In her own statements elsewhere, the driver was asked why he was driving so fast. He said, "I was only doing 15 and I moved over." She refuses to release that portion of the video because he has not been accused of a crime. As she says in her op-ed, someone or an organization failed to train him OR the individual didn't heed that training. As you see in the video, she has plenty of time to expect the kids and move over for them. Had the SUV been driving at the pedestrian speed the VDOT trucks usually do, she would have been able to stop.
VDOT has stopped misdirecting blame to the bicyclist. Instead, they have made publicly clear the rules their workers used to follow and will continue to follow. They have even made enhanced requirements. They also require that a spotter walk ahead of the vehicle so it can only travel as fast as a pedestrian. The advocacy groups here are going to also push for signage that can actually be seen by a bicyclists and pedestrian. Currently, one sign is at least 10 feet high and facing the adjacent street where no pedestrian or bicyclist would be, since they use the sidewalk as onramp to the bridge. Current signage would require that you be in the road, turned at a right angle to the curb and craning your neck upward to see the sign.
First Person: A VDOT Contractor Hit Me--& My Bike--on a Pedestrian Bridge
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Accident aftermath: Who's in charge? | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com