[SDCBC] Fwd: ghost bike

[Serge Issakov]

Thanks for looking into this for us, Kathy.  Not surprising, frankly.

It seems to me that whenever there is a bike-car crash, especially a
fatality, there is a cynical inclination within the cycling community
to blame the motorist unless and until evidence to the contrary is
found.  I think this inclination contributes to obscuring how much
influence we cyclists have over our own safety in traffic.  Much of
that kind of cynicism is expressed even on lists like this one.  If
the motorists waiting for the red left arrow to turn green before they
proceeded were not there to witness the cyclist running it in front of
oncoming traffic, many cyclists would probably be inclined to assume
the cyclist did nothing wrong, legally turned left, and something like
the motorist was inattentive and ran a red light.

I'm not saying that bike-car crashes in which the cyclist was in
compliance with the rules of the road never happen, it's just that
they seem to account for a very, very small percentage of all of the
crashes that I ever hear or read about, especially when you include
following traffic cycling best practices as part of following the
rules of the road.

By following traffic cycling best practices I mean consistently
staying out of door zones by riding five feet away from parked cars,
moving away from the curb at intersection/junction approaches,
habitually controlling lanes when they are too narrow to be safely
shared, etc.  These are in addition to the basics like riding on the
right side of the road, using lights at night, obeying traffic
controls, yielding to overtaking traffic before moving laterally,
paying attention, etc.

Judging by how they behave in traffic (and what they say on internet
forums), most cyclists don't seem to understand and fully appreciate
how much knowing and following the rules of the road protects them.
This lack of knowledge and appreciation seems to me to be the mother
of all these awful tragedies.

On a more positive note, perhaps employers like Trader Joe's can be
approached to pay for and offer traffic cycling courses to their
employees who already commute by bike, or are interested in doing so.

Serge

-- 
NOTE: Any opinions expressed above are mine and not necessarily shared
by any organization in which I am involved.



On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 10:17 PM, Kathy Keehan <execdir at sdcbc.org> wrote:
> I talked with the police today. There were witnesses who saw the bicyclist
> ride up on the right side of the motorists waiting in the left turn pocket,
> then cut across the front of them and went into the intersection against the
> red arrow. I didn't find out from the police if the bicyclist had lights,
> but I don't think it would have mattered - his bike light would have been
> lost in the headlights of the traffic stopped in the left turn pocket.
> So sad, and so senseless.
> Kathy