Pedestrian killed by bicycle

[lesiz]

First of this kind of accident I ever heard of.
Cycling safety includes not hitting peds....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...MA2L.DTL&tsp=1

[Cyclomania]

I remember hearing about this accident involving a bike messenger and tourist at the waterfront. How sad! I have ridden in the city and know first hand that pedestrians aren't looking for cyclists. You sometimes have to dodge them walking across an intersection when you have the red. Sounds like this messenger had a fixed gear bike and couldn't stop in time or blatantly ran the light.
No, I don't think bikes that hit pedestrians end like this for the most part.

[CaptCarrot]

I hit an elderly lady (70's or 80's) when I was about 15. I was cycling down a steep hill, doing close to 30 MPH thanks to the hill, and she stepped out from behind a parked van.

I swerved, but unfortunately in the same direction she was walking and we collided.

She picked herself up and, I am pleased to say, didn't seem to be anything more than shaken.

After checking she was OK - I scrammed as a group of the local kids that liked to pick on me had seen this and thought it was worth a beating(I just managed to out run them). had it not been for those kids, I would have called an ambulance to make sure she hadn't broken anything. But she did seem OK.

[Paul Barnard]

Some jackwad on a DC MUP plowed into my mother a few months back. Mom is 75 and it messed her up pretty good. She said she was walking on her side of the path, but she is know to get caught up in enjoying the scenery and weave a little when she walks. I cannot for the life of me fathom why people don't cautiously pass pedestrians on MUPS. A few weeks ago here on the NOLA MUP, my me and my girlfriend were watching the sunset. A homeless man meandered up onto the levee from a little wooded section at the river's edge. He was anything but walking a purposeful path. He got on the levee trail and walked away from us for about 10 yards, then made a hard left into the path of a bicyclist with absolute no sense of situational awareness who was approaching from behind. I rushed over to check them out. they were OK but surely sore for a couple of days after that. It was totally avoidable. In both cases the cyclist needed to adjust their speeds down to allow them to react. Both cyclists were idiots, even if not technically at fault.

[john gault]

It'll be interesting to hear if the DA's office decides to file charges against the cyclist.

[john gault]

Some jackwad on a DC MUP plowed into my mother a few months back. Mom is 75 and it messed her up pretty good. She said she was walking on her side of the path, but she is know to get caught up in enjoying the scenery and weave a little when she walks. I cannot for the life of me fathom why people don't cautiously pass pedestrians on MUPS.

My father, who lives in the area, says there are quite a few accidents on those MUPs and I believe it from my limited experience on them, therefore, I fully understand the dangers of riding on them. I believe they even post speed limits (I think, but not sure), personally I don't need a posted speed limit I always ride slowly when around pedistrians, especially kids - they're very unpredictable. That's why I perfer to stay on the roads for the bulk of my riding; I'm somewhat of a speed demon, but I never exceed 15mph on those MUPs, and go slower for much of it.

[mtbikerinpa]

Same reason I find it a feature that most of the Mup trails here are unpaved dust gravel surface. As such they are typically loud enough that most peds turn to look as well as it provides a resistance to keep the speed down without feeling 'slow'. A bell and sense is always standard though.

[invisiblehand]

If anyone is interested ...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...BAQJ1NJJPU.DTL

Just goes to show that drivers aren't the only ones who get off way too easy for (IMO) grossly negligent behavior.

[gmt13]

How do you fairly mete out punishment for behavior that, however thoughtless, was unintentional? Though his sentence was lenient, Mr. Ang will probably correct whatever behavior that resulted in this incident. The bigger question, though, is the threat of this punishment likely to cause others to change? I doubt it. So, what sort of punishment will cause bad-behavers to notice and change?

-G

[Mithrandir]

There are a few of these every year. Many are caused by careless cyclists.

Unfortunately sometimes they are caused by careless pedestrians too. Crossing Woodrow Wilson Bridge last week, going down towards the Virginia side, there was a group of people meandering upwards towards Maryland. I was going fairly fast, about 17-20mph, but no pedaling and riding my brakes to prevent going over 20. These people were mostly on the left side (my left, their right), but there were two inattentive children jumping about. The adults in the party saw me but made no attempt to move over closer to the left. I called out "incomming" but due to high winds I'm not sure they heard me. I started slowing down as fast as I could and moving as far right as possible. The two kids *DARTED* out directly in front of me and spread across the entire path allowing no room to go through. Luckily I was already braking as hard as I could, and I managed to come to a complete stop a foot before one of the kids.

Due to the chaotic circumstances I then forgot to unclip and promptly fell over (Still a relative clipless newbie).

Anyway, just a reminder all around that you need to be on your best lookout for any pedestrian who may not be paying attention to their surroundings. Especially in these times of mobile idiot-boxes (ie: smartphones) causing people to not even look where they're stepping anymore. You can do everything right and still end up seriously hurting someone. This incident was an eye opener for me.

[invisiblehand]

How do you fairly mete out punishment for behavior that, however thoughtless, was unintentional? Though his sentence was lenient, Mr. Ang will probably correct whatever behavior that resulted in this incident. The bigger question, though, is the threat of this punishment likely to cause others to change? I doubt it. So, what sort of punishment will cause bad-behavers to notice and change?

I believe that the literature on crime deterrence points to two important factors; the penalty and its probability. For many crimes, the probability of receiving a penalty appears to be more important than the a priori expected penalty of committing the act suggests. If on a broad scale people understood that society's/jury's expectations were higher and subsequently less lenient, I'd expect vehicle users to change their behavior dramatically.

In short, I don't think Mr Ang should spend 10 years in jail without extenuating circumstances ... say he has done this several times. With the understanding that we might have a subset of the relevant facts here, a few months in jail with probation afterward might be appropriate. I'd expect tort damages as well.

There are a few of these every year. Many are caused by careless cyclists.

Unfortunately sometimes they are caused by careless pedestrians too. Crossing Woodrow Wilson Bridge last week, going down towards the Virginia side, there was a group of people meandering upwards towards Maryland. I was going fairly fast, about 17-20mph, but no pedaling and riding my brakes to prevent going over 20. These people were mostly on the left side (my left, their right), but there were two inattentive children jumping about. The adults in the party saw me but made no attempt to move over closer to the left. I called out "incomming" but due to high winds I'm not sure they heard me. I started slowing down as fast as I could and moving as far right as possible. The two kids *DARTED* out directly in front of me and spread across the entire path allowing no room to go through. Luckily I was already braking as hard as I could, and I managed to come to a complete stop a foot before one of the kids.

Due to the chaotic circumstances I then forgot to unclip and promptly fell over (Still a relative clipless newbie).

Anyway, just a reminder all around that you need to be on your best lookout for any pedestrian who may not be paying attention to their surroundings. Especially in these times of mobile idiot-boxes (ie: smartphones) causing people to not even look where they're stepping anymore. You can do everything right and still end up seriously hurting someone. This incident was an eye opener for me.

Generally, I think we are all better off if everyone has something at stake.

[CB HI]

Not that I do not think the cyclist should receive punishment, but I have a question. How many of you live in cities that refuse to adjust the traffic signal timing such that a cyclist traveling at average speed can make it through an intersection if the light turns yellow when the cyclist is almost at the stop line and then turns red before the cyclist has a chance to clear the intersection?

[bhchdh]

Not unusal.http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...log-to-discuss

[john gault]

How many of you live in cities that refuse to adjust the traffic signal timing such that a cyclist traveling at average speed can make it through an intersection if the light turns yellow when the cyclist is almost at the stop line and then turns red before the cyclist has a chance to clear the intersection?

I haven't even notice a problem in this area; I've learned the timing of the yellowlights and I basically treat yellow lights the same way as I do in a vehicle. The fact is, lights are basically a pain in the ass and depending on the timing, regardless if you're on a bike or in a vehicle, you'll just have to stop when you really don't won't to.

BTW, what is "average speed"? I generally ride between 18-20 mph, but on occasion I go faster and sometimes slower. Yet I can still time the lights.

[genec]

Not that I do not think the cyclist should receive punishment, but I have a question. How many of you live in cities that refuse to adjust the traffic signal timing such that a cyclist traveling at average speed can make it through an intersection if the light turns yellow when the cyclist is almost at the stop line and then turns red before the cyclist has a chance to clear the intersection?

I don't know what "average speed" is, but I would think that 12MPH would be a prudent speed to consider for traffic lights.

We have some of those same sort of bad traffic lights here in San Diego... one of which is right off of a very well designed bike path. I have found I cannot make it through the wide intersection on a green due to the short interval timing (starting from a stop).

Speaking of bad timing, I also have found some pedestrian signals that are short timed... also at wide multi-laned streets.

[ianbrettcooper]

I think these kinds of accidents happen at a rate of about one a year in the US. Being killed by a cyclist is probably about as likely as being struck by lightning. I think it's interesting that the arrest rate for drivers who kill is somewhere around 10%, while that for cyclists who kill is around 100% - and unlike the 10% of motorists who kill, cyclists who kill usually end up serving time.