My point (in that forum) that the driver is ipso facto guilty is very simple. This is a residential neighborhood, not a major highway or urban street. In this neighborhood, the speed limit is unmarked and the intersection is not controlled by stop signs. The relevant Wisconsin law states clearly that the speed limit is automatically 25 MPH, but also that it is the driver's responsibility not drive too fast for conditions, and that the driver must limit speed accordingly.

The fact that the driver was unable to come to a stop and did not see the bicyclist means that the driver was driving too fast for the neighborhood. I invite you to read the article and the forum comments carefully. My own comment, which nobody has responded to yet, gives you all the information to go look at this intersection through Google's Street View and see for itself. The driver has acknowledged that he was driving "25-30 MPH", which is over the speed limit.

It's not even a question of right-of-way! In a residential neighborhood with uncontrolled intersections and no speed limits, the driver does not have the right to drive too fast to stop for somebody else who is in the intersection, whether or not it is their right to be in the intersection. This neighborhood is also one block from Randall Elementary School. Your child could have been there!

Now, as to the question of right of way, at an uncontrolled intersection, the vehicle that is already in the intersection has right of way over a vehicle that has not yet entered the intersection. That's what Wisconsin's law says. The bicyclist was already in the intersection, as evidenced by the fact that she was hit by the car, which entered the intersection and hit her. Bicycles are slower than cars. The driver obviously wasn't looking carefully enough. And do we we really believe he was only driving 25-30 MPH?

Howard

PS: I do remember several old humped streets of that neighborhood. I don't think these streets fit that description, but if they did, it would be the driver's responsibility to slow down even more because the conditions required it. Most of those old humped streets were up on the hill above. Although the neighborhood is called University Heights, this particular intersection is flat. Both Lathrop and Van Hise have gentle hills up the street from the intersection. Not much of a hill though. This is the Midwest.

I always rode across Madison on minor streets like Van Hise Avenue. There were no bike trails yet in the 1970s. The other good route was Kendall Avenue a few blocks to the north.