[SDCBC] Bicyclist Dies In Crash With Motorcycle

[Jim Baross]

At the risk of appearing to be too quick to jump to the defense of 
the bicyclist... something I/we may be accused/guilty of in this case 
where we don't know what really happened.... We do know that people 
on bikes and in vehicles do make mistakes.

That said, bicyclists veer. It is the nature of a two-wheeled device 
to need to be steered/veered/moved from side to side to keep upright. 
People overtaking such a device should account for that veering to 
some degree by using safe passing behaviors - slowing until it is 
safe to move over to provide safe passing distance. It is not 
generally sufficient to continue the same roadway position when 
overtaking someone traveling slower.

But, maybe the motorcyclist did try to pass safely....

At 09:44 AM 6/6/2007, Jack Bochsler wrote:
>My interpretation of the "bicyclist veered" statements
>is that the bicyclist did not do what the motorist had
>wanted/hoped/desired.
>
>jack
>
>--- Tom Jenney <Thomas.Jenney at Sun.COM> wrote:
>
> > They had this story on NBC7/39 TV News this afternoon.  The reporter
> > said the cyclist just suddenly veered in front of the motorcyclist, who
> > was unable to stop in time.  Maybe that is what really happened 
> in this case, but
> > it just seems a little dubious when this is the standard explanation
> > reported by the media.  It perpetuates the notion that bicyclists 
> as a whole
> > don't  know what they are doing on the road and probably should 
> not be there since
> > they end up getting killed due to their erratic riding behavior.
> >