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.

[and]

ouch, no good. I have been mowed down by a car before too, although the car wasnt going fast. got away with a fractured nose and broken bicycle. in that case it was clearly the drivers fault, ignoring a "stop. give way" sign. after that I didnt feel safe riding in traffic, the image in my mind of a car completely ignoring the rules and mowing me down was in my mind so even if the cars had red light I didnt feel like I could trust them, who knows how many drivers like that are out there

[Cosmo]

We can't even see the ruddy cyclist in these photos. The title should be, "load of people standing round"

Doh, silly cyclist. Riding on the path isn't a very good idea. Glad the cyclist is ok and hope the driver is ok as well. Must have shaken them up a bit.

I've had a car take me out when I've been on my bike. Stupid opened the driver door on me, his door was totalled and me and my bike road away (it was a mountain bike).

[AlphaGAK20D]

ouch, no good. I have been mowed down by a car before too, although the car wasnt going fast. got away with a fractured nose and broken bicycle. in that case it was clearly the drivers fault, ignoring a "stop. give way" sign. after that I didnt feel safe riding in traffic, the image in my mind of a car completely ignoring the rules and mowing me down was in my mind so even if the cars had red light I didnt feel like I could trust them, who knows how many drivers like that are out there

glad you fared OK...

We can't even see the ruddy cyclist in these photos. The title should be, "load of people standing round"

if you look closely in #2, you do see him (what's not obscured) on the stretcher...unfortunately, he was under the car for most of the shots and of course the "loads of people" were all kneeling around him...

Doh, silly cyclist. Riding on the path isn't a very good idea. Glad the cyclist is ok and hope the driver is ok as well. Must have shaken them up a bit.

I've had a car take me out when I've been on my bike. Stupid opened the driver door on me, his door was totalled and me and my bike road away (it was a mountain bike).

agreed...at the very least, he should've made eye contact with the driver before proceeding across that entrance/exit - oh, nevermind...should've just repeated what I wrote in my original post...here we go...
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.


glad you fared OK too...

[Sailor]

Scary stuff, Lou. Especially, since this morning my Trek came out from under me in loose gravel. I wasn't going fast and only got skinned a bit; my first thought was of the bike, which also wasn't hurt.

Jer

[stevebrot]

I was the driver in a situation similar to what you describe except that it was night. Fortunately, there was no damage to either bike or car, though it was a bit disconcerting to see the guy rolling across my hood. He was very apologetic since he had no lights and there was no way I could have seen him coming down the sidewalk.

Steve

[VaughnA]

Scary stuff, Lou. Especially, since this morning my Trek came out from under me in loose gravel. I wasn't going fast and only got skinned a bit; my first thought was of the bike, which also wasn't hurt.

Jer

Obviously you are a serious cyclist when you worry about your bike before yourself. I've been known to not notice a gash needing stitches because I was worried about my bike.

And as for this guy, riding the wrong way on a sidewalk, he was asking for an accident. There is a reason bikes aren't allowed on sidewalks in most places.

glad you fared OK...



if you look closely in #2, you do see him (what's not obscured) on the stretcher...unfortunately, he was under the car for most of the shots and of course the "loads of people" were all kneeling around him...



agreed...at the very least, he should've made eye contact with the driver before proceeding across that entrance/exit

glad you fared OK too...

Maybe he should have been following the law too. His day may have ended better.

[Rense]

Good photo journalism! The sign (Wrong way) is mentaly distracting somehow ...

[MRRiley]

agreed...at the very least, he should've made eye contact with the driver before proceeding across that entrance/exit

At the very least he should have been on the other side of the road, in the road itself riding in the direction of traffic. He should not have been on the sideWALK (afterall it's not a sideRIDE). Its good to hear that the driver of the car is not going to be charged for this bicyclist's stupidity and recklessness.

Naturally I hope the cyclist is OK in the end, but I hope this has taught him where to ride his bike in the future.

Mike

[AlphaGAK20D]

At the very least he should have been on the other side of the road, in the road itself riding in the direction of traffic. He should not have been on the sideWALK (afterall it's not a sideRIDE). Its good to hear that the driver of the car is not going to be charged for this bicyclist's stupidity and recklessness.

Naturally I hope the cyclist is OK in the end, but I hope this has taught him where to ride his bike in the future.

Mike

You're right Mike...fixed above...

[AlphaGAK20D]

Good photo journalism! The sign (Wrong way) is mentaly distracting somehow ...

Thanks, Rense! I kind of like that pic...

It is still upon the driver to look both ways... If it had been an old lady walking on the sidewalk, she would have ended up under the car too! And probably dragged a ways since the driver would not have heard a bike hit his car.

I agree with the concept of the bike rider making sure that the driver of the car saw him... I mean for 10 years I did not have a car and rode my bike all over San Francisco with lots of "unaware" driver horror stories.

But in the final analysis, the guy driving the 2500lb car across a walkway should look both ways and not be in such a hurry to get into traffic that he fails to look right. Good gracious, it does look like a shopping area and it is a sidewalk.

Good photo journalism though...

It is still upon the driver to look both ways... If it had been an old lady walking on the sidewalk, she would have ended up under the car too! And probably dragged a ways since the driver would not have heard a bike hit his car.

I agree with the concept of the bike rider making sure that the driver of the car saw him... I mean for 10 years I did not have a car and rode my bike all over San Francisco with lots of "unaware" driver horror stories.

But in the final analysis, the guy driving the 2500lb car across a walkway should look both ways and not be in such a hurry to get into traffic that he fails to look right. Good gracious, it does look like a shopping area and it is a sidewalk.

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.