While we will probably never know exactly what happened, there seem to be only a few possible plausible scenarios.
- The cyclist was still in the bike lane when he was hit by the motorist who drifted into the bike lane.
- The cyclist didn't look back before merging left out of the bike lane, or didn't look back far enough to see the fast-approaching 95 feet/second (65 mph) minivan, mistakenly thought it was clear to merge left, started merging left, and was hit.
- He did look back, properly verified that the adjacent lane was clear and he had the right-of-way, and merged into it. At the same time, or soon thereafter, the motorist, who was travelling in a lane further left, realized he had to make a last-second lane change or he would miss the 163 ramp, and merged into the rightmost lane, without yielding to the current occupant (the cyclist), and hitting him.
- Anything else?
Do you think I have all the possibilities covered, or can you think of any others?
Serge