Texas - Garbage Truck Kills Cyclist in Houston

At 9:50 AM Nov 8 a garbage truck proceeded west bound on Briar Forrest turning right at Wilcrest. The garbage truck has a green light. The truck hit the front tire of the bicycle. The cyclist was thrown off the bike and died at the site.

At 9:50 AM Nov 8 a garbage truck proceeded west bound on Briar Forrest turning right at Wilcrest. The garbage truck has a green light. The truck hit the front tire of the bicycle. The cyclist was thrown off the bike and died at the site.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/25672260/detail.html

Hit the front wheel of the bike? Right hook, or cyclist riding the wrong way on Wilcrest?

Looks like Briar Forrest has what looks like a bike lane (though I never saw any markings on Google's street view) so a right hook makes sense. There's also a sidewalk.

Lots of missing details ... but at least they didn't tell us if she was wearing a helmet.

Much of the report didn't make sense. It was even hard to tell if the cyclist was a man or woman because there was a mixture of pronouns in the news report. I think the cyclist was a woman.

I live along Briar Forest and there is a bike line, I would suspect as with most bike lines around houston, they are littered with debris or it's a mix of 50/50 asphalt and concrete with the asphalt debris.

I'm assuming here, since the garbage truck is pointing north according the the image on Wilcrest after the right turn from heading west, there are no bike lines on Wilcrest. On Briar Forest, as far east as the Memorial/San Felipe split, and as west as Hwy 6.

I wouldnt be surprised, if the garbage truck passesd the cyclist then thought they had enough room to make a turn before the cyclists gets to the corner. I have seen this too many times on Briar Forest.

I'll add that if the cyclist, if heading westbound and was behind the truck, they should have let the truck make the turn and wait. There's no reason for the cyclist to be cutting it that close, 4 tons vs 150lbs, no contest :(

I'll add that if the cyclist, if heading westbound and was behind the truck, they should have let the truck make the turn and wait.Yes, but it's not quite clear that this is what happened, and even if it was -- it takes some experience to recognize the danger. Obviously somebody screwed up somewhere, and since the cyclist is dead -- the cyclist did something wrong, even if their only crime was to assume that the dump truck driver wouldn't do anything wrong.

Unfair, yes, but reality. You'll live longer if you assume that the larger vehicles around you are going to do things as if you weren't there.


There's no reason for the cyclist to be cutting it that close, 4 tons vs 150lbs, no contest :(There's no way that garbage truck only weighs 4 tons. 15+ tons seems more likely.

4 tons being relatively conservative ;)

Here's another view of the accident, this shot is from a helo shooting from the SW corner into the NE corner of that intersection.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7771537

That is sad...

I always consider garbage truck drivers in my neighborhood to be "highly distracted" as they're always looking for the next place to pull up so the guys can scramble off the back and grab the cans. It's unclear whether the truck in this case was on their pick-up route, on their way there or on their way back.

I try never to be entering an intersection at the same time or slightly behind another vehicle. I can see how it would be easy to do however and am sad that this woman paid the ultimate price.

Up Date: Good comments from people that knew her.
http://www.khou.com/home/Bicyclist-struck-killed-by-garbage-truck-106908813.html

From an eye wtiness:

"I happened to have witness this horrible tragedy. It happened about 10am at the intersection of Briar Forest and Wilcrest. It was right in front of the $1.49 cleaners which sits in front of the Food Town parking lot. She had the ride of way, and was riding pretty fast on her bike. The dump truck ran a red light and made a left onto Wilcrest. He struck her bike first and she and the bike were pulled underneath the wheel of the truck and run over. She died on impact"

"She was a hispanic lady. None of her family showed at the scene, and we were told she didnt have a phone on her. I doubt they know her identity, unless she had I.D. She had just got off the 19 bus and met her fate at Briar Forest and Wilcrest"