[SDCBC] Bicyclist Dies In Crash With Motorcycle

[Serge Issakov]

It's possible but not very likely that the cyclist did absolutely nothing
wrong and the motorcyclist simply hit him from behind.  I suppose it's also
possible and arguably slightly more likely that the motoryclist was passing
him too closely, this startled the cyclist, who looked back over his left
shoulder and simultaneously "veered" left into the path of the motorcyclist.

Much more likely is that the cyclist did not notice the motorcyclist
(perhaps, ironically, because he was looking for a car) and veered in front
of him.

In any case, the method of turning left from the bike lane at the right side
of the road is all too familar to me.  I see it executed on many mornings
along n/b Regents Rd at the diverge-intersection with Eastgate
Mall<http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=regents+road+at+eastgate+mall,+san+diego,+ca&sll=32.841796,-117.269474&sspn=0.006761,0.010117&ie=UTF8&ll=32.875897,-117.2177&spn=0.003379,0.005059&z=18&om=1&layer=t>
.

Cyclists are glued to the bike lane on Regents and veer across the right
traffic lane that becomes the right arm of the "Y" headed for Eastgate, to
get into the left arm to continue on Regents.   They rarely merge left
"vehicularly", which requires starting to merge pretty early, soon after
crossing Executive if not sooner.

Serge



On 6/6/07, Jack Bochsler <jbochsler at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I thought about this - not to be pedantic, but veering means
> to turn sharply.  But what would be categorized as a sharp
> turn at 50mph is quite doable and natural at 20mph, and easy
> at 12mph.  So what would appear to be abrupt actions from the
> perspective of a motorized vehicle may well be natural behavior
> from a bicycle.
>
> So when crossing a lane to avoid a freeway on-ramp, what appears
> as a natural, smooth lane crossing to me appears as veering across
> the lane to the motorist behind me. So both parties can be equally
> 'right' and 'wrong' in the same situation.
>
> Although it would be nice if motorists could account for cyclist
> specific behavior, history shows otherwise.  And thinking about
> bicycle peleton behavior, collisions I have seen are a result of
> cyclists moving quicker than the rider behind can react.
> So the onus is clearly on a cyclist to move thru traffic as a
> vehicle would, not as a bicycle can.
>
> jack
>
> --- Jim Baross <JimBaross at cox.net> wrote:
>
> > 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.
> > > >
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