Originally Posted by
GhostRider62
You are ignorant.
Nope - all actually aware cyclists and traffic planners understand it's the only survivable choice when there isn't other space.
And then the state DOT or else the city put up signs and painted sharrows centered in the lane to educate everyone about that reality.
The only actual danger comes from
exactly what you are doing - perpetuating the entirely false idea that the bridge is unavailable to cyclists, or that those riding it should adopt a position which gives drivers the slightest idea that they can pass without changing lanes, such that drivers are free to drive without considering the possibility of cyclists or correctly responding to their actual presence.
Here's that police department had to say about it:
The lanes on the north bound side of the Fahy Bridge are each 10 feet in width. The lanes were reduced in size due to structural problems with the existing walkway. PennDOT created a secondary walkway and bicycles are not permitted to use this area. The cyclist was in the proper lane position due to the lane width. In a narrow lane, the cyclist is permitted, and is actually safer, by taking the entire lane. A motorist has plenty of room to pass the cyclist in the left lane. Had the cyclist been in the right portion of the lane and been struck by the car, he would most likely have suffered far worse injuries because of being pushed into the concrete barrier. Before you make insensitive comments, regardless of how you personally feel about the right of cyclists to use the roadway, remember that it is another human being and no one deserves to be struck by a car and left in the roadway.
There was no line of sight and there was no time for the motorist to slow.
Even if you're going to suppose that the bus jostled their passengers by aggressively changing lanes like a race car, suddenly revealing the cyclist at only say one and a half times its own substantial length, that would still require the collision car driver to have been unsafely tailgating the bus to begin with, and then thinking they'd pass it on the right. (Worth remembering, you're not supposed to pass on the right)
More likely, the 17 year old driver of the collision car was acting like a 17 year old.
They certainly attempted to evade subsequent responsibility like one.