or little kid it would not matter as many drivers do not look in that direction before they pull out.

I can tell you without even being at this scene, the driver did not look back before pulling out. If he had....


Oh and its a brand new Honda too... what a shame

I am not sure what angle you are describing since it is a sidewalk... and the bike or the pedestrian woud be coming down the sidewalk so same angle.

After 10 years of riding a bike in a large city, I can tell you that many folks get ready to make a right turn out of a business, they pull up look left and wait until they finally get a break in traffic, then pull straight out with out ever looking back to the right again... It could be 30 seconds to a minute and they still dont look back!
Old lady, bike or little kid it would not matter as they do not look in that direction before they pull out.

I can tell you without even being at this scene, the driver did not look back before pulling out. If he had....

Yeah I looked back and the idiot was almost on my hood.

Little old lady, kid, pedestrian would have stopped and waited to see what the driver was going to do.
Cyclist usually don't.

The cyclist was wrong if he was on the sidewalk. He was wrong if he was going against traffic. He was stupid if he did either. End of story.

Yeah I looked back and the idiot was almost on my hood.

The cyclist was wrong if he was on the sidewalk. He was wrong if he was going against traffic. He was stupid if he did either. End of story.

Cant argue with that in this case... except replace the word cyclist with Jogger and see if it still holds up. DEAD JOGGER

A driver of a car that crosses 'any' walkway, at least has to look both ways before moving that car. I dont care which way the street traffic is flowing... nuff said.

Cant argue with that...

But a driver of a car that crosses 'any' walkway, at least has to look both ways... nuff said.

No argument on that. At all. But a cyclist moves pretty quickly. Let's face it when you're pulling into traffic from a lot you are going to pull out quickly to get in. 2 seconds and the cyclist can be on you and you'd never see him.

Jogger would usually stop and wait. Or jog in place while waiting. Or go behind the car. Cyclists tend to go in front.

No argument on that. At all. But a cyclist moves pretty quickly. Let's face it when you're pulling into traffic from a lot you are going to pull out quickly to get in. 2 seconds and the cyclist can be on you and you'd never see him.

Jogger would usually stop and wait. Or jog in place while waiting. Or go behind the car. Cyclists tend to go in front.

Too many cyclists are idiots... you are right about that!

But like I said, during my years of riding in San Francisco, once drivers pulled up and started looking back to the left looking for a break in the traffic, few looked back to the right before pulling out... it did not matter if it was 2 sec or 30 seconds. They hit the gas and go...

And when you ride on the street for a few years you usually eat at least one or two car doors... Bicyclists are idiots, but many people in cars are totally unaware of the world outside of their cars. Especially now in the year of the cell phone / PDA
Now, I have to go teach my 6 year old to ride her bike. She just learned how to ride it yesterday, now I have to teach her how to stop better. You can see why this topic is a little too close to home for me today!


-EDIT- sorry, I forgot this was in the "post your photos' section. My apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread... I should have looked both ways before posting!

[ve2vfd]

Nice Photos Lou!

Was the cyclist stuck under the front of the car? It looks like the FF's had their airbags out.

I bike to work at the station daily in the spring/summer/fall months and regardless of who has the right of way, I am always carefull for me and the car drivers... I know damm well that no matter how wrong a driver may be, his 2 tons of steel will always win against my bike and I... I see it a few times a week in my work and the last thing I need is to have my buddies scrape me off the pavement.


Cosmo ... I actually like that we cannot see the victim in the pics. Many of the local fire buffs who take photos of our work around Montreal are members of an association who'se self imposed code of conduct specifies that they should avoid photos of victims, and if victims are visible they should not be recognisable.

Pat

[AlphaGAK20D]

Too many cyclists are idiots... you are right about that!

-EDIT- sorry, I forgot this was in the "post your photos' section. My apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread... I should have looked both ways before posting!

Re: too many cyclists being idiots, I wholeheartedly agree...as noted earlier, I am a cyclist and do my best (along with the folks with whom I ride) to be very respectful of the laws and the cars around us. Many of the roads we ride are rural, with little or no shoulder, and a little respect toward the drivers earns quite a bit respect in return. When I see other cyclists doing stupid things, it hurts all of us in the eyes of drivers, local gov't officials (who control things like bike lanes on local roads), etc.

Re: the hijack...heh, no worries...I had a box of popcorn and a cold one...good show.

[AlphaGAK20D]

You are really impress by saying thing. good

Thanks, Jeff...folks like Cosmo are not even worth the effort...appreciate you covering my back, though.

Nice Photos Lou!

Was the cyclist stuck under the front of the car? It looks like the FF's had their airbags out.

I bike to work at the station daily in the spring/summer/fall months and regardless of who has the right of way, I am always carefull for me and the car drivers... I know damm well that no matter how wrong a driver may be, his 2 tons of steel will always win against my bike and I... I see it a few times a week in my work and the last thing I need is to have my buddies scrape me off the pavement.


Cosmo ... I actually like that we cannot see the victim in the pics. Many of the local fire buffs who take photos of our work around Montreal are members of an association who'se self imposed code of conduct specifies that they should avoid photos of victims, and if victims are visible they should not be recognisable.

Pat

Pat, yes, the cyclist was stuck. In the first photo you can just make out that the right side of the car is raised a bit; however, based upon the blurb in the online news saying that he got away with scrapes and abrasions, I'm guessing he was more wedged under the car.

Appreciate your comments about the pics too - sounds like you've seen your fair share.