Advocacy & Safety - Accident analysis, safety insights

It can be very interesting to study accidents. I am learning a lot this way. I'm hoping there are some others who share this orientation.

If you know of any accident videos on the web, I would be interested. (Other accounts or presentations, in addition to video, would be of interest as well.)

Even accidents not involving bikes -- many of these are valuable too. The learning can often be transferred or applied to bikes, and to safety in other life-situations as well.

(I had a calculus teacher in university who was amazed at how many of his students could not apply what they learned to other contexts. It can be done, though; and it seems very good to be able to apply what one learns in one context to other contexts as well....)

It can be very interesting to study accidents. I am learning a lot this way. I'm hoping there are some others who share this orientation.

If you know of any accident videos on the web, I would be interested.

Even accidents not involving bikes -- many of these are valuable too. The learning can often be transferred or applied to bikes, and to safety in other life-situations as well.

(I had a calculus teacher in university who was amazed at how many of his students could not apply what they learned to other contexts. It can be done, though; and it seems very good to be able to apply what one learns in one context to other contexts as well....)

My local police department granted my request to analyze all the crash reports I asked for (75 car-bike crashes over a six year period.) There was a surprising amount of detail in them; most included sketches of vehicle positions and trajectories.

I've only seen one video of a car-bike crash; it was a cyclist riding on the sidewalk, traveling on the left side of the highway (counter-flow to vehicle traffic). A motorist turning right on red took him down, while he was being recorded by a TV news camera. This is the most common type of car-bike crash where I live. The main lesson is, don't ride contra-flow.

My local police department granted my request to analyze all the crash reports I asked for (75 car-bike crashes over a six year period.) There was a surprising amount of detail in them; most included sketches of vehicle positions and trajectories.

I've only seen one video of a car-bike crash; it was a cyclist riding on the sidewalk, traveling on the left side of the highway (counter-flow to vehicle traffic). A motorist turning right on red took him down, while he was being recorded by a TV news camera. This is the most common type of car-bike crash where I live. The main lesson is, don't ride contra-flow.

Thanks for the interesting and helpful replies.

Other forms or media (in addition to video) are also interesting and valuable. I will ammend the original post, so that it is not singling out video.

What did you learn? Any surprises? Any observations that stand out?

Anything else that seems interesting or worth mentioning?

Thanks for the interesting and helpful replies.

Other forms or media (in addition to video) are also interesting and valuable. I will ammend the original post, so that it is not singling out video.

What did you learn? Any surprises? Any observations that stand out?

Anything else that seems interesting or worth mentioning?

I was surprised just how much the contra-flow sidewalk cycling dominated the crash reports. It outnumbered the "right side" sidewalk-cycling crashes by something like 10:1. It strengthened my opposition to the design and designation of two-way sidewalk bike paths, but lessened my concern about the safety of cyclists operating on the right-hand sidewalk.

I was surprised that there were no overtaking-type collisions on roads with travel lanes at least 12 feet wide, and that the only such collisions happened on <12' wide lanes where the cyclists rode on the edge of the lane. I thought, given the high volumes of cyclists on our network of thoroughfares with 12' and wider lanes, and the occasional close pass that I experience, there might be more collisions on the wider lanes, but there were none reported. Also, given the number of club cyclists riding in the middle of narrow lanes, I expected some rear-end and oncoming-traffic-emergency collisions, but none were reported.

In general, the numbers were similar to those of national collision type studies, with fewer overtaking collisions and more sidewalk-related collisions, which tends to occur in more urban areas.

This link shows an actual bike getting hit from behind by a car.
It was originally on TV, in the show called "COPS".
The bike got hit while passing the Police car.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-fO6cTCth0

(If you go to youtube and search for "cops bicycle", you can find a seven minute version, but this 22 second clip shows the rider being thrown).

go to

http://www.helmets.org/bcstudy.htm

go down about three quarters of the page and you'll arrive at section VI. Appendix A.

Cyclist/Motorist Collisions Resulting in Death
A Study of Coroner's Files for 1986-93

Note: The information outlined below has been taken from coroners Judgements of Inquiries or from findings at inquest. It is not intended to make a comprehensive report of each case but rather to provide a nutshell of the basic situation that gave rise to each accident so that, in the eyes of experienced observers, recommendations may be made to avoid these types of tragedies.

I'm always amazed at just how easily preventable and predictable the majority of these collisions are.

here's an example


93-222-1577 A young man in his early twenties was riding his bike late at night and collided with a vehicle in an intersection. He was thrown from his bike and suffered head injuries from which he died. Road conditions at the time were good but the roadway itself was very dark. The bicycle had no headlights or reflectors. The coroner found that the cyclist was travelling at a high rate of speed. A toxicology report indicated that the cyclist was impaired by alcohol.

and another


91-306-0004 A woman in her mid-thirties was riding her bicycle on a May evening about 7:00 p.m. when she rode onto a railroad crossing as a train was moving by and struck the front corner of a rail car. Conditions were clear, dry and light. The train had whistled prior to the crossing and its head lamps were on. The cyclist was impaired by alcohol at the time. The cyclist died immediately of massive intrathoracic haemorrhage.


89-221-0015 White Rock - Death occurred as a result of two cars colliding and one of those vehicles then striking the cyclist. General negligence.


there are, some different, but more rare occurances


92-417-0013 A city bus was passing a young male cyclist when part of the bicycle touched the bus and the cyclist was thrown under the rear tires of the bus causing his immediate death. The bus driver was aware of the cyclist and gave him sufficient space to pass safely by him. The cyclist was experienced and rode his bike in this area frequently. The coroner was unable to determine what caused the bus and cyclist to come into contact but speculated that rough pavement might have been responsible.

My local police department granted my request to analyze all the crash reports I asked for (75 car-bike crashes over a six year period.) There was a surprising amount of detail in them; most included sketches of vehicle positions and trajectories.

I have been interested in doing somwthing like that. Also to analyze data about bike thefts. Who or what position did you contact in the police department? Any pointers on starting off?

I have been interested in doing somwthing like that. Also to analyze data about bike thefts. Who or what position did you contact in the police department? Any pointers on starting off?

Most departments have a public information officer, or somebody who releases information to the public. Police collision reports are public information. Just explain what you're doing and be polite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-fO6cTCth0

That's quite a clip.

***
(I wonder what was going on inside the car, and in the driver's mind or awareness.

Apparently in the majority of cases in which cars strike motorcycles, the driver doesn't even see the motorcyclist.

I wonder if there is some kind of report available on the web about this accident.)

http://www.helmets.org/bcstudy.htm

go down about three quarters of the page and you'll arrive at section VI. Appendix A.

Cyclist/Motorist Collisions Resulting in Death
A Study of Coroner's Files for 1986-93

Thanks. These are very interesting. (If anyone knows of more like this, they would also be of interest.)

***
A very close friend was going down a hill while somewhat impaired; she went wide on a turn, had a head-on with a car, and spent the next eight weeks in bed with a private attendant/nurse by her side.

A lot of serious dental work followed, and some ugly scars that took multiple visits to a dermatologist to repair.

She was a very attractive young woman, and a model, but a little wild at heart. (in fact, the David Lynch film with those words as its title is her favorite movie...)

Most departments have a public information officer, or somebody who releases information to the public. Police collision reports are public information. Just explain what you're doing and be polite.

Public information officer - check. Thanks, sggoodri. That's what I needed. And you're right; it's amazing how far politeness can get you sometimes.

(I had a calculus teacher in university who was amazed at how many of his students could not apply what they learned to other contexts. It can be done, though; and it seems very good to be able to apply what one learns in one context to other contexts as well....)
That's an interesting insight. It occurred to me some months ago that one could characterize safe traffic cycling as basically using the same habits and guidelines most of us already know from driving a car (assuming you do), but how often does this occur to the adult novice to traffic cycling? Not me, 5 years ago. I think our car driving traffic habits are so ingrained in our subconscious that one has to make a conscious effort just to remember what they are and apply them in the bike driving context, at least in the beginning. It's like learning the same things all over again, then afterwards you say "Oh, yeah, I knew that!"

That's quite a clip.

***
(I wonder what was going on inside the car, and in the driver's mind or awareness.

Apparently in the majority of cases in which cars strike motorcycles, the driver doesn't even see the motorcyclist.

I wonder if there is some kind of report available on the web about this accident.)

The ironic part was that the first cat the trooper had pulled over was getting a summons for a cracked windshield; the car that hit the bike during the filming of the COPS episode had the right half of it's windshield completely crushed in by the force of the cyclist landing on it.