Advocacy & Safety - Cyclist killed by bus in Boston

BOSTON --
A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus struck and killed a bicyclist on Wednesday evening.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the accident involved a Route 39 bus and the bicyclist near the intersection of South Huntington and Huntington avenues at about 6 p.m.

The bicyclist was identified as a 23-year-old man, who was trying to pry his bicycle wheels from the trolley tracks. T police said the bicyclist was struck after he made contact with the rear of the bus.

"As a result, the male was pronounced dead not long after arriving at the hospital," Boston police Superintendent Rafael Ruiz said.

More at this link (http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/23083262/detail.html).

You can sort of see what the trolley tracks look like in the photo. The Green Line is above ground in some areas, and negotiating the tracks can be tricky.

This exact thing happened to me in November in a different location (Packard's Corner), but I was lucky that there was no traffic behind me when I crashed. Totally user error on my part, lesson learned.

Totally user error on my part, lesson learned.

Just want to be clear that I'm talking only about me with the above comment, not saying anything about the poor guy who got killed, since I don't know all the circumstances.

Anyone else notice that the first comment after the linked article makes a joke about spandex :mad:?

I'm not sure I buy the "driver didn't have time to react" bit either. To get stuck in the tracks, the guy would have had to be in the middle of the lane. How do you not leave enough time to react to an obstruction in the middle of the road? You know, like a stopped car or something?

I'm not sure I buy the "driver didn't have time to react" bit either. To get stuck in the tracks, the guy would have had to be in the middle of the lane. How do you not leave enough time to react to an obstruction in the middle of the road? You know, like a stopped car or something?


Witnesses said the man was struggling to free his bike when the bus came around the corner heading east. The driver had about 150 feet to react.

150 feet seems like a lot of time to react and stop after coming around a turn ( couldn't have been going *that* fast ). This seems like driving 101. The article also does not jive since they claim that the cyclist was killed after coming in contact with the rear of the bus. If he was int he lane and being approached by the bus how does he get hit by the rear of the bus?

Seems obvious to me that the bus driver was at fault. One of the golden rules of driving any vehicule is that you don't drive faster than the stopping distance you can see.

The article also does not jive since they claim that the cyclist was killed after coming in contact with the rear of the bus. If he was int he lane and being approached by the bus how does he get hit by the rear of the bus?

From the look of the intersection, it's more of a long continuous curve rather than a 4-way stop. The article says the bus was going around 30mph, so traffic approaching from that direction probably doesn't have to stop. Since buses don't pivot in the middle like a semi-trailer, as they come around a curve the body of the bus is like a chord through two points on a circle, so it's closer to the inside of the corner than the driver may realize (I almost got run off the road by a tour bus once because of this).

EDIT: Looking at the aerial map again, I may have to retract that. There are crosswalks and what looks like a stop line on the road the bus was coming off of. If it's even possible for a bus to take that corner at 30mph it has to be seriously unsafe. I think that speed figure was in one of the comments, not the article.

From the look of the intersection, it's more of a long continuous curve rather than a 4-way stop. The article says the bus was going around 30mph, so traffic approaching from that direction probably doesn't have to stop. Since buses don't pivot in the middle like a semi-trailer, as they come around a curve the body of the bus is like a chord through two points on a circle, so it's closer to the inside of the corner than the driver may realize (I almost got run off the road by a tour bus once because of this).

It will depend on the bus how the rear wheels react, but it's a moot point since the driver should have had more than adequate stopping distance.


According to the National Safety Council's Defensive Driving Course for Professional Truck Drivers, the stopping distance for an 80,000 pound tractor trailer, traveling at 30 mph on a dry, level road, is 100 feet.

The bus driver is at fault here, he had appropriate stopping distance. He was either traveling faster or reacting too slow for his speed. the only other possibility is that the bus was improperly maintained and was unable to stop because of poor mechanical condition with the driver taking a last ditch attempt to swerve which caught the cyclist with the rear of the bus.

I'm shocked! That poor journalist doesn't know the first thing about news articles involving cyclists: Was he wearing a helmet? Gosh.

Seriously though, looks like a bad situation all around, and my sympathies to the family of the cyclist.

There's no way the bus took that corner at 30 mph. That's a tight, congested intersection, and at that time of day I doubt that it would be able to get up to 30 mph even after completing its turn.

Cyclist identified:

The MBTA has identified the victim in a bus-bicycle accident Wednesday as 22-year-old Eric Michael Hunt of Mission Hill.

Authorities have said Hunt was killed after he tried to pass a bus and lost control of his bike. The accident happened as Hunt was riding east on Huntington Avenue near the South Huntington Avenue split at about 6 p.m.

Hunt was trying to pass a Route 39 bus on the left, but fell under the moving bus. He was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver was a 29-year-old man with about two years of experience driving for the T, officials said. He was taken to a hospital to be treated for stress.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/04/mbta_identifies.html

I walked by the scene maybe 20-30 minutes after it happened and the bike was there as was a big pool of blood, so I knew it had been serious. That's just an awful intersection (for both peds and cyclists as well as T-riders - have to get off the E-line their late at night right onto the roads and have almost been hit many times by cars whipping by as I try to exit). Those big articulated busses are probably hard to stop when you've got the tail end swinging out behind you. Bad, bad situation all around. They either need to bring back the E-line service all the way to arborway and get rid of the 39 bus or stop the E-line and Brigham Circle and pull those tracks. They're a menace.

I walked by the scene maybe 20-30 minutes after it happened and the bike was there as was a big pool of blood, so I knew it had been serious. That's just an awful intersection (for both peds and cyclists as well as T-riders - have to get off the E-line their late at night right onto the roads and have almost been hit many times by cars whipping by as I try to exit). Those big articulated busses are probably hard to stop when you've got the tail end swinging out behind you. Bad, bad situation all around. They either need to bring back the E-line service all the way to arborway and get rid of the 39 bus or stop the E-line and Brigham Circle and pull those tracks. They're a menace.

This has always perplexed me about the E line. Down towards Heath St. they just drop you off right in the middle of the street. I've been on disabled trains on the B-line where they would not let you off if they weren't at a station citing safety reasons. But on the E line, no problem!

For those not from here, the Green Line is partly above ground, and in most places the tracks are protected by curbs, cement barriers and whatnot. But in some places, like the end of the E line where this incident occurred, the tracks are recessed into the pavement to allow motor vehicle traffic to ride over them (that is, there's no dedicated "trolley lane"). It makes lateral movement and certain turns very treacherous. There are these perfect bicycle wheel shaped grooves in the tracks just waiting to take you down if you're not careful.

BOSTON --

A Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus struck and killed a bicyclist on Wednesday evening.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the accident involved a Route 39 bus and the bicyclist near the intersection of South Huntington and Huntington avenues at about 6 p.m.

The bicyclist was identified as a 23-year-old man, who was trying to pry his bicycle wheels from the trolley tracks. T police said the bicyclist was struck after he made contact with the rear of the bus.

"As a result, the male was pronounced dead not long after arriving at the hospital," Boston police Superintendent Rafael Ruiz said.



The MBTA has identified the victim in a bus-bicycle accident Wednesday as 22-year-old Eric Michael Hunt of Mission Hill.

Authorities have said Hunt was killed after he tried to pass a bus and lost control of his bike. The accident happened as Hunt was riding east on Huntington Avenue near the South Huntington Avenue split at about 6 p.m.

Hunt was trying to pass a Route 39 bus on the left, but fell under the moving bus. He was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver was a 29-year-old man with about two years of experience driving for the T, officials said. He was taken to a hospital to be treated for stress.

apricissimus, I saw this on the news this morning. Sounds terrible and I feel for the family of the rider. My initial impression was somewhat like what has been posted, that the driver had more than ample time to stop. But those two stories you quoted, are really different. Do you have any more first hand knowledge on this, as it sounds like the "official" word is changing to deflect blame on the rider. I am not saying that isn't the case, just that the two reports are very different.

The second one implies fault of the cyclist, the first, implies fault with the bus driver. While the wheel engaging the tracks was the ultimate cause of the accident, the proximate cause of his death was either him going under the rear of the bus after loosing control, or him already being down and the bus running over him?

thanks
zac

I've seen many people (including my wife) slip and fall over the tracks just crossing the street at a crosswalk. The things are just a menace, plain and simple. And with the road setup and the buildings the way they are, it's almost a blind turn.

Googlemaps bike directions told me taking Huntington is the best way for me to get to work, but after this, I'm definitely not going to do that when I start commuting.

A lot of people on comment boards around here are blaming the driver, but (while some MBTA bus drivers are real problems, others are not) it's just a rough corner with those wide-turning buses. And that's without people like me who try to run across the road to catch the T when it comes because we don't want to stand in line waiting for the next one. I'm definitely going to have to think about being more careful to follow the rules of the road there.

Zac, as I've been told that the big articulated buses (of which this was one) don't carry cameras (while the shorter ones apparently do) I'm not sure we'll ever get the whole story, though with as many cops as were down there 20 minutes later when I walked home, it should have been possible to interview enough witnesses to find out what went on.

apricissimus, I saw this on the news this morning. Sounds terrible and I feel for the family of the rider. My initial impression was somewhat like what has been posted, that the driver had more than ample time to stop. But those two stories you quoted, are really different. Do you have any more first hand knowledge on this, as it sounds like the "official" word is changing to deflect blame on the rider. I am not saying that isn't the case, just that the two reports are very different.

The second one implies fault of the cyclist, the first, implies fault with the bus driver. While the wheel engaging the tracks was the ultimate cause of the accident, the proximate cause of his death was either him going under the rear of the bus after loosing control, or him already being down and the bus running over him?

thanks
zac

I have no firsthand knowledge, only what I read online and saw on TV. (I am pretty familiar with the intersection though.) I'm definitely not prepared to assign blame to anyone. It could even be that no one deserves any blame. I'm also assuming that the stories coming from various news outlets each probably have a few things wrong with them (that's just how these things go).

The more I think about it, the more I agree with himespau that they should pull up the the hazardous tracks and end the E line at Brigham Circle. The remainder of the E line is already well serviced by the 39 bus.

I guess this incident hits home with me not only because I know the area well, etc., but because of the similar thing that happened to me. Some pedestrians decided to run to catch the B line and darted into the street. I decided to move left to avoid hitting them. I was aware of the tracks, but I thought I could take them at a good enough angle to be fine. I misjudged it and crashed pretty hard.

What I should have done is just slow or stop to avoid the peds rather than try my luck with the trolley tracks. This would have been possible for me given where on the road I was riding, but something similar might not have been possible for Mr. Hunt if he was passing the bus on the left. Just a bad situation.

I'm planning a ride through downtown sometime soon and I was worried about certain parts of the city. thanks for sharing. it really makes sense to take a lane in the city and not pass within a lane or filter. take your place in the lane and keep it. hi-vis clothing and strobes - no matter how over the top really do save lives. I was in Cambridge a couple weeks ago and my front strobe and hi vis helped the bus driver see me and he waited to see if I was going to pass him. I waved him on and he took off. I would later pass this buss which was doing a lot of stopping, etc by taking the left lane. I had had enough close calls to realize I wanted no part of the right lane at all.

unrelated to this maybe? I was in the bronx last weekend and my elderly folks were up front and my Dad was driving. we were making a right turn under an elevated train track when out of nowhere a kid on a bike texting came right at the front of the car. my Dad stopped and the kid swerved around like it was nothing. he wasn't wearing a helmet; riding against traffic and texting. unbelievable.

Yeah, the way crazy people ride/drive in this city, I'm definitely all about taking my spot in the lane and keeping it. Was out this weekend trying to plot various routes for a commute to work and at every light a couple without helmets or anything would filter up to the front, I'd blow past them with the rest of traffic, we'd get up to the next light and the same thing would happen. Fortunately, that was on commonwealth where the lanes are wide. Still, it's a scary place out there and I'm definitely pulling out my hi-viz vest the next time I go out. My wife was laughing at me when I showed her what my hi-viz shower cap looked like, but, man, who cares if I look like a dork as long as I'm alive (not sure how happy she's going to be about me starting to commute though given that this was like 2 blocks from our apartment).

Wow, a texting salmon without a helmet? That's just asking for trouble.

2 blocks? seriously? its safer walking!

Oh no, my commute will be like 5 miles, but yeah this accident is like 2-3 blocks from my house and I pick up the green line at the corner or Huntington & S. Huntington every day currently.

strobes .. :-)

Understood, thanks for the reply. Ride safe.

The tracks are nasty...I am vaguely familiar with that area, but am aware of many other rail crossings at odd angles (we have trollies up here in Lowell, and the tracks cross at weird angles in some areas of the downtown, but it is nowhere as bad as what you have). But there, they are parallel to the roadway, go on and off on curves, just a bad situation all around.

zac

those trolley tracks are deadly in and of themselves. Combined with some of the bus drivers for the MBTA and it's a bad mix.

Today as I rode home from downtown I saw that police had taped off the bottom of Beacon Street where it meets Charles Street (around 2:15 pm) and there was a bicycle turned upside down and a car stopped across the lane. I don't know if the bike/bicyclist had been hit or not but it looked like that was what had happened.

A lot more cyclists in Boston this spring and they are little accommodated with infrastructure and since Boston drivers are extremely aggressive they are being treated as equal users/vehicles of Boston's streets, which basically means they are being muscled, intimidated, threatened and pushed about just like any other road user in Boston.

My sympathies to the cyclist and the bus driver- simply horrible tragedy.

Today as I rode home from downtown I saw that police had taped off the bottom of Beacon Street where it meets Charles Street (around 2:15 pm) and there was a bicycle turned upside down and a car stopped across the lane. I don't know if the bike/bicyclist had been hit or not but it looked like that was what had happened.

Sara Underwood from the local Fox affiliate says on her Twitter page that this cyclist has died too.

http://twitter.com/sara_underwood

Sara Underwood from the local Fox affiliate says on her Twitter page that this cyclist has died too.

http://twitter.com/sara_underwood

here's the latest from her Twitter page:

"Good News: Info reported to me by witness incorrect. BPD telling me Beacon Hill bicyclist in hospital. Wishing him well."

It doesn't say how bad the injuries are- but hospitalized would denote somewhat serious to me.

here's the latest from her Twitter page:

"Good News: Info reported to me by witness incorrect. BPD telling me Beacon Hill bicyclist in hospital. Wishing him well."

It doesn't say how bad the injuries are- but hospitalized would denote somewhat serious to me.
Well that's good news. I hope he makes a quick recovery.

Last night my girlfriend showed me a website with pictures from the scene. (I don't remember the website; I don't think I'd post it even if I did.) It looked bad. Car windshield caved in, fork ripped off, and a lot of blood on the street.

bus? car? lots of blood? dead? alive?

we sure this is all from the same accident?

Those E line tracks need to be put underground, like most of the rest of the T system. They were designed and installed at the turn of the century, and I don't mean 2000. The presence of ground-level tracks and trolleys in that congested area presents a hazard to not only bicyclists, but autos and pedestrians as well. Cars and persons are hit by those trolleys with some frequency on Huntington. We do not even hear about the innumerable spills and twisted ankles people receive from the embedded tracks.

With all the federal funds that Boston received for the big dig, they should have been able to make the E line an underground line. They already had several bus lines to use as alternates in the meanwhile.

Rumrunn, those were two different accidents. The rider who died was on Huntington Ave. The rider who is still (reportedly) alive, was on Charles St. The injuries of the rider who crashed on Charles St. were considered "life-threatening."

Well that's good news. I hope he makes a quick recovery.

Last night my girlfriend showed me a website with pictures from the scene. (I don't remember the website; I don't think I'd post it even if I did.) It looked bad. Car windshield caved in, fork ripped off, and a lot of blood on the street.


It might have been from this website: http://bostonbiker.org/

This link contains addresses to send flowers or if one wishes to attend the memorial for Eric Hunt, the cyclist killed on Huntington Ave.

It also contains links to address the comments from the MBTA that "cyclists have never complained about the tracks in that area" !!!!

It also contains links to address the comments from the MBTA that "cyclists have never complained about the tracks in that area" !!!!
I just registered my complaint.

Just saw the ghost bike up for Eric this morning on my way in.

Really, they say there've been no complaints? I call bs on that.

Much sympathy for his friends and family.

I ride through there every day, and I cross the tracks to make a left from S Huntington to Route 9. It is a tough intersection, very confusing. The level of congestion there makes everyone more aggressive, making a bad situation worse.

It seems to me that the combination of extra long (60 foot) buses, articulated multi-car trolleys, and too many cars in the area are creating the bad situation. Pedestrians and cyclists face higher risks there than they should. Street running trolleys work very well in European cities so I can't lay the blame squarely on them, but the flange on the tracks in the U.S. is much wider than in Europe, making the tracks more hazardous.

As a previous poster noted, something should be changed. Either cease trolley service out there, extend trolleys all the way to Arborway, or make efforts to divert traffic from the area.

I hope something good can come from such a terrible event.