Advocacy & Safety - Sidewalk cyclist leaps without throughly looking.

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electrik
11-13-10, 10:42 AM
Nasty surprise follows.

http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/01004/solar-web_jpeg_1004502cl-3.jpg

To the cyclists credit, that is a tiny "car"... but goes to show it's better to be positioned properly than to assume you've seen everything from a poor vantage point and make an aggressive maneuver.

Cyclist hurt after being hit by solar powered car (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/vancouver-cyclist-hurt-after-colliding-with-solar-powered-car/article1797709/)

These solar powered cars always seem to get into collisions also... I think this is the second accident involving a solar car in BC. The first may have been a fatality, iirc.

B. Carfree
11-14-10, 12:38 AM
Too many people depend hearing the noise of a car to determine if there is something coming. I'm not sure that is what happened here, but it seems possible. I am always amazed at pedestrians who walk out in front of me mid-block without looking because they didn't hear a car. I think we'll see a lot more of this as coal-powered cars become more common.
electrik
11-14-10, 07:20 AM
Yup, it was probably silently cruising hidden below the row of parked cars... I have no doubt the cyclist didn't see it or expect such a strange vehicle.

KD5NRH
11-14-10, 07:40 AM
Yup, it was probably silently cruising hidden below the row of parked cars... I have no doubt the cyclist didn't see it or expect such a strange vehicle.

"Strange" in being relatively silent and not overly large? What other sort of vehicle might he have been familiar with that meets those criteria?
10 Wheels
11-14-10, 07:49 AM
Looks more like a motorcycle:

http://www.zerotracer.com/3.Zerotracer/3.1%20The%20Zerotracer/os%20racing_zerotracer_1.html
noisebeam
11-14-10, 10:13 AM
I've seen it before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdmU2onWc6M
electrik
11-14-10, 07:07 PM
"Strange" in being relatively silent and not overly large? What other sort of vehicle might he have been familiar with that meets those criteria?

Yup, it is very low to the ground has a small front profile and is silent. It would be almost impossible to notice with a glance if it were driving on the near-side of a row of parked cars. I think recumbent guys put on flags to try and raise awareness for these reason.